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# Support Trans and Women Artists at the Corkscrew Theater Festival and Other Queer Events in NYC
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/corkscrew-theater-festival-and-other-queer-events-in-nyc/
- Published: 2018-07-13T22:24:03.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:55:14.000Z
- Description: There's lots of queer performance in New York this month, including the Corkscrew Theater Festival, the Trans Theatre Festival, the Fresh Fruits Festival, and the HOT! Festival.
- Author: Zachary Small
- Tags: Art, Events, LGBTQ, Theater, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-18 14:37 (2018)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/07/productions-yellow-outline.jpg)

Photo of production team members for the plays of Corkscrew Theater Festival. (photo courtesy Cortney Armitage)

The summer is a time when most galleries are guilty of half-hearted programming. ([Jeff Koons](https://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/jeff-koons--may-30-2018?ref=hyperallergic.com) *and*[ Damien Hirst](https://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/damien-hirst--may-05-2018?ref=hyperallergic.com)? Really, Gagosian? *Je pleure.)* Fortunately, the rough-and-tumble people of downtown theater offers its most brilliant, experimental work in these hottest months when the rich have fled to the Hamptons.

[Corkscrew Theater Festival](https://corkscrewfestival.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is entering its second year with a near-complete roster of trans people and women as playwrights, producers, directors, and actors. Works like [“Pie Shop Play”](https://corkscrewfestival.org/pie-shop-play?ref=hyperallergic.com) (July 20–29) offer something a lot more absurdist and bizarre than what you’ll likely see in an Off-Broadway playhouse. Two sisters struggling to run their dessert store together end up stuck in a dramatic fight of gibberish and jumbled English when a pipe bursts, releasing toxic gas into their bakery.

Other productions promise something a bit more beautiful, if also cruel. A finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwright’s Conference, Anya Richkind’s “The End of Mermaids” (July 12–22) tempts to reawaken your childhood fantasy of joining Ariel under the sea — just pay no attention to the nearby alligators. If you’re looking for a different kind of mermaid this summer, there are several queer-themed theater festivals worth investigating. Try out the [Trans Theatre Festival](https://www.bricktheater.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (July 9–22) at The Brick in Brooklyn. [Fresh Fruits Festival](http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/upcoming-events/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (July 9–22) at The WILD Project will also have its 16th consecutive run. There’s also Dixon Place’s [HOT! Festival](http://dixonplace.org/category/hot-festival/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (July 13–28), which bills itself as the longest-running LGBTQ festival in the world presenting “queer theater, dance, music, literature, puppetry, comedy, and homoeroticism for the whole family!”

**When:** July 10–August 5  
**Where:** Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan)