Fresh Fruit Festival

09/01/2026

After having NO city grant this past season (for the 1st time in 24 years) I am sitting here trying to plan an upcoming "25th Anniversary Season" with NO CLUE as to the progress of our 5 month old current grant request. I know we live in a very enlightened region, but I can't help think of all our 'sister' organizations who are in the same boat with us, (or a worse one)!

TARGETED ANTI-CULTURE? WELCOME TO THE CLUB- It's coming for everyone soon. VOTE WITH CARE!

​To help address the upcoming shortfall, the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus has set up a GoFundMe.

09/01/2026

__ 'Speak Up - Speak Out' department:
While working in San Francisco one summer and stopped at a small gathering of "Pride" followers helping an art gallery get publicity. A carful of religious zealots showed up with picket signs shouting "SIN!" and "Going To Hell" etc. A bystander said "This is a job for THE SISTERS! and jumped in a phone booth. A few minutes later a van arrived and what seemed like a small army of the Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence got out in their Nuns' habits (and beards) and totally surrounded the anti-gay hecklers. Marching around them in a circle they pointed at them, while endlessly shouting "No More Guilt!" The protesters ran for their car.

I was told, this was typical, The Sisters, odd as they could sometimes be, were always a force for good.

The documentary Hunky Jesus spotlights the surprising, subversive, and saintly history of the q***r radical organization.

08/13/2026

National Q***r Theater
We have long considered the NQT as a sister organization to us in the fight for free expression, and with that the freedom from fear of persecution. We consider their Criminal Q***rness Festival to be perhaps the most important part of their mission, and our Alumni would do well to help promote it.

This August 31st is the deadline for applying to that June Festival. Like us they remove the financial burdens from their guest artists and create a sheltered environment for development. Please help spread the word, world wide, to any authors you know who may benefit.

They use the same email handler as we do; I tested the following link and it is safe. -Louis Lopardi, AOA Executive Director.

National Q***r Theater is now accepting submissions for the 9th annual Obie Award-winning Criminal Q***rness Festival (CQF), which will take place in New York City in June 2027. CQF strives to uplift and amplify new theatrical works by LGBTQ+ artists from countries that censor or criminalize q***r c...

04/30/2026

In case anyone missed the last Eblast on current events, you can get a copy here:

01/07/2026

There IS still time . . . But this is the FINAL CALL ending Thursday night January 15, 2026. You can always revise your entry, but get that application form in by then.
(photo, Louis: The cast of Parick McCarthy's "Sextortion," Festival 2007. APPLY: https://freshfruitfestival.com/mainstage26-app/

12/25/2025

Murray Hill, a FFF supporter & performer since our earliest years, had a "surprise show within a performance" at his annual fete at Lincoln Center's Tully hall last Saturday. Read All About It Here:

The actor and drag king hosts “A Murray Little Christmas” each year. At this year’s Lincoln Center performance, he married Michelle Cathey-Casino.

12/16/2025

General Submissions for the 2026 Festival MAINSTAGE are now open! Submissions Close on January 16. And Yes, we are back in our home theater of many years, THE WILD PROJECT - Monday APRIL 20 through Sunday MAY 3rd. Please read the entire submissions page before applying. THANKS! https://freshfruitfestival.com/mainstage26-app/