Stevi Costa is a writer, reader, and theatremaker. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Washington in 2016. Her scholarly work focuses on narratives of bodily difference and combines approaches from literary theory, cultural studies, and performance studies. Her academic takes on pop culture, literature, and theatre have been featured on In Media Res, the European Journal of American Cultural Studies and in Deconstruct. Under her stage name, Sailor St. Claire, she is an accomplished burlesque artist and emcee who has been featured on stages as tiny as Seattle's historic Burlesque Behind the Pink Door and as grand as the showroom at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas. She is also the co-artistic director of Noveltease Theatre, a literary burlesque theatre company.