A Pride-season audience favorite, the FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL of Trans and Queer Performance, is back with exquisite, extraordinary dance, theater, and live music—June 19–21 at Z Space theater in San Francisco.
Featuring a star-studded lineup of world champion bachata dancers, gorgeous trans-americana music, stunning South Asian contemporary dance, cutting-edge drag performance artists, comedy, and more, the festival promises to bring joy, beauty, and resistance to the stage at a time our communities need it most.
At a time of unprecedented attacks on trans and queer communities, the 24th annual FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL resists erasure and celebrates our communities unapologetically.
“Audiences look forward to the festival all year long,” founding Artistic Director Sean Dorsey told the San Francisco Bay Times. “It truly is a love fest! The artistry is stunning, the energy is electric, and the performances offer audiences a re-charge … and healing.” Dorsey is an Emmy Award-winning transgender choreographer who has toured his work to over 35 cities across the U.S. and abroad.
Los Angeles-based comedic storyteller D’Lo returns to the festival after many years and shares, “The FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL is absolutely an important event for not just trans folks, but for queer folks and allies. And it’s a space that’s meant to fortify not just audiences but performers, because of the careful and deliberate manner in which the festival is artistically curated to be a radical and loving space for us all to share and be seen and celebrated.”
The full lineup includes: Aísha Noir, D’Lo, Ishami Dance Company, Jahaira and Angelica, JanpiStar, Mudd the Two Spirit, Sean Dorsey Dance, Shawna Virago, and hostess Churro Nomi.
Managing Director Eric Garcia co-directs Fresh Meat Productions with Dorsey, and is celebrated as their drag persona Churro Nomi and their monthly club Clutch The Pearls. As Co-Director of Detour Productions, Garcia creates immersive, queer performances. Garcia said, “The FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL, after 24 years, is still here! In the face of burnout, surveillance, censorship, defunding, and disinformation—we’re still showing up, still making work, still creating space for artists and truth-telling.”
Dorsey added, “This festival is about more than performance: it’s about gathering, building sanctuary, reclaiming the body, the stage, and the future. The FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL reminds us that joy, rigor, care, and resistance can coexist.”
This year’s festival is brimming with world premieres—including new works commissioned especially for the festival through Fresh Meat’s FRESH WORKS! Program. Look for new works by JanpiStar, Mudd The Two-Spirit, Aísha Noir—and Ishami Dance Company, who will premiere “Tehzeeb,” a new work that explores South Asian culture through a contemporary and queer lens.
Blending classical movement with subversive flair, Tehzeeb celebrates the intersections of heritage and queerness, asking: What power, beauty, and resistance emerge when tradition meets self-expression?
As Amit Patel, Director of Ishami Dance Company said, “Ishami Dance Company is proud to debut this work at the FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL 2025. Especially in a time of rising anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, spaces like FRESH MEAT FEST aren’t just important; they’re essential sites of visibility, resistance, and collective joy.”
Bay Area drag superstar Mudd The Two-Spirit shares, “I will be performing an original piece featuring local drag artists Major Hammy, Glamputee, Cheetah Biscotti, and Sassi Fran. It will feature lip sync, choreography, and all POC talent! The piece is about the community you can find in nonconformity within the bounds of capitalism. Many of us were not made to serve the machine that has been actively working against us, no matter how much you try to adapt to it; if you can break away from it, whether by rejection, by choice, or by personal expansion, there is always something that can feel far more gratifying if you just exist in the way that you want to exist.”
Fresh Meat Productions is a beloved fixture in the Bay Area performance scene—known not only for their annual festival, but also resident dance company Sean Dorsey Dance, FRESH WORKS! and TRANSfutures artist commissions, trans-supportive dance classes, and advocacy for intersectional trans justice in the performing arts.
Garcia said, “The festival believes that artists are the stewards of our collective future. We create the worlds we want to live in—bold, brilliant, accessible, unapologetically trans and queer, and full of joy. That’s what you’ll see at this year’s festival!”
Get your joy on at the 2025 FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL. Advance tickets are recommended for this popular event.
ASL Interpretation will be provided at all performances. Z Space is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender bathrooms. KN95 masks will be provided and required.
2025 FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL of Transgender and Queer Performance
June 19–21, 2025 (all shows at 8 pm)
Z Space (450 Florida Street, San Francisco, 94110)
All performances feature ASL Interpretation
Tickets/Info/Access Information: http://freshmeatproductions.org/
View a trailer for the festival at https://bit.ly/3T6FUoZ
Arts & Entertainment
Published on June 12, 2025
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