margaret cho

The Sensuous Woman, starring award-winning comedienne and actress Margaret Cho, begins its four-week limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Zipper Factory Sept. 26.

The burlesque variety show, which recently concluded successful engagements in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, features stand-up and sketch comedy as well as some of the country's top-rated burlesque talent.

Los Angeles belly dance and burlesque sensation Princess Farhana, emerging transgendered comic Ian Harvie, burlesque performer Selene Luna, comic actor Liam Sullivan, New York downtown favorite Miss Dirty Martini and sketch comedians Diana Yanez and Kurt Hall of the Gay Mafia Comedy Troupe of West Hollywood are all scheduled to perform with Chow.

According to Cho, "The Sensuous Woman is an evening of comedy, dance and music celebrating women's bodies. I have suffered from eating disorders and a horrendously distorted body image for my entire life, and I think the biggest reason is a lack of images of real women's bodies. Where are they? We don't see them in movies, on TV, in magazines. Instead, we are force-fed a steady diet of unattainable ideals, a tyranny of slenderness and youth, goals we can't even aspire to, they are so far out of reach. When we see dancers who enjoy their bodies, who are sexy and having fun, it gives us permission to enjoy our bodies and to enjoy ourselves in the process. We are presented with a new ideal, not one that is about dieting ourselves down to a smaller size, but expanding our notion of what is beautiful and to allow ourselves to be included there too."

Margaret Cho is well known for her stand-up work in I'm the One That I Want, which enjoyed a wildly successful run Off-Broadway, on national tour and was subsequently filmed and adapted into a best-selling book. Her other one-woman shows include Notorious C.H.O., which would lead the comedienne to Carnegie Hall; Revolution; and the politically charged State of Emergency and Assassin. Cho was also seen by television audiences in her sitcom "All-American Girl."

In addition to her work as an entertainer, Cho has been recognized for her political and humanitarian work by such organizations as GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, PFLAG and the National Organization for Women for "making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity."

Tickets for The Sensuous Woman, running through Nov. 20, are available by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.thezipperfactory.com. The Sensuous Woman will play an early and late show on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The Zipper Factory is located at 336 West 37th Street, New York