All Out Arts' 2013 FRESH FRUIT FESTIVAL Kicks Off Today

All Out Arts' 2013 Fresh Fruit Festival, their 11th annual celebration of LGBTQ arts & culture, runs today, July 8 through July 21, 2013. With performances at the Wild Project, Nuyorican Poets Café and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art, this year's Festival features more works than ever before, with over 40 multidisciplinary pieces and over 100 artists participating. All tickets only $10-$18 and are available at www.freshfruitfestival.com along with full schedule.

"This year we had a record-setting number of submissions from extremely talented artists," says Festival Founder & Artistic Director Carol Polcovar. "We just had to expand our offering and are very excited to amplify these traditionally unheard artistic voices. We have a play in Spanish, a look at teen 'sexting,' a drag burlesque piece, and many more unique, community-oriented works that are hard to find elsewhere."

Presented over the course of two weeks, the 2013 FRESH FRUIT FESTIVAL showcases the wide spectrum of the LGBTQ community through a diverse array of artistic expression and artists. This year's festival includes 26 plays, 9 dance pieces, 3 cabarets, 2 films, a spoken word evening, the return of the hit queer memoir series, an opera, and a new art retrospective about LGBTQ homeless youth.

The Fresh Fruit Festival is presented by All Out Arts to celebrate the LGBTQ community's unique perspective, creativity & diversity, and to build links between the LGBTQ artistic communities, be they local or international.

Established in 1992, All Out Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to bringing together the diverse artistic, organizational, political and financial resources of the LGBTQ community in order to fight prejudice & intolerance. All Out Arts fulfills its mission by supporting arts organizations within the community through fiscal sponsorship, events, contests, collaborations, networking events for emerging artists, and by sponsoring productions, concerts and exhibitions of visual arts.

The FRESH FRUIT FESTIVAL is presented today, July 8-21 at The Wild Project (195 E 3rd St between Avenue A and B), Nuyorican Poets Café (236 E 3rd St between Avenue B and Loisaida Ave) and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art (26 Wooster St between Grand St and Canal St). Tickets are $10-$18 and can be purchased at www.FreshFruitFestival.com or by calling 212-352-3101. Full Schedule included below.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

MONDAY, JULY 8, 2013
7pm - Sextortion (Theater)*
9pm - All Out Music I: My Big, Fat, Prop 8 Wedding (Music)*

10pm - All Out Music II: The Science of Sex (Music) *

TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2013
7pm - The File on J. Edgar Hoover (Theater)*
9pm - Sextortion (Theater)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013
7pm - After the Chairs (Theater)*
9pm - The File on J. Edgar Hoover (Theater)

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2013
7pm - 29x/y (Theater)*
9pm - The File on J. Edgar Hoover (Theater)

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2013
7pm - 29x/y (Theater)
9pm - The Love Song of Sidney J. Stein (Theater)*

SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2013
2pm - 29x/y (Theater)
4:30pm - The Love Song of Sidney J. Stein (Theater)
7pm - After the Chairs (Theater)
9pm - All Out Dance 2013 (Dance)

SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2013
2pm - Sextortion (Theater)
4:30pm - After the Chairs (Theater)
7pm - The Love Song of Sidney J. Stein (Theater)
9pm - All Out Shorts I: Ten Minute Plays + F*ck My Life (Theater)

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013
7pm - All Out Solos I: Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown (Theater)*
9pm - All Out Music II: Now What!? + At the Other Side of the Earth (Music)*

TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2013
7pm - This is a Play About Being Gay (Theater)*
9pm - The Reception (Theater)*

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013
7pm - This is a Play About Being Gay (Theater)
9pm - Stranger Odds (Theater)*

THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013
7pm - Stranger Odds (Theater)
9pm - All Out Shorts II: Thingification + The First Snuff Film I Ever Saw was in Charleston, South Carolina (Theater)*
10:30pm - All Out Solos II: Mo[u]rnin'. After. (Theater)*

FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2013
7pm - Dwight (Theater)*
9pm - All Out Shorts III: Bridal Shower + Solo Yo Culpable (Theater)*
10:30pm - All Out Solos III: You Are Confused (Theater)*

SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013
12pm - Stranger Odds (Theater)

1pm - Different from the Others (Film @ Nuyorican)*
2pm - All Out Shorts II: Thingification + The First Snuff Film I Ever Saw was in Charleston, South Carolina (Theater)
3pm - What It Was/Eleanor Loves (Film @ Nuyorican)*
4:30pm - Dwight (Theater)
7pm - The Reception (Theater)
9pm - All Out Shorts IV: Saint Kristie + The Other Day (Theater)*
10:30pm - All Out Shorts III: Bridal Shower + Solo Yo Culpable (Theater)

SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2013
12pm - This is a Play About Being Gay (Theater)
12pm - All Out Reading Series: My Last, Best Spouse...or How Lance Loud Saved My Life (Theater @ Nuyorican)
2pm - Dwight (Theater)
2pm - All Out Reading Series: Naked (Theater @ Nuyorican)
4pm - Queer Memoir (Spoken Word @ Nuyorican)
4:30pm - All Out Shorts IV: Saint Kristie + The Other Day (Theater)

*=Festival Premiere

SHOW DETAILS:

ALL OUT THEATER

29X/Y by Marcus Yi (World Premiere) Stories from a bathhouse, soul sellers, sexual want-ads, foxtrotting Democrats, murderous mathematicians and Asians gone bad come together in Marcus Yi's new work. Performs Thursday, July 11 @ 7pm; Friday, July 12 @ 7pm;Saturday, July 13 @ 2pm.

AFTER THE CHAIRS by David Koteles (World Premiere) Koteles remixes Ionesco's absurdist masterpiece The Chairs and completely transforms it for modern gay life. Performs Wednesday, July 10 @ 7pm; Saturday, July 13 @ 7pm; Sunday, July 14 @ 4:30pm.

DWIGHT by Nneoma Nkuku (World Premiere) A story of friendship that proves that blood is thicker than water, but love is stronger than any current deemed unstoppable. Performs Friday, July 19 @ 7pm; Saturday, July 20 @ 4:30pm; Sunday, July 21 @ 2pm.

MISS MAGNOLIA BEAUMONT GOES TO PROVINCETOWN by Joe Hutcheson The award-winning solo comedy about the reincarnation of a Southern debutante returns to NY for a one-night only special engagement. Performs Monday, July 15 @ 7pm.

MO[U]RNIN'. AFTER. by Brigham Mosley A journey to the ancestors and back to the homeland through magic, musicals, and time travel...dream ballets included. Performs Thursday, July 18 @ 10:30pm.

SEXTORTION by PatRick Thomas McCarthy (World Premiere) 2013 Fresh Fruit Award-winner McCarthy takes us on a wild cyber ride into the world of teen "sexting." Performs Monday, July 8 @ 7pm; Tuesday, July 9 @ 9pm; Sunday, July 14 @ 2pm.

THE FILE ON J. EDGAR HOOVER by Steve Gold A revival of the uproariously successful dark comedy based on the life of the FBI Director and his "associate" Clyde Tolson. Performs Tuesday, July 9 @ 7pm; Wednesday, July 10 @ 9pm; Thursday, July 11 @ 9pm.

THE LOVE SONG OF SIDNEY J. STEIN by Brian Petti (World Premiere) A 45-year-old former prostitute and a 17-year-old streetwalker find ways to connect and grow. Performs Friday, July 12 @ 9pm; Saturday, July 13 @ 4:30pm; Sunday, July 14 @ 7pm.

THE RECEPTION by John Gilbert Young (World Premiere) The stage adaptation of John Young's TriBeCa Film Festival hit about a family thrown into disarray following an engagement. Performs Tuesday, July 16 @ 9pm, Saturday, July 20 @ 7pm.

THIS IS A PLAY ABOUT BEING GAY by Teddy Nicholas (World Premiere)

A coming-of-age story, breakups, brunches, and religious conversion therapy meld together in this hilarious three-act experimental comedy. Performs Tuesday, July 16 @ 7pm; Wednesday, July 17 @ 7pm; Sunday, July 21 @ 12pm.

STRANGER ODDS by Rachel Graf Evans (World Premiere) A queer little rom com that tells the story of a group of young hopefuls trying to find their ways through life and love with friendship, first dates, and midnight milkshakes. Performs Wednesday, July 17 @ 9pm; Thursday, July 18 @ 7pm; Saturday, July 20 @ 12pm.

YOU ARE CONFUSED by Eduardo Leanez & Patrick E. Horrigan Menudo, telenovelas, the Miss Venezuela Pageant, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Greg Louganis all collide in this solo play about a gay Latino boy and his mother. Performs Friday, July 19 @ 10:30pm.

ALL OUT SHORTS I: TEN MINUTE PLAYS + F*CK MY LIFE by Xandra Ibarra (NY Premiere) Four winners of our Fresh Fruit Festival short play contest, and featuring the NY premiere of Ibarra's solo burlesque performance piece. Performs Sunday, July 14 @ 9pm.

All Out Shorts II:
Thingification by Duriel Harris (NY Premiere) An exciting journey through time and space documenting the struggle against "Thingification"-an annihilating, objectifying force at the core of all oppressions. + The First Snuff Film I Ever Saw was in Charleston, South Carolina by S. Louis Crowder(World Premiere) A war veteran struggles to re-enter his boyfriend's life and their community of boat people at an intimate Charleston marina. Performs Thursday, July 18 @ 9pm; Saturday, July 20 @ 2pm.

ALL OUT SHORTS III:

BRIDAL SHOWER by Andrew Marvel (World Premiere) When Mark gets an invitation to the very public wedding of his ex boyfriend to an up-and-coming republican Latino politician, he decides the best way to make his presence known is to go in full drag. + ¿SOLO YO CULPABLE? by Jose Luis Donaldson (US Premiere) A drama en espanol taking us through two humanities leased to loneliness. PerformsFriday, July 19 @ 9pm; Saturday, July 20 @ 10:30pm.

ALL OUT SHORTS IV:

SAINT KRISTIE by Andrew Martin (NY Premiere) A young feminist/AIDS activist killed in premature bus accident goes to purgatory and is greeted by God, Satan, Mother Nature and other afterlife figures. + THE OTHER DAY by Mark Williams Two lovers take an emotional journey through insecurities, addiction, betrayal, love, loss and redemption. Performs Saturday, July 20 @ 9pm; Sunday, July 21 @ 4:30pm.

ALL OUT READINGS I: My Last, Best Spouse...or How Lance Loud Saved My Life by Raoul D. Luna A memoir play about the impact of musician/reality show icon Lance Loud on a Latino military brat in the early 1970s. Performs Sunday, July 21 @ 12pm. FREE ADMISSION (@ Nuyorican Poets Café)

ALL OUT READINGS II: NAKED by Brian LaPerche Adrian is gay. Bret is bi. They are a perfectly balanced couple...until they meet Claire at a bar and their relationship and sexual identities are thrown into chaos. Performs Sunday, July 21 @ 2pm. FREE ADMISSION (@ Nuyorican Poets Café)

ALL OUT MUSIC

ALL OUT MUSIC I: My Big, Fat, Proposition 8 Wedding by Tom Rocco An evening of songs and light-hearted anecdotes detailing an "unconventional" path to wedded bliss. Performs Monday, July 8 @ 9pm.

THE SCIENCE OF SEX by Rosie Wilby (U.S. Premiere) UK Funny Women Finalist Rosie Wilby reprises her award-winning show investigating the science of attraction, sexual chemistry and sexual identity. Performs Monday, July 8 @ 10pm.

ALL OUT MUSIC III:
AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH by Marie Incontrera A modern-day lesbian pulp fiction story of love about how one girl learns to "break the rules" in order to find happiness. + NOW WHAT?! by Neil Totton Acclaimed recording artist Neil Totton performs a stirring musical tribute to recent hate crime victims. Performs Monday, July 15 @ 9pm.

ALL OUT DANCE

BUTCHQUEEN by Ferdinand De Jesus (NY Premiere) An ode to the LGBTQ ballroom community. + CENTERED by Jason Torres Hancock (NY Premiere) A ritual to liberate disease from social stigma and irreverent taboo through the effeminate, loving male. + CEREBRAL PURGATION by Michael Clark A random series of events that are unexplainably predetermined to recreate life. + KNOCKED by Robert Mark Burke (World Premiere) A duet inspired by feminine relationships to the Industrial Revolution. + PRETTY LITTLE... by Diane Tomasi A parody on society's expectations for women. + TANGO VESRE by Alvin Rangel (NY Premiere) An examination of male tango partnerships from historic, performance and choreographic perspectives. + THE TRUTH WITHIN by Okwae Miller (World Premiere) A fear, a life, an experience and a personal struggle with the acceptance of homosexuality as reality. +TITTY CONDOMS by McKenna Birmingham A parody of the personal battle between estrogen and testosterone. + UNBROKEN by Barry Webster(World Premiere) A window on the battles couples often find themselves in. Performs Saturday, July 13 @ 9pm.

ALL OUT SPOKEN WORD

(@ Nuyorican Poets Café)

ALL OUT SPOKEN WORD Our annual poetry slam at Nuyorican Poets Café, featuring SHE by London Bridgez + HOW TO LIVE UNDERGROUND by Nicole Goodwin + SOMEWHERE by Larry Patterson. Performs Thursday, July 18 @ 7pm.

ALL OUT FILM

(@ Nuyorican Poets Café)

ALL OUT FILM I: DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS Acclaimed flutist Yael Archer provides a live soundtrack to gay German silent film Different from the Others (1919), one of the earliest portrayals of homosexuals in film. Talkback to follow. Performs Saturday, July 20 @ 1pm.

ALL OUT FILM II: ELEANOR LOVES by Ryan Balas + WHAT IT WAS by Daniel Armando Exclusive test screenings of two lesbian-themed films by award-winning filmmakers Daniel Armando & Ryan Balas. Talkback to follow. Performs Saturday, July 20 @ 3pm.

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