Fresh Fruit Festival Community Awards Announced

On May 14, the FRUITIE AWARDS honoring the best of the 2017 Fresh Fruit Festival plus leading community leaders at a gala celebration at Bowery Arts & Science, 310 Bowery (at First Street), in NYC.

The awards ceremony honors two community leaders:

The PASSION FRUIT AWARD: To a person in the arts "whose passion has led them to a life's work that serves the LGBTQ community and enlarges our world." This year, the winner is Lisa Kron

Lisa Kron is a writer and performer whose work has been widely produced in New York, regionally, and internationally. She wrote the book and lyrics for musical Fun Home, with music by composer Jeanine Tesori, which won five 2015 Tony awards including Best Book, Score, and Musical, and was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Lisa's other plays include In The Wake, Well, and the Obie Award winning 2.5 Minute Ride. As an actor she received a Tony award nomination for her performance in Well and a Lortel Award for her turn as Mrs. Mi-Tzu and Mrs. Yang in the Foundry Theater's acclaimed production of Good Person of Szechuan. She is the recipient of Guggenheim, Sundance and MacDowell fellowships, a Doris Duke Performing Artists Award, a Cal Arts/Alpert Award, a Helen Merrill Award, the Kleban Prize for libretto writing, and grants from the Creative Capital and NYFA. Lisa is also founding member of the OBIE- and Bessie-Award-winning collaborative theater company The Five Lesbian Brothers. She serves on the boards of the MacDowell Colony and The Sundance Institute, and is Vice President of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Past Recipients:
2016 - Brendan Fay and the Lavender and Green Alliance
2013 - Jonathan Ned Katz, artist, curator & essayist
2011 - John Glines

The HARRY WIEDER AWARD for COMMUNITY SERVICE: For service that enriches the community "through education and advocacy." This year, the winner is Allen Roskoff.

Allen Roskoff is a legendary gay rights activist who has been a leader in the LGBT and social justice movements for over four decades. He achieved many early victories for the LGBT movement, including co-authoring the nation's first gay rights bill. Roskoff first became involved in the movement in 1970 when he joined the Gay Activist Alliance and became the chair of the Municipal Government Committee. Along with Jim Owles, he later co-founded the nation's first gay Democratic club. Roskoff has worked on hundreds of political campaigns going back to the congressional races of Bella Abzug. In 1972 Roskoff helped organize a protest inside Radio City Music Hall during a ceremony put together by Mayor John Lindsay. The protest demanded an Executive Order barring discrimination within city government. Roskoff handcuffed himself to a chair in the theatre's balcony, showering the audience with leaflets while demanding that Mayor Lindsay issue an Executive Order. A few days after the protest, Lindsay issued the executive order.

2017 - Corey Johnson, New York City Council
2016 - Marianne Nicolosi
2015 - Dirk McCall
2014 - Harlem Pride