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.

“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.