BARBIE SMITH: GOD’S FAVORITE TEASE Set To Perform At Hollywood Fringe
Yamini Nambimadom stars in the solo show, directed by Rami Kablawi, at Davidson/Valentini Theatre.
Barbie Smith: God's Favorite Tease is set to run at the Los Angeles LGBT Center as part of the 2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Directed by Rami Kablawi and starring Yamini Nambimadom, the show is structured as a Christian abstinence seminar led by Barbie Smith, a widowed Texas pageant queen who is visibly trembling with shame and sexual frustration.
Barbie Smith lands in LA at a time when politicians and public figures champion conservative values and roll back trans and reproductive rights. Part sermon, part spiral, Barbie Smith: God's Favorite Tease interrogates the hypocrisy and dehumanization at the heart of these purity politics. Barbie's unraveling explores the consequences of "goodness" being lauded while "deviance" is punished. Audiences who have ever sat in a seminar applauding ideas that later became their shame will find something uncomfortably familiar here.
Premiered at the Elysian Spaghetti Festival '25. HFF26 Scholarship Honorable Mention.
Performances will take place on Sunday, June 7th - 9:15 PM - $15 (Preview), Tuesday, June 23rd - 5 PM - $10 and Saturday, June 27th - 1:30 PM - $15. The event will take place at Davidson / Valentini Theatre - 1123 N McCadden Place #229, Los Angeles, CA. Tickets can be reserved at the Hollywood Fringe's website
About Yamini Nambimadom
YAMINI NAMBIMADOM is a queer Indian-American actor, writer, and comedian based in Los Angeles. She began performing at a young age, taking the stage for the first time as a Chimney Sweep in a first grade production of Mary Poppins. While attending the University of Chicago, she studied at The Second City and performed sketch & improv with Off Off Campus. Since moving to LA, she has performed at venues such as the Hollywood Improv, The Elysian, and Upright Citizens Brigade. In recent years, she has starred in indie films that have screened on the festival circuit (MUNCHIES, CALIFORNIA SOBER, MEDIATRAINED), written on Peacock's THE WAREHOUSEPHASE, and appeared in several national commercials.
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