Announcing: the Joy Who Lived 2026 Lineup
This year, we received over 200 submissions of incredible shows for Joy Who Lived. Check out our accepted lineup below, and support the festival by donating, or attending our Oceans Eleven live-read! Tickets will go on sale soon for festival shows!
Gender Heist: support the festival by checking out this event 2/19!
Joy Who Lived 2026
Many of these shows are currently casting and looking for creative teams (directors, designers, and more!). Trans and gender non-conforming folk: check out the calls for actors, directors, and more right here!
Gentlemen's Club 3/31/2026 A Fancy trans comedy show with an all-star lineup Producer - Laser Webber
The Man Who Ate Time 4/1/2026 Set in 2008, this trans comedy play follows Tom, a recently unemployed writer & closeted trans man, in the midst of a midlife crisis after he accidentally summons the Spirit of Time (in human form) to his apartment. With the help of new friends at his local LGBT center’s trans meeting group, Tom learns to heal his broken relationship with Time through poetry & intergenerational dialogue. Producer - Tyler Evan Neufeld now casting + seeking creative team
The Velvet Underdark 4/2/2026 In this trans-centered D&D actual play, Dungeon Maestro Carrie Wogaman takes us into the world of SONDER. Join the rebel faction THE VELVET UNDERDARK on a high stakes mission to liberate the land from the gauntleted fist of FANTASY CORP, a massive corporation dedicated to preservation of fantasy tropes and cliches. Part actual play, part art experiment, the act of creation and improv extends beyond the table as we fabricate everything from character miniatures to portraits to genders live before your very eyes! Producer - Aurora Zenith, Director - KC McGeorge
Yes More Missus Nice Guy 4/3/2026 "Yes More Mrs. Nice Guy is The coziest, warmest, loving-est comedy show we could physically make." Producer - Danielle (Dani) Schindler
It's Alive! LIVE
4/3/2026 Late Night TV is back from the dead in this series of improvised interviews with celebrity monsters. Tune in never-before-seen footage of elusive cryptids. It's multimedia madness brought to you by Orlando's finest improvisers, special effects artists, and video technicians. With your help, the mad doctor and their monsters can prove once and for all - late night isn't dead, It's Alive! LIVE. Producer - Casey Berkery
Christopher Nolan Hates Women 4/3/2026 You know when you have a really unpopular opinion, and it feels like you're the guy in a noir film with the Secret Knowledge You Never Asked For, and everyone around you gets hostile when you try to say something about it? That's what it's like to realize that Christopher Nolan hates women. He likes them evil, he likes them dead, and he likes them both--but he's a Sacred Art Dude, so, y'know, "it's a noir pastiche," or "it's actually a commentary," or "please be quiet, I'm trying to watch David Bowie be Nikola Tesla." Join Theo as he tries to escape from inside a Christopher Nolan movie, persuade you that he is correct about your favorite director hating women, and confront the harms of his own Sacred Art Dude. Producer - Theo Embeck
Kid Power 4/4/2026 A kid-friendly variety show! Producer - Jiavani
Please Be Nice To Me 4/4/2026 Please Be Nice To Me, the show about cutthroat kindness and radical empathy Producer - Charlotte A McGrath
Short Play Incubator Showcase 4/4/2026 The Joy 2 Lived Short Play Incubator & Showcase is an opportunity for new and emerging trans/GNC playwrights to develop a short script for the stage from inspiration to production. Come with ideas, be open to collaboration, and get ready to write, revise, cast and rehearse your original 10-20 minute play. casting soon
Genderchella: Your GNC mini-music festival 4/4/2026 Coachella for queers! The ultimate new concert featuring original comedic music and serious music from your favorite GNC musicians. Hosted by Dahlya Glick (they/them) and Couplet (Micah (they/them, Marnina (they/she)). Producer - Dahlya Glick
Hear Us Out! 4/4/2026 Hosts Ivy and Lauren debate your wackiest crushes with the help of a panel of guest judges. No normies, no kids, and no judgment! Producer - Lauren Koch now casting
Meeting in My Mind 4/5/2026 Meeting in My Mind follows a group of troubled misfits as they discuss the ups and downs of life during a meeting for alcoholics. With characters coming from wildly different backgrounds, this one-woman-show explores the themes of identity, belonging, self-worth, and an innate desire for human connection, all while making you laugh (and maybe cry just a little bit.) Producer - Boone Williams / seeking director
Robo Waitress Assassins, a cyberpunk action dramedy live reading 4/5/2026 In a world where murder is legal, a cybernetic waitress is used to assassinate anyone the mega-company known as “Corporate” wants out of the way. But a personal catastrophe spurs her to defy her programming and expose Corporate to save others like herself. A full-cast live reading of a trans, queer, cyberpunk action dramedy pilot! Producer - Tilly Bridges / now casting
Smitten
4/7/2026 Dolly is a young waitress who, after receiving anonymous letters and polaroids, finds herself the target of a stalker. Her boss, Marlene, and best friend, Margot, support Dolly but are skeptical. Who can you trust when you can't even trust yourself? Producer - Lars Toler
Queer Countdown 4/5/2026 What better way to celebrate queer brilliance than taking a gaggle of LGBTQ+ comedians and making them do math? Look, there's only so many ways we can make "finding words and playing with numbers" sound interesting on the page, but we promise it'll be fun to watch. Producer - Ben Paddon, Producer - Laser Webber
Access Denied 4/5/2026 Access Denied is like Bottoms mixed with Sorry, Baby but led by neurodiverse, nonbinary best friends with a platonic love powerful enough to survive giant robots and mutant pigeons that feast on eyeballs. Together, they’re going 110% battling for their lives and loved ones, determined to reclaim their financial and bodily autonomy in an alternate scifi apocalyptic reality from our own. Producer - Heather Muriel Nguyen and Valerie Rose Lohman / now casting + seeking asst director
LIBROS 4/5/2026 Two very hot, sexy, charming and healed (yes fully healed) Libras/bros take a night off from being perfect to lean into their judgmental dark side. With the help of an audience equipped with red and green flags, the Libros Petey and Vico shamelessly judge 5 comedian "contestants" on their life choices, past behaviors, and - of course - their signs. Find out who gets Redeemed and who gets Judgement Gayed. Producer - Vico Ortiz, Producer - Petey Gibson
Ancestor
4/8/2026 is a love letter to the ideals of the Syrian revolution: freedom, dignity, and daddy issues. Part clown, part stand-up, part fever dream, the show explores a Syrian clown's struggle to assert their voice under the watchful, exasperated eye of their ancient desert ancestor. The show is a love letter of sorts to the ideals of the Syrian revolution: freedom, dignity, and daddy issues. Producer - Edib Farhan
Holy Mother - Live Table Read 4/6/2026 From the silly, horny mind of trans woman comedian, Fifi Dosch, we present to you a live table read of her comedy feature film script "Holy Mother," a comedy about a militant trans woman from Texas who miraculously becomes pregnant and a cult of Christians starts following her thinking she is the mother of the Second Coming of Jesus. Come see some of LA's funniest trans comedians perform a film script described by many little bitch Hollywood executives as "unhinged!" Producer - Fifi Dosch
Urgent Care 4/7/2026 After a messy breakup, Ellis comes back into Al's life, bringing miraculous consequences. Producer - Warren Riley
Banana Man: LIVE 4/8/2026 In a world where there are only two kinds of fruits - apples and bananas - what fruit are you? Banana wants to know! Or at least, Banana USED TO want to know, before it became incluseeve. Now Banana wants to tell you and all your fruity friends about its heroic journey from close-minded bigot to friend of fruit salads. Producer - Ari Fromm seeking director
No Access 4/8/2026 No Access is a peek into the absurdity of navigation life as a disabled person Producer - Diana Hurtado
Another Mask 4/9/2026 Join Nazi-fighter artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore as they transgress identity and time in this swirling, shifting, theatrical collage. Producer - Stabatha Goldberg & Eugene Kreitzberg
Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon 4/9/2026 Marnina and Micah had a pitch-perfect wedding, minus the venue burning down. Now they're on their actual honeymoon, chasing off existential dread with catchy songs and Muppet-y energy. 'There's nothing they can't sing and laugh their way through' (New York Times). 'Catchy, memorable lyrics… infectious' (LarchmontBuzz.com). 'Non-stop hilarious… a show that embraces all the hard stuff and still leaves you feeling lighter' (Emmy-winner Rob Kutner (Conan, Daily Show)). Directed by Fringe champions Chris Grace and Eric Michaud. Couplet recently garnered two Hollywood Fringe awards, two nominations, and >5 million views online! Producer - Micah O'Konis
Transformative Revue 4/10/2026 Drag / Burlesque / Gender = yes Producer - Warumono now accepting submissions
The Solarpunk Revolution: A Hopecore Revue 4/10/2026 What kind of world do you want to live in? Imagine with us in this DIY musical. Created by an ensemble of actors, poets, musicians, and hooligans, this show asks, What is still good in the world? A musical journey through whimsy, rage, grief, healing, and finally, hope. Producer - Nivi Canela (now accepting submissions!)
Gendermation! An Hour of Queer/Trans Animation 4/11/2026 A full hour of animation by trans and nonbinary filmmakers, curated by Tucker Wooley. Producer - Tucker Wooley (now accepting submissions!)
Snappy Campers 4/11/2026 SNAPPY CAMPERS is a musical improv show where a cast of campers and counselors reflect on all the memories - the good, the bad, the hilariously traumatic and the traumatically hilarious - from one very special summer at summer camp. Through song, of course. What’s a campfire without a song or two? Producer - Kami Henderson
Archive Of Our Prov 4/11/2026 "Fanficprov is an hour-long improv comedy show, inspired by the highest of art forms, fan fiction. Help us create a love story out of thin air--we hope you give us kudos <3 Producer - Luca Franklin-Willis now casting
PT Plays House (as alfie)
4/11/2026 PT Plays House (as alfie) is a drag-hosted comedy sitcom staged like a live house party, where stand-up comedians appear as “commercial breaks”, then get trapped onstage and forced into an improvised play until the next comic arrives. Producer - PT
Oops, All Trans! Improv Jam 4/11/2026 Leave the allies at home and come jam with us! This is a free event open to all Trans and Non Binary performers of any experience level. The Oops! All Trans! Improv Jam will take place during the improv block of a full day of programming at the LA LGBT Center to help close out the Joy Who Lived festival. Feel safe, be silly, do some 'prov!
An Improv Trans-travaganza 4/11/2026 The hottest improv cast in town making you laugh and question reality Producer - Peat Hurst
The Alleged Travels of Marco Polo 4/12/2026 This show is an absurdist, zeitgeisty, intentionally historically inaccurate retelling of Marco Polo's travels to China. It's a story about how the "winners" who history is told by are actually kind of losers. Writer - Emily Westheimer, Producer - Hann Crews
Danielle She/Her 4/11/2026 “Danielle She/Her” is a one-woman sketch dramedy about quitting drinking and becoming a lady. The creator and performer, Danielle Steger, has appeared at Philly Sketchfest, DC Sketchfest, and SketchFest Seattle as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Capital Fringe Festival. Producer - Danielle Steger
NPCs 4/12/2026 A brand new original pilot about the ignored townsfolk along the way of a fantasy adventure Producer - Riley Silverman now casting
TWINK DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE 4/12/2026 TWINK DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE is a dark comedy that follows a Korean skincare-obsessed Korean American gay trans guy trying to outrun his twink death. Braiding together queer and Korean traditional funeral rites, the play follows Twink as he is forced to face his biggest fear: running out of time. Producer - Oscar K.
The Gay Agenda 4/12/2026 Logline: A timid Louisiana freshman haphazardly assembles a Genders and Sexualities Alliance, much to the dismay of the evangelical establishment—and the out queer kids at his school. Producer - Kayden R. Martinez / now casting
It's a Trans Sexual Life! 4/12/2026 From the creator of "Emperor Pigs: Pizza & Cigs" and author of Amazon bestseller "You're a Girl Now Suck It: Self Help for Sissies" comes this surreal and vaguely autobiographical tale of Persephone Rose, a depressed BDSM crisis actor who finds herself in an alternate reality where she never Transitioned. Producer - Persephone Rose now casting + seeking designer
I Don't Get It... 4/12/2026 Everyone in her life is surprised when Chloe comes out as trans, especially her former teammates. Her identity as a football playing bouncer puts many of her friendships in a precarious position as she navigates an ocean of her own emotions and the reactions of others. This performance will bring you inside the gayest environment Chloe has ever experienced, her men's college locker room, and follows her evolving vision of herself through the lens of her friendship with a former teammate/roommate, Ike. Producer - Chloe Corcoran
Anastasia Scrooge, or A Christmas Carol But Make It Trans (Staged Reading) 4/12/2026 In a town full of queer love and Christmas cheer, is Ebenezer Scrooge a bitter old cishet man, or a trans woman stuck in her masculine shell? Producer - Becca McGlynn
Trans Mom vs Family Court: Justice Sees No Gender 4/12/2026 Set inside a 1995 trans custody battle, Trans Mom vs. Family Court: Justice Sees No Gender is a true courtroom drama charged with tension, curiosity, and moral conflict. As belief, fear, and law collide, resilience is tested in real time, with live, original music driving the emotional pulse of the story. Producer - Rejyna Douglass-Whitman