Lux Freer

Logline: A middle-class, non-binary teen feels like an outcast in their new town of rich jocks and beauty queens, until a wishing well and the most popular guy in town offer a view from the top of the social ladder.

Brief Synopsis:
Lux Freer, a middle-class, non-binary teen (played by non-binary teen Echo Bodell) has recently moved to ritzy Westport, where they have the humiliating after-school job of delivering pizzas. Nothing could be worse than arriving at aspiring prom queen Arabella Astor’s mansion driving a beat-up woodie wagon and wearing a cap emblazoned with pepperonis. Lux’s encounter there with the bully Arabella and her kind-hearted beau Drew sets in motion a plot to upend the social stratosphere at Westport Academy. A mysterious wishing well adds to Lux’s world opening up into a place of possibility rather than a place they never fit in. At the school’s talent show, Lux’s fantasy comes true and even the most macho jock in town learns something about tolerance.

Detailed Synopsis:
Lux Freer, a middle-class, non-binary teen (played by non-binary teen Echo Bodell) has recently moved to ritzy Westport, where they have the humiliating after-school job of delivering pizzas. Nothing could be worse than arriving at aspiring prom queen Arabella Astor’s mansion wearing a cap emblazoned with pepperonis. Especially when Arabella’s ruthless mom Patricia (Jean Louisa Kelly) ejects the social outcast out into the midst of a pool party for rich kids. When well-meaning Drew Fields (Cameron Mann) corrects his girlfriend Arabella, saying Lux goes by “they/them,” the ensuing bullying entertains Drew’s macho friend Cole Phillips (Jamie Martin Mann) and leaves Lux mortified. Drew is irritated, showing a maturity even Mrs. Astor can’t muster. She and her daughter are focused on the prom queen announcement that is just days away. They know Arabella will win.

Lux returns to their modest home and, with their sullen little sister, conjures the powers of their wishing well as suggested by the eccentric former owner. The fair world they wish for seems to become a reality when the science lesson at school the next day focuses on the fallacy of binary sex chromosomes and Drew surprises Lux by complimenting their fantasy prom sketch. The drawing plants a seed and soon teens are gossiping about what Drew has done that will shock Arabella, while she is worried about a secret Drew is keeping. A flashback shows Drew crossing out Prom King and Queen on a ballot and writing in “Prom Icon: Lux Freer.” A bunch of kids have followed his lead, and the class president and uptight PTA president have a spat when the latter tries to mess with the Democratic process.

When Drew complains about Cole dragging him to a talent show where Lux will perform, Drew confides that his dad was a ballet dancer and took his life—maybe because he could never be himself. The class president reveals Lux has won the new “Prom Icon” title. Arabella is outraged but her friends quell her uproar. Lux begins to sing “Monarch” (one of three songs in the film composed and sung by the actor), wowing the audience. Dancers perform the powerful choreography that mimics Lux’s transformation in the story. The kids’ cast join Lux on stage and sing together. In the final shot, we see Lux and their sister gleefully looking down the well at a magical glow.