Meet Minnie Mercury of Atlanta, Ga/East Atlanta Village

Today we’d like to introduce you to Minnie Mercury

Hi Minnie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Theatre and the performing arts has been present in my life since day 1, and I always found a way to put on a show in my former years whether that be recreating pop music videos or putting on a magic show in my living room. I found my way on to the stage for the first time at the age of 12 in my school’s production of the musical, “Peter Pan,” and I haven’t really found my way off since. After graduating high school, I chose Berry College as my undergraduate school and decided to pursue a theatre degree. Along the way, I picked up additional skills in the theatre realm such as stage management, head dresser, and modern dance, and I eventually found myself in Atlanta doing an internship with Actor’s Express. Reality hit me over the head a bit once I was a “starving artist,” having to work multiple jobs and balance my theatrical pursuits, so I stepped back from the stage for a while until a fateful Colorado summer in July 2015. While on vacation in Denver, my best friend and I decided to attend the Colorado Burlesque Festival, and a different type of stage began beaconing my name. Before I left the theatre that night, I had already googled “Burlesque Atlanta” and discovered what would become my future home, the Atlanta School of Burlesque. From there, my career in burlesque sped off, and I found myself immersed in classes, learning tons of group choreography, and joining The Candybox Revue, the burlesque troupe that is housed in Metropolitan Studios, the big teal building in East Atlanta Village. I joined the troupe originally to stage manage their productions, and quickly began performing in their group numbers, eventually making my solo debut in 2017. I now am the Director of Production for the Candybox Revue as well as a teacher at the Atlanta School of Burlesque. I produce, perform, stage manage, choreograph, and train people in the burlesque world, and I couldn’t be prouder of where I am today.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the main attractions to the burlesque world is the focus and drive for inclusivity and diversity. As someone who has been a fat-bodied human for all of their life, theatre was a challenge as I was typically type cast in similar roles…the fat, sassy best friend…the fat, sassy aunt, etc. Theatre is relatively still size bias, and certain types of people are repeatedly cast because they “look” the part and not necessarily by their talent. Burlesque doesn’t care what you look look, where you come from, the size of your body or the color of your skin; in fact, we welcome people from all different walks of life. Everyone has a story to tell in burlesque, and everyone is welcome to the stage. You run your own personal race in the sparkle world, and competition amongst performers is fairly non-existent. But, even though the burlesque world is still very accepting, fat performers are still not well known, recognized, or cast in shows. Plus size people still struggle to be asked to headline, and because of the size of our bodies, we still are looked at as less capable than thin-bodied performers. Existing in the world as a fat human is hard in general, and it can be frustrating when you are automatically judged by how you look on the outside. It became my mission early on to prove that burlesque is truly for everybody and every body, and I wasn’t going to let my size define what I put on stage.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a burlesque performer, stage manager, producer, choreographer and teacher. I teach several different classes at the Atlanta School of Burlesque to include Drama Camp (a musical theatre based burlesque class), F.A.T. Burlesque (a burlesque class specifically designed for plus size bodies), Level Up Your Character (a workshop to improve your character development skills), and Dramatic Songbirds (a sing and strip musical theatre based class). I am also the Director of Production with the Candybox Revue where I help lead the planning efforts for our 12+ shows a year, train our stage managers, stage crew, and producers, and create order from the chaos. I am also a group choreographer for our troupe as well as solo performer where I develop my own acts, themes, costumes, props, etc.

Combining my love of theatre with my background in group sports, I really champion and support the concept of ensemble and group work; I learn so much from my troupe mates and students on a daily basis, and we each have our own specialties and knowledge bases. My troupe has taken our group numbers to such places as Dragon-Con and burlesque festivals across the U.S., and I am daily so proud of how we really work as a team and as an ensemble.

Over the past year, I have really started to focus on my personal solo work, and I was selected to perform at 3 different burlesque festivals this year (with 1 more scheduled already for 2025!) My most recent personal accomplishment was receiving the “Most Comedic” award at the Land of Sky Burlesque Festival in Asheville, NC.

When I perform, I really focus on bringing relatability and character to the stage, and my goal is always to find connection with the audience. Being a fat-bodied performer, I fought the idea of bringing funny acts to the stage for a while due to the fact that I didn’t want to pigeon-hole myself into the “funny fat friend” category again like I was in theatre. But, why tuck away something you are good at just to prove other people wrong? I’m a funny lady, so why not share that with the rest of the world? In burlesque, you create the narrative you want people to see and experience, and my personality and interests are all over the place. I can be funny, I can be intense, I can be terrifying, I can be sexy. My tagline of “She puts the ‘range’ in deranged” really sums up what I bring to the stage and allows me to bring whatever story I feel passionate about at that moment to life.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
A life without risk is boring. Risk-taking pushes you to learn, explore, and investigate life outside of your “usual.” Risks can be small or huge, but you can’t grow unless you take them. It is, of course, scary to take risks, but it’s necessary to live fully. I’ve taken risks and leaps of all sizes, and they have made me into the person I am today. Moving to Atlanta to pursue theatre was a major jump in my life, especially when I only knew one small town in South GA as “home”. Some may argue that taking one’s clothes off on stage is a major risk, and that risk was one of the most empowering moves I have every made. Burlesque allows you to take back ownership of your body; it allows you to control the narrative in which the world views your sexuality. As a plus size performer and human, judgements are made about me and my body every day, and the risks and leaps I have made with burlesque have allowed me to reclaim my body for my own to prove my own strength, power and sexuality. I want to also live my life in a way that encourages other fat humans to take risks. Sometimes, just living your life with a little extra weight can be very isolating and safe choices are usually made. I want to cheerlead people to just “do it fat!” Don’t let your body stop you from living your truth and your best life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.candyboxrevue.com/minniemercury
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missminniemercury/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missminniemercury
• Other: https://www.metrostudioseav.com/atlburlesqueschool

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Paul Sebastian
Blue Background w/ Knife: J. Merritt
Red Wig w/ Green Background & Blood Covered Straight Jacket: StunGun Photography
American Flag Outfit & Red Dress while Singing: House of Gemineye
Blood Splatter Cape: The BoomBoom Room
Black Pleather Performance Shot: Rhonda Sebastian
Group Picture: Marc Turnley