Beneva Fruitville (Berry Ayers) has been hosting the longest running theatrical production in Sarasota, FL- Beneva Fruitville's Drag Queen Bingo Bonanza for over nine years and has toured with this show to many other cities and states. Currently she is co-hosting a comedy competition show at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre and other national comedy hotspots called Wigs & Wit SRQ. In 2015 she filmed a pilot entitled Beneva’s Christmas Special, which was shown on the big screen to a sold-out house at Lakewood Ranch Cinemas (soon to be available on Amazon Prime) and is a co-host for ABC7’s Suncoast View airing daily. She also starred in the short film entitled Pie Car with Starfruit Productions, an official selection of both the MINDY film festival in Miami, The Dumbo Film Festival in New York City, The Sarasota Film Festival and Lady Filmmakers Festival in Beverly Hills, now available on Amazon Prime. Theatrical roles include ZaZa/Albin in La Cage Aux Folles (Best Actor nomination from the Sarasota Herald Tribune Handy Awards,) Miss Bible Belt as well as Miss Deep South in the Pageant: The Musical, Sylvia St Croix in Ruthless: The Musical and most recently given a Best Actor nod from the Sarasota Herald Tribune Handy Awards for her turn as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray.
Beneva discusses her decision to keep her birth name “Berry” as well as its roots to her indigenous identity. She courageously shares with us her journey to discover her trans identity and her decision to medically transition, as well as some painful experiences in attempting to heal from childhood sexual abuse.
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