RENO — Pretty much any story can be repackaged and resold with a little bit of skin, sex and silliness.

Case in point: the classic fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland.” The story has recently been made into a movie for the umpteenth time, using not sex and skin but visual effects and the big names of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. Riding the coattails of the film’s release is Reno’s Bohemian Burlesque, which will perform its version of “Alice” over the next two weekends with “Down the Rabbit Hole” at The Great Escape.

Guided by nurse-by-day, bodice-wearing-showoff-by-night Chelsea Chen, the show incorporates the elements of classic burlesque — song, dance, costumes, humor and general weirdness — while guiding the audience through Alice’s adventures.

Chen was part of the core that founded Bohemian Burlesque three years ago. At age 27, she has been interested in what she calls “alternative, underground, grassroots performance arts” for nearly 10 years; she started by spinning fire at age 18 in her native Seattle. She moved to Reno with her husband and has since also joined the local fire-spinning group Controlled Burn. She also helped form the aerial performance group Dragonfly Aerials, both of which perform regularly around the area. She never had any formal dance training, but is now directing “Down the Rabbit Hole” in her own little contribution to what she calls a “whole new circus movement.”

As the group prepared for a dress rehearsal at Exotic Workout Studio on Center Street in downtown Reno on Monday, the mood was circus-like. Performers dressed (in some cases undressed), stretched and prepared tea party props. Mikey McGarrigle, known to his friends as “M.,” prepared a large, green cloth for his part as a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon as a butterfly. With his hair shaved into a Mohawk dyed pink for his role as the Queen of Hearts’ pet pig poodle, M. hooked the cloth to the ceiling, twisting it at the end to form a kind of hammock. The former gymnastics teacher, who now teaches yoga, is in his first show with Bohemian Burlesque after moving to northern Nevada from the San Francisco area.

“It’s been really great working with Chelsea to develop a character and apply it to an aerial piece,” M. said about his “transformation,” which takes place inside the green cloth, suspended a few feet above the ground and in which he does a rhythmic dance before emerging anew.

In addition to playing a caterpillar and a pig poodle, M. is one of the show’s five Alices. The others are all women and they all practiced a bizarre routine Monday in which they did a synchronized robotic chair dance with dazed looks on their faces; Not sexy, but surreal.

Reno resident Dixie Dahl is one of the Alices. She started with Bohemian Burlesque three years ago as a singer but now primarily dances. Dahl took some classes but mostly learned from within the group and has now been in several shows.

“I made a lot of mistakes but it was such a rush being on stage,” Dahl said, adding that she gets more nervous while practicing than in a show because of the lack of an audience’s reaction and encouragement.

“For me, I have to have the audience there,” she said.

Chen said quite a few of the troupe’s members are former audience members who were inspired to join after seeing them perform. “Down the Rabbit Hole” is the group’s third full-length show; most of the group’s appearances have been as part of a larger performance. Chen said that because of audiences’ short attention spans she has tried to keep each segment of this 90-minute show to about four minutes each. The show is based around Alice but Chen said the musical choices of John Wade, who also plays the Mad Hatter, really tie all 14 acts together. With only three of the 14 segments being strip teases, “Down the Rabbit Hole” is “almost more of a variety show,” Chen said, with several group numbers, a little bit of original singing by Jill Marlene, stilt walkers, half a dozen umbrellas, vibrant costumes and some darkness, sadness, sass, silliness and sexiness. It is a bit unpolished, a bit rough, Chen said, but that is in the satirical spirit of burlesque.

“Audiences come back because they have so much fun at our shows,” she said.

“Down the Rabbit Hole” will be performed this Friday and Saturday and March 26 and 27 at The Great Escape, 1575 S. Virginia St. in Reno. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Presale tickets cost $12 and are available at The Melting Pot World Emporium, 1049 S. Virginia St. in Reno, and at Prism Magic Clothing and Imports, 2161 Pyramid Highway in Sparks. Tickets can also be purchased at the door for $17. For more information on Bohemian Burlesque, go to www.facebook.com/bohemianburlesqueofreno.