Banana Pitch started as a literary magazine in Oakland in 2015. It has since burrowed into a cocoon to brew a little butterfly–or if we’re sticking with bananas: it re-peeled itself to ripen–and is now a bright, fresh and ripe non-profit arts organization focused on introducing emerging artists, profiling established musicians and offering advice, workshops and mentorships.

Before we reveal the new Banana Pitch, a little on how we got our name. It began with an idea for a show…

[Banana: The Pitch]

Okay so she’s in the bathroom and she gets this super stiff whiff of really over-powering banana. Like, absurdly strong banana smell. She looks all around for it, to see if there’s a banana peel hiding in her bathroom for some reason. She looks in the garbage can, in the medicine cabinet, down the sink drain, inside the toilet bowl. The banana smell is so strong. And finally, she swings open the shower curtain, and there’s this life-size banana in there.

So, a banana is in the shower?

Well, it’s a bathtub, but yes. But I mean, it’s life-size.

So, the size of a normal banana?

No, I mean life-size like, the size of a person. And it waves at her!

So it’s a person in a banana suit?

No, it’s just this huge life-size banana.

Ok, so what’s it look like? I mean, how do we create this thing?

I don’t know. It’s just, this like, huge banana thing.

Does it have a face?

Hm, I’m not sure. I mean, maybe sometimes.

Sometimes?

Sometimes like, when it gestures to something.

So it has arms?

Not necessarily, but I guess it could have some sort of arms, but they only appear when he’s waving or something.

So it’s a male character?

I guess so, it just seems more likely that this giant banana would be some sort of masculine thing, but maybe that’s sexist of me to say. And it doesn’t really come into play, honestly. It’s whatever viewers want to assume it is.

Okay. So tell me more about what the banana’s role is in the show.

Well, it kind of just appears randomly. When the main character is in a pickle, or is having some sort of internal thought that she thinks is weird or anything, she’ll look up and this giant banana will be there.

So is it a guiding figure of sorts?

Sort of. More like, to commiserate. It’s just kind of there with her sometimes.

Okay. And do other people see it?

What do you mean.

I mean, is this completely in her head, or do other people also see this giant banana creature?

I don’t think we’ll ever know.