After being turned down by a boy her age, sixteen-year-old Honey, the daughter of a religious family in a small Southern town, turns her interests to Leander, an older man who’s recently been saved at her church.

Set in rural South Carolina in the early nineties, sixteen-year-old Honey (Kristine Froseth), the promiscuous daughter of a religious family, has a reputation among the boys her age as being a femme-fatale, but when her advances don’t work on one of the boy’s cousins, Honey decides to get her kicks elsewhere. The next day at church, Honey meets Leander (Raoul Trujillo), a forty-year-old-man who’s come to be saved. She decides to make Leander her conquest and in doing so, she learns the heartbreaking truths of adulthood and human relationships.

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“Pretty Is” is my tribute to all the beauty, darkness, love, hope and despair that makes up America’s South. Even though I live in New York City, the South is my real home. I was born and raised there, amidst all its cotton fields, sweet tea, and saccharine friendliness. But underneath all that is a certain loneliness and darkness I can’t quite put my finger. It’s this division that I’m trying to explore in “Pretty Is”. Lindsey Johnson adapted the script from two short stories she wrote as part of a larger collection exploring being female and growing up in the South. Jon Goracy, a casting director based in NYC, helped us pull together a top notch cast. Produced by Anna-Nora Bernstein and Taylor Kowalski.

Directed by Alan Scott Neal, “Pretty Is” explores in excellent depth the two main characters that cross path from two complete opposites. Although cringe-worthy and distasteful situations, the story highlights particular regularities often seen in the south. This places the audience in an uncertain position creating a strong level of intrigue. Props to actors Kristine Froseth and Raoul Trujillo who put up powerful performances despite the obvious uneasiness.