The 2022 Fresh Fruit Festival MAINSTAGE
Special “Return To Live” edition, featuring entirely Full-Length Plays
May 2-14, 2022
> Download complete Festival Performance Schedule > HERE
“Accidental Intimacies” – by Megan Kemple
Tuesday 5/3 at 6:30 pm / Sunday 5/8 at 7:45 pm / Monday 5/9 at 6 pm / est. 80′
A choreopoem centering the experiences of a disabled, bisexual, polyamorous sex worker.
“Deny We Were” – by Joe Moe
Wednesday 5/11 at 6:00 pm / Friday 5/13 at 8 pm / Saturday 5/14 at 5 pm / est. 90′
It’s all LA sunshine and fun until a handsome teenage inquisitor shows up with a chip on his shoulder.
When precocious 17-year old Jonah McCabe bunks with adopted “Guncle” Dean Vela, raging hormones take a backseat to burning resentment of his controlling, ex-model dad, Jimmy (and a sneaking suspicion Uncle Dean and dad have been “more than just friends”). Jonah’s mom supports Jimmy financially and he, in turn, enjoys it. Who IS this gorgeous villain that has everyone eating off of his abs? When Jimmy finally appears in the charismatic flesh, thirsty secrets unravel in the narcissistic centrifuge that spins around an unsqueezable love-sponge. Desire and deceit – all suspended in a soap bubble of wicked humor.
“Eternal Flamer!” – Tommy Jamerson
Wednesday 5/4 at 6 pm / Saturday 5/7 at 8:30 pm / Sunday 5/8 at 3:15 pm / est. 90′
In this neon-coded, campy tribute to the 80s, pretty-boy Jessie Blade leaves his small Minnesota home for the bright lights of the city that never sleeps (…with the same person twice) only to get mixed-up in a labyrinth of plot twists, drag queens, sex, drugs, and open dance calls!
“Mad Little Reefers” – by Michael Valladares
Monday 5/2 7:30 pm / Thursday 5/5 8:15 pm / Saturday 5/7 5:45 pm / est. 110′
Love. Loss. Betrayal? You are not alone.
How do young queer people find their place in a world that seems at first not to have a place for them? What happens when Queer Kids take their rebellion against a straight-dominated world a bit too far? Queerness is simply a fact of the story, a story told with all the passion and suspense the young are prone to, rejecting the notion that queer people are defined by their orientation.
“Motherf**king Girl Scouts” – by Emmy W
Wednesday 5/11 at 8:45 pm / Friday 5/13 at 6:00 pm / Saturday 5/14 at 3:00 pm / est. 70′
Camp counselors Jazmyn and Jia take an impulsive and unhinged group of young Girl Scouts on a camping trip they will never forget. On their journey, the Girl Scouts begrudgingly learn how to navigate the great joys and intense traumas of being a teenager, complete with motivational creatures popping out of the forest, accidental molly consumption, and most crucially, each other.
“Once on Rumspringa” – by Ellis Stump
Tuesday 5/3 at 8:30 pm / Wednesday 5/4 at 8:15 pm / Saturday 5/7 at 3:15 pm / est. 100′
Amish childhood gal pals, Sadie Smucker and ex-Preacher’s daughter Willa Stoltzfus, now 19, share a trailer, meth addiction, and sexual tension thick as a milkshake. They’ve spent their Rumspringa together higher than Heaven, but the analog clock is ticking on when they can revisit their Community, before being forced to surrender their love or leave town forever. With 24 hours until Communion, six intricately interrelated sinners, ranging from Church-possessed to dying in Purgatory, must come Clean. BYOBonnet.
“Roommates” – by Kia Barbee
Directed by Deborah Goodwin
Saturday 5/7 at 1:00 pm / Tuesday 5/10 at 6 pm / Thursday 5/12 at 8:30 pm / est. 90′
How do you get the courage to love openly and without regret? How long does it take?
It’s 1991. Celia and Jocelyn, college freshman roommates meet and fall in love. They embark on a long term, sporadic and complicated private love affair until the women are forced to make a decision about their romance… commit or stay apart?
“Sassafras and the Captain” – by Sarah Elisabeth Brown
Thursday 5/5 at 6:00 pm / Friday 5/6 at 8:45 pm / Sunday 5/8 at 1:00 pm / est. 90′
When Sassafras, a role-playing submissive femme dyke, decides she wants to become a top, she upends her steady relationship with teddy-bear butch Captain Lou, and brings an old flame, the roguishly handsome boundary-pushing masochist Micky Penny, into the mix for an experiment in non-monogamy. Chaos ensues as Sassafras practices new skills of dominance, faces competition from the unassuming southern belle 50’s housewife next door, and gets schooled by the supreme Goddess of been-there-done-that, Mistress Chelsea.
Can this young couple grow their love big enough to include these new elements? Or will they be shipwrecked on the sea of dyke drama? It remains – to be seen!
“Somewhere Between Mars and Venus” – by Otto Sanchez
Tuesday 5/10 at 8:15 pm / Thursday 5/12 at 6 pm / Saturday 5/14 at 12:30 pm / est. 100′
It’s only when people say you’re not normal that you feel that way. In this 90 minute dramedy, Juana, a jaded, middle aged, former drag queen on Gay Pride weekend 2015, meets and falls in love with Anika, the quintessential trans woman. The encounter sparks Juana to travel back in time to 1982 New York City, at the start of the AIDS epidemic. Juana recalls the underworld Drag Ball culture, including Miss Guided, house mother to transgenders, and her protégé Linda, a young trans woman who teaches Juana what beauty and “normal” really means.
“You’re a Weirdo, Annie Best” – by Erin Shea Brady
Friday 5/6 at 6:30 pm / Sunday 5/8 at 5:30 pm / Monday 5/9 at 8:15 pm / est.100′
Annie Best is queer, polyamorous, recently estranged from her family and her writing is at a creative standstill. When one of Annie’s partners convinces her to dive into the world of Nora Ephron’s great romantic comedies, she begins to see her life through the Ephron lens. She imagines scenes and conversations, paying homage to When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie & Julia, and others. As seasons pass romantic relationships develop and change, with faith and family coming into question. Will reconnecting with her father help her find the courage to stand on her own?