FreSh Meat Festival 2025
Of Trans and Queer Performance
June 19-21
on Z Space’s Steindler Stage
The wildly-popular FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL is back with edgy, exquisite, extraordinary dance, theater and live music…and a cornucopia of regional and world premieres! These award-winning artists offer gorgeous, loving, bold, beautiful artistry brimming with innovation, resilience and joy. This year, the festival features 8 artists: World champion bachata dancers, bad-ass trans-americana music, South Asian contemporary dance, cutting-edge drag performance artists, hilariously gorgeous storytelling, and MORE.
The FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL is excited to premiere 4 new pieces commissioned especially for the festival by the 2025 FRESH WORKS! commissioned artists: Aísha Noir, Mudd the Two Spirit, Ishami Dance Company, and JanpiStar. The festival lineup also features: D’Lo, Jahaira and Angelica, Sean Dorsey Dance, Shawna Virago, and femme-cee Churro Nomi!
*** All performances will provide ASL Interpretation; KN95 masks will be provided/required; Z Space theater is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender bathrooms.
2025 FESTIVAL ARTISTS
Mudd the Two Spirit (he/they/she) is a deaf/Hoh, neurodivergent, BiPoc multidisciplinary drag artist living in the Bay Area. Mudd focuses their performance style around their multiply marginalized identities and has a richness of depth and perspective that they have acquired through self-exploration within the support of their diverse communities.
Aísha Noir (she/her/Goddess) is the Emerald City Queen all the way from Seattle, WA. Her music is a blend of poetry, politics, BARZ, and pussy. You can follow her on IG and X @theaishanoir. Her two top hits EMERALD CITY feat CarLarans and ISSUES feat Meysha is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. Her cashapp is $randybaby, venmo @Randy-Ford-3. Her website is therandyford.com.
JanpiStar (they/them) was born and raised in Puerto Rico. They moved to Oakland, California to joined AXIS Dance Company in 2018. Janpi has been commissioned in the Bay Area by different festivals and organizations, such as: Queering Dance Festival in 2019, 2020 & 2022 and the Fresh Meat Production in 2021 , 2022 & 2023. In the last two years JanpiStar has developed a new way to express themselves doing drag shows. Janpi has performed at the MOMA SF, the California Academy fo Science and Oaklash 2023 and 2024.
Ishami Dance Company is an Award-winning South Asian Contemporary dance company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They combine elements of South Asian Classical and Folk dance forms with Western dance forms, treading the line between traditional and modern. Ishami was founded by Amit Patel & Ishika Seth to spark conversations through art. Their mission is to explore, unite and amplify the diverse voices, stories and histories of the South Asian diaspora and dismantle social and cultural constructs. They aspire to show the beauty, depth and immense range of South Asian Contemporary movement locally and across the globe.
Shawna Virago (she/her) Singer-Songwriter Shawna Virago is one America’s first openly transgender women to perform and tour nationally, to critical acclaim. She has been performing as her true self since the early 1990’s. Her career, spanning decades, is a storied journey of breaking barriers, challenging norms, and creating a powerful blend of punk and country music that resonates deeply with listeners from all walks of life.
Angelica & Jahaira with In Lak’ech Dance Academy (she/her) are two-time world champions and visionary leaders in the dance world. As co-founders of In Lak’ech Dance Academy, the first Queer Afro Latin Dance Academy in the United States, they have reshaped the landscape of dance, breaking barriers and creating space for LGBTQ+ dancers to thrive. They are also the founders of the Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival, the first Queer Latin dance festival in the country, now in its 7th year, a testament to their pioneering impact on the community.
D’Lo (he/they) is an LA-based queer/trans actor, writer, and comic whose work spans stand-up, solo theater, film, and TV. His solo shows Ramble-Ations, D’FunQT, and To T, or Not To T have toured internationally, and his stand-up show D’FaQTo Life tours colleges nationwide. Featured in LA Times, The Guardian, and NPR’s CodeSwitch, his latest tv credits include QUANTUM LEAP, and Billy Eichner’s BROS. A USC Senior Civic Media Fellow, he’s also received writing award/fellowships from Center Theater Group and Center for Cultural Power. He leads writing and comedy workshops nationally, including his “Coming Out, Coming Home” for South Asian and immigrant LGBTQ groups. dlocokid.com
Sean Dorsey Dance has uplifted Trans and Queer bodies and lives for 20 seasons, and has toured to over 35 cities across the US and internationally. SDD’s Artistic Director Sean Dorsey is the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions – and an Emmy award-winning choreographer, dancer, writer, educator and activist.
NEW THIS YEAR: COMMUNITY CLASSES!
To kick off the 2025 Festival, Fresh Meat is excited to announce a new series of classes on three Wednesdays (May 28, June 4, June 11) at the nearby Joe Goode Annex + NOHSpace, featuring: Jess Bozzo (6/11: Queer Pop! Jazz Funk Choreo), Pangaea Colter (5/28: Body & Breath - Open Level Singing), Antoine Hunter (6/4: Urban Jazz Dance)
For more information & registration, visit freshmeatproductions.org.
ACCESS INFORMATION:
- Z Space’s entrance, lobby, bathrooms and audience seating areas are wheelchair accessible.
- KN95 masks will be provided and required
- The front row of theater seats are at floor level; all other rows of seating are on risers and require climbing stairs. The front row will be reserved for accessible seating, wheelchair users, mobility-device users, and people who would like to use extra-wide, armless chairs. The front row of seating features armless chairs; all other chairs in the theater have non-moveable arms.
- If you need to reserve accessible seating, please email us at boxoffice@zspace.org. There will also be an opportunity to indicate access needs online while purchasing tickets. Please specify your access need (e.g. if you’re a wheelchair user coming with one companion; if you need an extra-wide, armless chair; if you need to be seated in the ASL seating area).
- Z Space’s bathrooms are all-gender.
- There will not be a scent-reduced seating section for this event.
- Identification (ID) is not required to purchase or pick up tickets.
- Each program will feature ASL Interpretation: please let us know when you’re coming (email: boxoffice@zspace.org).
- If you plan to bring a service animal/ESA, we request that you email boxoffice@zspace.org so we can best plan for your visit and reserve you an aisle seat.
COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR THIS EVENT
- KN95 masks will be provided and required for this event. Audience is required to be KN95 masked for the entirety of their time inside the building. Our staff will provide KN95 masks to everyone before they enter the building (unless someone’s disability, chronic illness or health condition means they cannot wear a mask).
- By attending the Fresh Meat Festival, you agree to the following: You do not have any signs of contagious illness (COVID or otherwise), including pink eye, that aren’t fully explained by a non-contagious health condition that you have, If you have had COVID, it’s been at least 10 days since your first symptoms or positive test if you were asymptomatic.
