Fresh Fruit Fest Extends Deadline; Honors Stonewall At 50

The Fresh Fruit Festival (FFF), New York's preeminent LGBTQ summer arts celebration stands poised to be the definitive location for quality lively arts programming during the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall, this year. With this in mind, FFF will extend its deadline for submissions to the festival through Sunday night, March 17, 2019. The 17th Annual Fresh Fruit Festival of LGBTQ Arts, will be held July 8 through 21 at The WILD Project and other Manhattan venues. Looking for Full length and One-Act Plays; Choreographed Dance pieces; Thematic new Solo Shows - comedic and dramatic; Musicals; Opera; Cabaret; whatever your imagination can provide!

The Fresh Fruit Festival has served as a spring board for numerous LGBTQ artists and their works.

The Fresh Fruit Festival presents works that are fresh, exciting and insightful. Performers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexuality, and gender orientations fill their stages. African-, Caribbean-, Chinese-, East Indian-, Filipino-, Hispanic-, Japanese-, Korean-, Native-, and even unhyphenated Americans were among groups represented in the FFF.

Many of the Festival's productions have gone on to commercial runs. Festival performers have been recognized with IT, OOBR, G.L.A.A.D, and Theatermania Awards, including "Best Documentary." Johnny B. Dunn's screenplay (presented as a staged reading at last year's festivities) is now in development for a major motion picture; Doug DeVita's award-winning plays, "The Fierce Urgency of NOW" and "The Phillie Trilogy" are also in negotiation for larger runs. Other prominent authors that have has successes through Fresh Fruit Festival have been Maura Campbell, Nelson Diaz-Mercano, and many others.

Notably, the work of Lesbian and Transgender artists was represented in proportions more representative of their numbers in the LGBT community than is usually seen in such events. And the audiences are equally diverse.

Look for more information about the festival including its panels and readings at www.freshfruitfestival.com

"We believe the arts bring hope, experience, learning, self-confidence, a means of expression, and a path out of despair." -Louis Lopardi, artistic director, Fresh Fruit Festival.

TO SUBMIT WORKS: http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/submissions-to-the-2019-july-fresh-fruit-festival/?fbclid=IwAR2CT8OncyN8lQELmaCNuMx0kTsgPPed-Q0HdwQvfeK5udDMQlqUlZyJNm8

STONEWALL: The Stonewall riots or "Stonewall" were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.