SOLO SHOW “BARBIE SMITH: GOD’S FAVORITE TEASE” RETURNS, SATIRIZING EVANGELICAL SHAME

Barbie Smith: God's Favorite Tease

She came to save your soul… but she cannot save herself.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Barbie Smith: God’s Favorite Tease runs this June 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

WHERE: Davidson / Valentini Theatre – 1123 N McCadden Place #229, Los Angeles, CA 90038

PERFORMANCE DATES:
Sunday, June 7th – 9:15 PM – $15
Tuesday, June 23rd – 5 PM – $10
Saturday, June 27th – 1:30 PM – $15

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, MEDIA TRAINED), written on Peacock’s THE WAREHOUSE PHASE, and appeared in several national commercials.

“Yamini is energetic and frankly terrifying as Barbie Smith” – Jay Stalder, playwright, WINNER – Hollywood Fringe Encore Producers’ Award 2023

“Barbie Smith is a pervert and she is my lord and savior! Yamini Nambimadom is electric while delivering one of the most throbbing hours of entertainment you’ve ever seen. Don’t walk, RUN in your pink kitten heels to see this feat!!” – Avery Girion, writer & comedian – UCB

“Uhhhh, I’m not so sure about this one” – God

Comps available for members of the press upon request. For additional information please contact: Tam Sackman, [email protected].