Former Orlando Fringe Festival producing artistic director Beth Marshall and Colorado producer Josie Nixon have braved crossing the border back to Florida to give a defiant theatrical middle finger to the patriarchy in general, and our governor in particular. Juice the Tragedy Clown, who helps Colorado storytellers develop their tales, takes the helm as the androgynous MC, emerging from the back of the venue to energize the audience with an impassioned monologue invoking curses down upon oppressors, an appropriately over-the-top introduction for the “stories meant to inspire anything other than apathy” that are about to follow.
Each performance features a different Fringe veteran — including Mike Marinaccio, Bobby Westley, Katie Thayer, Jamaal Solomon and Tabi — sharing their deeply personal narratives about trauma and growth. At the press preview, Theresa Smith Levin’s name was drawn from the hat, and she delivered a barn-burning tragicomic monologue about being a recovering eldest daughter with a superheroine obsession who has to wade through the misogyny of mediocre men that populate the swamp of nonprofit arts.
The headlining act at every show is “Paducah Cheerleader,” Beth Marshall’s heart-rending teenage memoir about interracial dating in racist rural Kentucky. I’ve heard Marshall share her story before, but never with such dramatic visual impact as here, with young Ella Hadley displaying impressive emotional range portraying Beth circa 1984. During intermission, Juice reads juicy PostSecret-style anonymous audience confessions.
No matter your identity group, anyone can grasp onto a shared emotion or relationship that will help you identify with these empathy-eliciting performers. Fighting against divisiveness with a firestorm of partisan polemics seem oxymoronic, but right now a good “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore” screed can be cathartic. Exposed isn’t being subtle about what side it stands on, and one look at the news says this is no time for nuance.
Beth and Josie Exposed (F*%K De$antis)
Pink Venue, Lowndes Shakespeare Center
60 minutes, 18 & up
$15
Get tickets
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This article appears in May 14-20, 2025.