Boylesque Star Raises Funds and His Body Is Up For Grabs?

Stephen Plante’s stage persona, Vic Sin, is inspired by both masculine and feminine qualities, but is the Bushwick performer prepared to go full-on Pretty Woman to attend the Vienna Boylesque Festival? To help finance his trip, he created a GoFundMe campaign that offers intimate rewards, ranging from “a big hug!!!” to “MY BODY!!!!!” for “1 night only.”

Plante told us that “the full Monty” reward is “a bit of a joke,” poking fun at people who wrongly assume burlesque dancers are akin to prostitutes. But the classically trained dancer also said that if someone were to donate $3,000, which is the goal of the campaign, “that’s like another story in itself.”

“It’s $3,000! If someone were to purchase that, the question is what would I do. Well, I don’t know,” said Plante. “It’s a joke, but at the same time, is it possible? Yeah.”

“It shows that I’m willing to go really far to get it,” he added. “This is my journey and I’m going to fucking do it.”

No one has ponied up for the Pretty Woman package yet, but since the campaign launched a week ago, it has already raised over $1,000 in more modest denominations. Plante says he’s already purchased his flight to Vienna, and the money earned from the campaign will help him cover the costs of rehearsal space, a new costume that he’s designing in partnership with a Met costume designer, accessories, makeup, custom-designed pasties, passport renewal fees, and, last but not least, a return flight.

“I am shocked at how much I’ve raised,” he said. “I always just think that people aren’t going to give… You know, it’s a trip to Vienna. I’m doing burlesque. I’m not asking to pay off my catastrophic health insurance bill. So it could seem a bit trivial. I asked people to support me on a journey. But they are. And that’s just crazy. It just feels like there’s so much love. That’s why I’m trying to make this campaign as personal as possible.”

To keep interest levels up, our new face of Brooklyn boylesque is planning to produce and share short videos on his festival preparations. He hasn’t set an end date for the campaign yet, but says it will probably end early April.

In the meantime, you can peep the number he’ll be performing in Vienna here, and/or head to his bimonthly Lip Service show at Hell Phone (247 Varet Street in Bushwick). Lip Service takes place on the first and third Wednesday of every month, and the next performance is set for March 2 at 9 p.m. A $7 donation is suggested. The reward? Guilt-free entry.