{"id":413,"date":"2025-04-02T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2025-05-03T15:09:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T15:09:39","slug":"at-the-fresh-fruit-festival-nyu-students-bring-gay-to-the-stage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/02\/at-the-fresh-fruit-festival-nyu-students-bring-gay-to-the-stage-2\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYU students bring gay to the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Broadway has its fair share of LGBTQ+ representation \u2014 think musicals like \u201c& Juliet\u201d and plays like \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d \u2014 but at the Fresh Fruit Festival, there is an abundance of it. From awkward, middle-aged sex scenes to steamy sauna soirees, the weeklong festival, presented by New York nonprofit All Out Arts, honors the work of LGBTQ+ performers, writers and directors and gives a space for representative works to be performed and celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

All Out Arts\u2019 Play Development Week, a part of the Fresh Fruit Festival which ran from March 26 to March 30, included a 10-minute-play contest, in which seven to eight plays are performed each night for a voting audience and a panel of judges. The audience chose the best two shows of each night, and the judges selected a favorite. These top three plays then went on to perform again on the last night of the festival. Other events in the week included staged readings and an additional short play series called \u201cAll That Glitters,\u201d which featured several NYU student performers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One play performed on the first night of the 10-minute-play competition, \u201cThe Ball,\u201d was directed by Tisch sophomore Simon Tosenovsky. Though it was not chosen for the final round of performances, the play captured the complex emotions while healing from a breakup, and allowed the main character\u2019s LGBTQ+ identity to just be a part of his story rather than the focal point of the play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by playwright Emily Turner, \u201cThe Ball\u201d is about a man named Zak (Eli Lane) who has recently broken up with his boyfriend and adopts a dog to move on from his relationship. The one-man show, accompanied by very minimal staging, is delivered monologue-style as Zak tries to coerce the shy dog out from under a couch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy sexuality goes hand in hand with my direction,\u201d Tosenovsky said. \u201cI\u2019m attracted to the inner essence of people and how beauty shines through. When I\u2019m directing actors and finding the \u2018why\u2019 of a piece, that goes hand in hand because I\u2019m trying to understand that essence in a piece.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being in a space where LGBTQ+ people are celebrated has been a privilege for Tosenovsky, who is grateful for New York City\u2019s extensive queer culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to an all-boys private high school that was a bit ruinous for queer culture, and that part of my identity was always stifled,\u201d he said. \u201cComing to New York, it\u2019s been amazing to see how vibrant and open it is and how anyone can be who they are.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lane, a sophomore at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, has acted in several films at NYU, but made his Fresh Fruit Festival debut in \u201cThe Ball\u201d as Zak. He said that playing a gay character and getting to be a part of a festival that highlights the LGBTQ+ community is very special to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll Out Arts is a really important organization and it feels really nice to be a part of something like this, especially now,\u201d Tosenovsky said. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor really.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other plays from the night included \u201cA Planned Spontaneity,\u201d a play about two middle-aged actors who are rehearsing their intimate on-screen scene, and \u201cHot,\u201d a story of two young gay men battling the tension of a sauna \u2014 both of which were chosen by the audience to perform at the final showcase. \u201cTHE POEM,\u201d a play about a woman who confesses her romantic feelings for her best friend through a poem, won the Judges\u2019 Choice award.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A scene that is part of the play \u201cA Planned Spontaneity.\u201d (Ivy Chan for WSN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was great to see the other shows,\u201d Tosenovsky said. \u201cWe really only got to briefly meet the other people working on the festival in tech runs earlier in the week, so it was cool to watch them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the last 30 years, All Out Arts has been dedicated to bringing together the LGBTQ+ community to fight intolerance, prejudice and homophobia. Through events like the Fresh Fruit Festival, the organization aims to resist hatred and elevate the voices of LGBTQ+ artists, and for Tosenovsky, lifting up LGBTQ+ art is critical now more than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, in the context of American politics and everything that’s going on, being a part of this is really valuable,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m honored to be a part of the festival.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact Dylan Henschen at culture@nyunews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story At the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYU students bring gay to the stage<\/a> appeared first on Washington Square News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Broadway has its fair share of LGBTQ+ representation \u2014 think musicals like \u201c& Juliet\u201d and plays like \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d \u2014 but at the Fresh Fruit Festival, there is an abundance of it. From awkward, middle-aged sex scenes to steamy sauna soirees, the weeklong festival, presented by New York nonprofit All Out Arts, honors the work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.diamondstatemanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}