At this year’s Tampa Fringe, Noah Alfred Pantano spoke with Gabrielle Leonore about her show My Life as an “Inspirational Porn” Star. This funny and heartfelt one-woman show features Leonore exploring how her autism has been fetishized and appropriated by exes, family, teachers, and friends alike. Leonore will soon perform the show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Fest. Pantano saw the world-premiere in Tampa ahead of the Edinburgh run and interviewed Leonore about the show.
NP: What is your show about?
GL: In this irreverent one-woman comedy, packed with hilarious, tragically funny, and downright awkward anecdotes about sex, drugs, a Nazi history lesson, existential meltdowns, deep vanity-mirror introspection—à la Britney Spears in the Lucky or Marina’s Electra Heart era—and all the other things no one prepares you for in life as an autistic woman. As if life wasn’t hard enough, right?
NP: I had the honor of seeing your world premiere and thought the show was spectacular. But can you tell people why should people come see it?
GL: Where else are you going to see a sexy, neurodivergent girl in lingerie? Besides OnlyFans…exactly. But how many of them are also unpacking ableism, feminism, and where the two collide—all with a wink and some, what they call in showbiz, a little razzle dazzle? This isn’t just a one-woman show I’m passionate about— it’s literally my one-woman show. It’s me. All of me. And I want to be able to share it with as many people as possible.
NP: What made you want to perform at the Tampa Fringe?
GL: Tampa has become my second hometown. I went to school at the University of Tampa and first established myself as an artist here with my play (Re)union, a dark comedy about a high school reunion following a school shooting. That piece earned the Social Good Award and was featured at the Tampa Theatre Festival. Creating something so unapologetically and unequivocally me with this show—and finally after six years, bringing it to life—feels like a true homecoming back to myself. I’ve lived in Tampa Bay for a decade. My Life as an “Inspirational Porn” Star feels like the culmination of everything I have been through, my journey, and where I am heading. It’s both a full circle and a new cycle all at once. I’m especially grateful that I get to make its domestic debut here before taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. In many ways, this is both a celebration and a send-off—a love letter and manifesto to the girl who thought people just saw her as weird or annoying, who’d never imagined we’d get here. She’d be in disbelief, but deep down, she always knew it was meant to be.
NP: Tell us about your upcoming Edinburgh run!
GL: I’ll be performing at the Snifter Room at The Mash House (Just the Tonic) from July 31st-August 11th at 8:35 p.m. The tickets are Pay What You Can and £5. So if you or have any friends across the pond, help spread the word and come on out!
For Tampa Fringe, My Life as an “Inspirational Porn” Star will be at Kress Contemporary in Ybor City on the following dates:
● June 14 – 6:45 p.m.
● June 15 – 2:00 p.m.
● June 20 – 8:15 p.m.
● June 21 – 2:15 p.m.
● June 22 – 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are $15. Be the first to see it before it becomes the next Fleabag…maybe. Either way, you’ll still get to say you saw it first.
NP: Your show is so unique in talking about sex, autism, etc. Can you tell us more about that? What made you want to write something so different?
GL: I can’t think of another show that talks so unabashedly about sex, drugs, and the messiness of life through the lens of an autistic woman like me—one who fully claims her autism, not one who is “headcanon”ed into neurodivergence by fans after the fact. I refuse to go down the “inspirational porn” path of “Look at me thriving, I’ve learned to be happy as-is.” That’s a fairytale for most neurodivergent people today.
That’s not to say I haven’t accomplished a lot—I mean, I’m producing, writing, and starring in a whole show about it! What more do you want? But most people don’t want to face the hard, stigmatized parts of being disabled. The heart of my show is this: as much as I long to connect, I often can’t—because the very parts of myself I can’t change are the ones that society, and even loved ones (whether they realize it or not), still struggle to accept in themselves. No matter how successful I am, I will never be the “model” autistic person. Even saying “I am autistic”—instead of “a person with autism”—makes some people uncomfortable. My autism isn’t a costume. It’s not a disease to be cured. It’s not a death sentence. And whether RFK likes it or not, I am not going anywhere.
I’m also not the “kind of autistic” people like to showcase. I am too “low support” for it to really affect me. But it does. It’s not always visible. It’s not always pretty. And no matter how “exceptionally beautiful” I may appear to be, I’m still disabled. I’m not the cute, heartstring-pulling, Love on the Spectrum-brand kind of disabled. I’m just myself. And that’s exactly why this show deserves to be on stage—whether or not it fits the version of disability that makes people feel better about themselves…or that they’re willing to pay to see. It’s the kind of show I needed when I was growing up. And in the end, that’s what matters to me.
NP: Do you think your show will generate controversy?
GL: Let’s just say that, according to John Palmer Claridge in his review of TampaRep’s Straight White Man, I played one of People in Charge—“three charismatic women” who “[had] a chance to shine through a personal story.” He dubbed us the best girl group name imaginable: Ron DeSantis’s DEI Nightmare. And if that was from a five-minute monologue about my life, I’d love to see the look on Ron Desantis’s face as he watches a hot, bisexual, autistic, Latinx woman in vintage lingerie take the stage saying everything that might make him grow a few extra inches. And I’m not just talking
about his heels. The truth is, my very existence is political. On paper, I’m essentially enemy number one. I just like to think I’m a bit easier on the eyes than most of those repressed Republicans. So I’ve been told. I think HALSEY said it best, “I’m no sweet dream, but I’m a hell of a night.”
NP: Are you helping local groups or charities?
GL: Yes! I’d love to do this show as part of a charity night for Theatre Exceptional, a theatre company for disabled adults based in Largo, Florida. I also work there, teaching playwriting and sketch comedy. It’s an organization that’s incredibly close to my heart and truly deserves all the support it can get. Honestly, it would be a dream to one day pass the torch on—maybe even to one of our autistic students—and see this piece reimagined through their own lived experience. I want to create a legacy where they don’t just see themselves reflected in the work…but are part of it.
