MY STATEMENT
hi, my name is gnat frye
i’m a twenty-seven-year-old transfem playwright and director of increasingly weird and transgender theatre
i’m originally from bloomington, indiana and am based in chicago, illinois
i cut my teeth writing, starring in, and producing several pieces of living room theatre in my hometown, including sad girl play (2023), am i the asshole?: a reddit play (2022), and presumably dead arm (2022)
my directorial debut, from here to utopia, premiered as a part of Rhino Fest ‘24
it was one of ten plays i’ve written in recent years, but the only one i’ve seen as a real production
i’ve been consistently putting out plays to mild acclaim on internet theatre circles
but not much else
i feel my work has value beyond two or three recommendations on a hosting site
let alone a hosting site we all have to pay for
insular, much?
so i’ve started making my own opportunities
so i founded shampoo research animal
it’s a new theatre company dedicated to helping emerging queer creators get their work on stage
people like me tell stories with value that deserve to be heard
our debut production, a sold out premiere of electric flesh chewed up in the chaos engine by sean dance fannin, went up in the summer of 2025
i’m very pleased and learned a lot and i’m itchy
itchy to work more
itchy to get some real things off my chest
things that can be hard to talk about
being transgender is insane and beautiful
things get so skewed
things that are already difficult, like burgeoning adulthood
and relationships
and building the pieces of your shattered life back together
i’m influenced by works centered around common human struggles and realism
especially in my community
because that’s what’s important and real and fresh
i value stories of people in trouble
i value stories of people
because people are very very special