I’m Millie May … Hello … I’m from the suburbs … of Chicago … I was born in Mokena … and then I lived in Hinsdale … and then I moved to Indiana for high school … I was kind of an introvert what I was a child … I was kind of a weirdo  … I spent a lot of my time in my room … by myself … drawing … and dancing around in front of the mirror (laughter) … I was always the black sheep in my family … I have three siblings … I’m the second of four … I was just a little different … I just didn’t quite fit in … I used to love to be by myself … in my room … and play … I was really obsessed with MTV back then … and I would learn all the dance moves from Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson videos … and Madonna … and memorize them … and just dance in front of the mirror (laughter) … I never took a dance class or anything like that … I wanted to … but I never did … I danced at a pageant in high school … and I won the spirit award … which is like a congeniality award (laughter) … voted on by the other students … which was funny … because I was like a really bad student … I was in this pageant  because I wanted to dance in front of an audience (laughter) … What was it like growing up when I was in Hinsdale? … We were the only poor people surrounded by a bunch of rich people (laughter) … It was a lot of … trying hard … to not let anybody know that we didn’t have any money … it was kind of stressful … and we got bullied and everything … and then when I moved to Indiana … it was nice … because people didn’t seem to care that we were poor … There were kids that were poor … and there were kids that were rich … and nobody really cared … that was the one thing about Indiana that was nice … it was … a relief … In Indiana … it was a very small town … Mennonite … Amish people … very religious … I was a bit of a rebel in high school … and teachers kind of gave me a hard time (laughter) … I was a brat … I just went through an angry stage I think back then … But … I was always having fun … I used to love to dance all the time … go dancing … dance at home … that was my outlet … I like art … I was only good at school when it came to art class (laughter) … and english … after high school … I moved back to Chicago … I always wanted to go to a school for art … it just didn’t happen … I just started working as a waitress right out of high school … I still do that … and I bartend … When I moved out of Indiana … I moved in with my dad in Downers Grove …The plan was to live with him and go to school … but he had a wife that did not want me living there … So … I moved out on my own when I was nineteen … I moved to the city a few weeks before my 21st birthday … How did I get into performing … The story is … I got my name from my grandma … Her name was Mafelda May Davis … and they called her Millie … That’s how I got Millie Mae … and she loved to dance … I took improve classes … I always just wanted to get into theater … and the arts … and perform … I always told myself … “I don’t have any training … so I can’t do that … I always had all these doubts … “I can’t … or I don’t look right … or I’m too old … or I’m too heavy … or too short” … My grandma … right before she died … she filled out this book … that answers all these questions that old people answer at the end of their life … Her one regret was not dancing enough … So … (laughter) … that’s not going to be me … She loved to dance … that’s why I dance in her name … When I started in burlesque … I was 36 years old … I went to a show at Debonair … I was … I can do this … I saw a documentary … of all these burlesque performers  … Someone said Ms Behavin teaches a class … and where she was performing next … So I went to Bettys Blue Star … where she was performing … the next day … and I talked to her … and started taking her class … and … the graduation was a show … and then you start getting the emails … but I was going to shows nonstop … and getting involved with the community … and helping out … I finally did it (laughter) … that’s how I got into it … I kept taking the class over and over again … because I didn’t think I was ready … and she was … I’m not taking your money anymore … you’re going to go on stage (laughter) … and then people start emailing you … and then you start getting booked … and that’s how it happened … The first performance I did was at Joie De Vine in Andersonville … it was in a little store front … My mom came … my favorite aunts came … It was … “Magical” (laughter) … It was the biggest rush ever … and I don’t even know if I was that good … but it felt amazing … I knew that’s what I needed to be doing (laughter) … The community? … It’s like I have a whole other family now … I have lifelong friends … RedRum is my best friend … They’ve become my family … It get’s cliquey … and this and that … but it’s always … everyone’s so nice … I’ve never had any issues with anybody in the performance community … Once a month I was at Debonair … Some theater shows … We used to this little show at bar called Lizard Lounge … on Irving Park road … I made twenty bucks … and you got ready in a beer cooler (laughter) … and it was fun … and we did karaoke after … I did some shows at Exit … I really like the theater shows … and now I’m just getting back into it …I’ve been at House of Blues and the Elbo Room … Then I got out of the scene for a while … I needed to get away from the city for a minute … I was kind of drowning … I always had two jobs … and I just had one … so I was struggling financially … and I had to move out of the apartment the I loved … because the building was under new management … and they kicked everybody out … So … I had to move to this apartment that I couldn’t afford … When my lease was almost up … my mom and my stepdad got a house in Florida … they said I could come live there for a little while … to get away for a minute … so I stayed a year … I got a job at a little breakfast place out there … and I went to the beach everyday … and I saved money … and I payed off some debt … stuff I couldn’t do if I was paying a bunch of rent here … And … I wasn’t gettin along with my mother … so I actually lived in a hotel for a month … all the money I saved (laughter) … I cleaned rooms to help pay for my stay there … So … I came back to the city for a new start … I think prior to leaving … I was feeling stressed about shows instead of feeling excited about shows … and I wasn’t doing my best … the last few shows I did … I didn’t do a very good job … my heart wasn’t in it … You spend a lot of money sometimes … and it gets frustrating when you see everyone with these beautiful costumes … that cost a thousand dollars … and I can’t do that … I don’t sew … I like to be on stage … but I hate doing all the rest of the stuff (laughter) … RedRum helps me … she makes outfits and I pay her with babysitting … I’m much better at babysitting then making costumes … much better (laughter) … when I was in Florida … I didn’t want to be involved in the burlesque scene … but I looked into it … I lived on a seven mile island … Fort Meyers beach … and I don’t drive … I rode my bike everywhere … To go anywhere off the island … Uber’s really expensive … There was a bit of a scene … but it was an hour away … I needed a break … but … the more I was away … the more I was looking at Facebook and Instagram …   and missing everybody … and getting homesick … I was thinking about it … Am I just going to be done? … Was that it? … but I wanted to go out on a high note … I wanted to take it to the next level and do something else … theater wise … I did a few plays … I really liked that … But … I’m not finished with this yet … I did some burlesque plays … but I did two plays at a theater … The producer and director that hired me … she had been at some burlesque shows …and she was using one of the theaters … I was in a show … and she asked our producer if anybody wanted to be in a play … and that was me … Have things changed for me since I left? … I’m not getting all the calls I used to get … and the scene has changed a little bit … but you have to adapt to the scene … you can’t just be like …. “Oh well” … I’m moseying my way in there (laughter) … I contacted Sally Marvel when I was still in Florida … and she booked me … I did a show my second week back … and … it was funny … I didn’t have a job … I didn’t have a home … but I was doing a burlesque show … And then I took a break … I was buying stockings and stuff … and I didn’t have a job … and I was staying on a friends couch … After I did a few shows … I realized that I needed to get it together … So I got two jobs … and I got an apartment … So … I did a Halloween show … and then I didn’t perform again until May … I needed to concentrate on my jobs … and everything … and then … got back into it … As far as social changes … When I was an adult … I’m almost forty-six … I remember my first waitressing job … some of the things that happened to me … you’d think I’m telling a story from 1950 … The racism … and the sexism … I experienced every day … it was normal … Now when I see someone on Facebook kind of whining about something so little … I’m just … “That ain’t nothing” … (laughter) … I’m so glad that it’s being recognized now … that it’s not ok to be grabbed at work … but … I’ve lived through that … Burlesque … it’s definitely a very unappreciated art form … I was just reading something … a discussion on Facebook about … Do you consider yourself a sex worker? … I don’t consider myself a sex worker … but we have a stigma … of a sex worker … I have family members that won’t friend me on Facebook … and gasp … I had an aunt that I loved to death … and she said … “ I saw your photos … I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry … and did you get something done to your breasts”? … I just looked at her and said … “No … I did not get a boob job … and what if I did?” … Instead of them seeing the work you put in … and the blood sweat and tears … they just think … you’re stripping … They don’t see any part of the art form … And I had another aunt that … me and my mom and her were talking about it … My mom was rolling her eyes … and acting embarrassed … and my aunt was … I think it’s ok … it’s pretty nice … I was about to say thank you to her … but she was like … “As long as you’re not my daughter” … My dad is actually really cool about it … He hasn’t been to a show … but he understands … he gets it … he was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe … my whole life … so I was watching her my whole life … and copying her every move … our whole house had pictures of her everywhere … So I though it was completely normal to see a naked woman … (laughter) … He gets it … he got me into old movies and everything …. So … He understands the art … A lot of the time its women that are giving you a harder time … When I first started I was thirty-six  … If I had started when I was younger … I might not have told people … or I might have been weird about it … But when I was thirty-six … I didn’t care … People are … “You’re doing what?” and I’m … “Yep” … I wasn’t hiding it … I wasn’t ashamed … The older you get … the less you care (laughter) … the less fucks you give … Social media? … I’m just on Instagram and Facebook … that’s it … I don’t have Twitter … I don’t have Snapchat … You have to network through social media … producers want you to … If you’re not promoting on Instagram and Facebook … you’re not going to get booked … Back in the day … everyone had flyers … when I first started we had flyers … Producers would give them to us … and we would pass them out … that was about a week … Facebook was still kind of new … I didn’t get Facebook until I started performing … I did get on Instagram a few years ago … and I figured … I probably should … I don’t need any more platforms … because I don’t want to be on my phone anymore then I already am … I haven’t had anything on Instagram deleted … but a lot of people have … Where do I see things going in the foreseeable future? … that’s a good question … because I live day to day (laughter) … I don’t think about it as much as I probably should … But … I want to do more theater … maybe be in more plays … and maybe get some headshots … Now that I have something that I can put on a resume … or whatever you call it (laughter) … I want to get more Into that … I do want to keep dancing … because I love dancing … and I like being on stage by myself … But … I think I’m going to try to get into theater …