It’s all over but the shouting — the 2017 Cincinnati Fringe Festival concluded its 12-day run on Sunday, June 11, with a set of encore performances by four of the Pick of the Fringe winners. This was a new wrinkle for the 14th-annual Fringe: Activities used to wind up following a chaotic Saturday night party that featured the announcement of winners. This year’s configuration offered one more chance for those who love the zany creativity of the Cincy Fringe to see an outstanding show they might have missed. It also meant another shot of income for a few productions.
The Audience Pick of the Fringe went to Lady Macbeth and Her Pal, Megan (Cornfed Productions, Iowa City, Iowa). Playwright and comedian Megan Gogerty used Shakespeare’s dark, powerful villainess to explore some challenges she’s faced as a 21st-century woman and actor. CityBeat reviewer Bart Bishop called the energetic Gogerty “always entertaining and a masterful storyteller.” Clearly, Fringe-goers agreed.
Journalists who review Fringe performances, including CityBeat’s team of 10 writers, vote for a Critics’ Pick of the Fringe. This year it went to Cincinnati-based storyteller and singer/songwriter Paul Strickland for his collection of tall tales, Balls of Yarns. He’s become a much-appreciated local regular (he actually moved here from Indianapolis after the 2013 Fringe because he was impressed with Know Theatre and the theatrical opportunities it nurtures), and this year’s “one-man musical adventure” was a virtuoso performance, including him singing with a squeaky door.CityBeat reviewer Ed Cohen praised Strickland’s performance for balancing “its humor so well with its heart.”
The Great Invention (Panda Head Theatre, Cashiers, N.C.) won the Artists’ Pick for its thoroughly polished clowning and creative storytelling, using “fluent gibberish,” as reviewer Cohen described it. Performers Jess Bryant and Peter Seifarth created a touching adventure about a couple, caught in an urban wasteland, who build a machine from found objects (a grocery cart, hair dryers, ping pong balls) in hopes of escaping to a better place. Cohen termed it “as skilled a performance as I’ve experienced in a very long time.”
Since Know Theatre organizes the annual Fringe Festival, its team reserves the right to bestow a Producers’ Pick on a deserving production. They chose Romeo + Juliet + Anybodys (The Functional Shoes, New York). Although they had just three performances, the six actors and musicians dazzled audiences during the festival’s second week with a multi-faceted retelling of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers from the perspective of Anybodys, a tomboy from the classic musical West Side Story (which was inspired by the romantic tragedy) played with feisty physicality by Genevieve Simon, also the show’s playwright. Anybodys could have saved the lovers, she claims, but no one will listen to her. The show’s Grunge/Folk score was performed with zest, plus a strong vein of humor as Anybodys skeptically watches the doomed pair’s naïve arch. In my review, I called this 40-minute production “the epitome of Fringe creativity and energy.”
Also recognized, although unavailable for encores, were God of Obsidian (Gideon Productions, New York) and FringeNext selection Reagachev. Playwright Mac Rogers’ world-premiere production of Obsidian, a dark fairy tale about an abusive relationship (Rogers acted in it, too), was the favorite of people with “Full-Frontal” all-access passes. It closed June 5 to head back to the East Coast for its performance at Brooklyn’s Brick Theater for the This Is Not Normal Festival. Reagachev, the FringeNext show by local high school students about an imaginary gay relationship between a pair of world leaders (Reagan/Gorbachev), couldn’t reassemble its cast for one last performance due to graduations and other obligations.
Lots of people attending this year’s Cincy Fringe commented on the high level of productions. Rather than one or two runaway hits, at least 10 productions could have received an award, spurring high attendance for the 2017 festival. (I’d additionally site Place/Setting by Pones Inc., Home by Homegrown Theater, The Monster Songs by Dr. Dour & Peach, Spy in the House of Men by Penny: For Your Thoughts and Totally Untrue Stories by Lepp Fabrications.)
Total attendance at was 9,321, the second highest in the Fringe’s 14-year history. Andrew Hungerford, the Know Theatre’s artistic director, said the slight decrease correlates with a slight reduction in performances this year. Overall, there were 34 sell-outs this year, up three from 2016, and the final Saturday’s attendance set a record. And, the most artists ever participated: 264.
So onward and upward: The 2018 Cincinnati Fringe Festival is set for May 29-June 9.
Lots of people attending this year’s Cincy Fringe commented on the high level of productions. Rather than one or two runaway hits, at least 10 productions could have received an award, spurring high attendance for the 2017 festival. (I’d additionally site Place/Setting by Pones Inc., Home by Homegrown Theater, The Monster Songs by Dr. Dour & Peach, Spy in the House of Men by Penny: For Your Thoughts and Totally Untrue Stories by Lepp Fabrications.)
Total attendance at was 9,321, the second highest in the Fringe’s 14-year history. Andrew Hungerford, the Know Theatre’s artistic director, said the slight decrease correlates with a slight reduction in performances this year. Overall, there were 34 sell-outs this year, up three from 2016, and the final Saturday’s attendance set a record. And, the most artists ever participated: 264.
So onward and upward: The 2018 Cincinnati Fringe Festival is set for May 29-June 9.
For more on this year’s CINCINNATI FRINGE FESTIVAL, check out CityBeat‘s Fringe hub here.
This article appears in Jun 7-14, 2017.
