Naomi Orange’s Punk Approach to Theatre
In a New York theatre landscape that can often feel divided between commercial and experimental, Naomi Orange has chosen to build the kind of theatre she wants to see.
For Orange, that has meant embracing the word “punk” not simply as an aesthetic, but as a way of working. Through Fruit Fly Theatre Company, which she co-founded with fellow Stella Adler graduates Valentina Avila and Valentine Marie, she has helped develop productions that move freely between new writing, classical texts, comedy, and experimental performance, all with the same values at their core. Fruit Fly's work is rooted in collaboration and accessibility, with a focus on uplifting immigrant, queer, and female voices. They maintain the idea that theatre can belong to the community, not simply the industry.
That philosophy has also shaped Orange's own career as a performer.
In 2026 alone, she has moved between dramatically different forms of theatre. At the New York Theatre Festival, she appeared as Agent B in Wayne's Gun, an original musical created and directed by Olga S. Popova. The production drew on Orange's background in dance and required her to work within a creative process in which she had direct influence over the character, choreography, script, and music. She also understudied another leading role in the production. Wayne's Gun ultimately received five festival awards, including Best Production.
Her work at the festival also included Shiva, a dark experimental production in which she played Chloe. The role kept her onstage throughout the performance and incorporated improvised dialogue, requiring her to remain responsive to the other performers and the changing dynamics of the scene.
Orange has brought that same range to her work with Fruit Fly.
The company's debut production, The Wish, saw her filling multiple roles. Orange played Claire while also serving as producer and assistant director. Her work extended into choreography, musical choices, costume, hair and makeup, and the visual development of the production. Onstage, the role demanded extended passages of spoken word alongside physical movement. The production sold out its run, with additional seating eventually required for the final performance to accommodate the waitlist.
Orange subsequently appeared as the Narrator in Federico García Lorca's La Casa de Bernarda Alba, taking on a role built around poetic language and sustained stage presence. The production initially sold out at The Broadway before being extended and transferring to the Producers' Club in Manhattan's Theatre District.
Her third Fruit Fly performance of the year, in Lily Boulard's Throuples Counseling, moved in the opposite direction stylistically. The dark comedy cast Orange as Lav, the production's antagonist and central source of conflict. Rather than relying on the heightened physicality or poetic language of her previous roles, the performance required her to establish dramatic stakes within a comic structure.
As Fruit Fly's co-founder and co-artistic director, Orange has helped shape the company from both its creative and practical sides. From venue coordination, scheduling and marketing to decisions around aesthetics such as costumes, props, and the overall presentation of the company's work. Their production process reflects the punk principles at the company's foundation: keep the process collaborative, create opportunities for other artists, and find ways to make the final product accessible to people who might not otherwise walk into a theatre.
That approach has allowed Fruit Fly to grow beyond a single production. The company has now worked with more than 50 artists and reached hundreds of audience members. Its productions have sold out, received coverage from publications including American Theatre and BroadwayWorld, and expanded into established New York theatre spaces. Its programming has also included financially accessible and free performances.
For Orange, acting and producing are two parts of the same artistic practice.
Her performances give her the opportunity to inhabit radically different characters and theatrical forms while her work as a producer gives her the ability to help determine which stories are put onstage, who gets to make them, and who gets to see them.
That philosophy will continue into Fruit Fly's upcoming production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, in which Orange is set to play Judas. The production adds another major role to an increasingly varied body of stage work while continuing the company's commitment to its punk ideology.
With Fruit Fly's 2027 season already taking shape, Orange's version of punk theatre is less about style and more about practice; a way of building theatre that keeps the people making it at its core
