Frankie Lehr is a New York City–based playwright, choreographer, performer, arts critic, and anthropologist whose work explores the intersections of performance, identity, and history. Their

practice draws from dark comedy, absurdism, movement, and theatrical artifice, with a particular interest in queer identity, inherited trauma, colonialism, and the ways people construct and perform themselves for others.

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Frankie’s original play, Cookie, premiered at Soho Playhouse in 2025 and was subsequently presented at The Tank in 2026. Blending cabaret, puppetry, physical theater, and absurdism, the

play follows a vaudeville performer whose carefully constructed persona begins to unravel when a sentient puppet forces them to confront histories they have tried to suppress. As a performance critic for Eye On Dance and the Arts, Frankie writes about experimental

theater and contemporary dance across New York City. Their choreographic work similarly draws from research and lived experience, exploring subjects including grief, ritual, religion, and

memory.

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Frankie received their B.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, concentrating in Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, and the Dramatic Arts. Across their work, they are guided by an anthropological curiosity about what it means to “act human” — onstage, in society, and for one another.