Orlando Fringe
Queer! at Orlando Fringe Credit: Courtesy Photo

A decade after the Pulse Nightclub tragedy made visible the vulnerability of Orlando’s queer Latinx citizens, Descolonizarte Teatro (Desco) is shining a spotlight on the community’s continuing vibrant vitality with their Orlando Fringe revival of Queer!

Under director Nadia Garzon, the five-member ensemble of LGBTQ-identifying performers — Mimi Batista, Leandra “Slim” Diaz, Jon Jimenez, Natalia Soler and Alejandro “Nico Speed” Montano — collaborated to devise this emotional collage of storytelling and singing based on their personal experiences. It begins with a bracing pedestrian movement piece that uses Viewpoints-style techniques to turn Spanish sexual slurs into a disturbingly hypnotic dance.

From there, they take turns sharing intimate anecdotes about “coming-out stories that never got to come out,” in an effort to transform anti-queer curses from weapons into magic shields. The text flows freely between both English and Espanol, but no te preocupes if you are monolingual, because subtitle screens flank the stage. Each actor gets multiple opportunities to shine — Nico’s serpentine soliloquy about sibilant S’s and soft wrists; Mimi’s folklorico guitar strumming; Jon’s punk-rock outbursts — but Leandra’s lyrical Beat-inflected prose, with haunting refrains about “hiding the loudest part of myself,” made the biggest imprint on me.

Queer! is an emotionally harrowing yet ultimately uplifting exploration of important issues — including overlooked ones like bi erasure and straight-presenting privilege — that should be considered essential viewing for family and allies alike. I only wish that Desco had shaved a few seconds off to squeeze into a 60-minute timeslot, lest anyone skip it because it’s over an hour.

Descolonizarte Teatro, Inc. (Orlando, FL)
Silver Venue, Orlando Family Stage
70 minutes; 13 and up
Tickets: $15

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This article appears in Orlando Fringe 2026.