Attending Cincinnati’s annual Fringe Festival can be an arduous task. It’s fun, to be sure, but it can be a big challenge to identify which shows to see and navigate your way through during the 13 days of performances at 13 venues across Over-the-Rhine. Is it possible to see all of the 41 shows in the primary lineup for the 14th-annual Cincy Fringe, May 30 to June 11? Or even just the 21 from producers based in Greater Cincinnati? Maybe there’s a slightly better chance of seeing the 19 productions coming here from coast to coast — from New York City and Washington, D.C. to San Francisco and Seattle, plus out-of-the-way locales in between: Iowa City, Iowa, Vermillion, S.D. and Cashiers, N.C. One international participant comes from Liverpool, England.
Is your head spinning yet? Know Theatre, the Fringe organizer, has made some changes this year to make attendance a bit easier and less frenzied.
“Welcome to a brand-new version of the same ol’ Fringe,” says Fringe producer Chris Wesselman. “Some of this year’s changes have been years in the making; others are brand-new concepts we’re trying for the first time.”
New this year is a 60-minute time limit for each show, enabling a more standardized schedule. There’s also 15 minutes between sets of shows, “eliminating the need to run in a full-out, flush-inducing sprint to make it in time,” says the Fringe news release. “Save your breath for all the post-show hooting and hollering!” Audience members eager to experience as many shows as possible can now see three each evening — but that still means choosing which ones.
[Fine early-run reviews of 40-plus performances and CityBeat‘s continuing Fringe coverage here.]
Believe it or not, there could have been more. Applications came from 111 potential performers. That record number arrived in late 2016 and was reviewed by 37 local theater professionals and educators, including actors Darnell Pierre Benjamin, Maggie Lou Rader and Torie Wiggins; Know Theatre’s producing artistic director, Andrew Hungerford; D. Lynn Meyers, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s producing artistic director; and Joshua Steele, Memorial Hall manager.
Each juror received an eight-page guide and a set of applications slotted into categories: theater, dance, musical, solo performance or interdisciplinary. Presenters could add more tags, such as “play with music,” “women’s themes” and “clowning.” A 10-word description was required, plus a fuller sketch, a script or a detailed proposal. Experience could be considered, as well as reviews of prior work. Aspiring artists could submit music and videos (up to 10 minutes), especially if their show is unscripted — dance or improv, for example.
Fringe organizers gave jurors some simple criteria, hoping their assessment would go beyond mere commentary on perceived quality. Three aspects were not scored, but they can help jurors evaluate shows: Will this work be unique to our region? Can the project be produced within the Fringe’s simple parameters? (Because shows share venues — ranging from genuine theaters and stages to churches, classrooms and storefronts — technical capabilities must be kept to the essentials.) And, finally, does the work fulfill the Fringe’s goal to present diversity, innovation and passion?
In addition to the 41 primary productions, there is an array of other attractions — three FringeNext shows by high school students, a work in development and a series of special one-time events. There’s also the nightly Fringe Bar Series at Know Theatre’s Underground Bar, offering post-performance fun and games.
Thanks to jurors and guidelines, the avalanche of potential shows has narrowed, but it’s still a lot to take in. Brian Griffin, a longtime Fringe enthusiast, annually maps out a “See-It-All” program of attendance for hardy souls who are eager to catch every performance. Doing so pretty much involves treating May 30 to June 11 as a vacation, attending three shows every evening and more on the weekends and buying a “Full Frontal All-Access” pass ($250).
If you’re not quite ready for Griffin’s marathon, you need to do some homework. Study the Fringe guide (published in last week’s CityBeat and available online). Once performances begin, you can read reviews posted on citybeat.com. Reviewers attend each opening night performance and write commentaries for the website, posted by noon the next day. Armed with those insights and some trusted word-of-mouth — from friends who’ve seen shows and others you might connect with at the Underground — you can easily see a half-dozen shows with a “Voyeur” pass (six tickets for $75). Or you can buy tickets one at a time for $15.
For a taste of the staggering range of shows available during the 2017 Cincy Fringe, here are some productions that will be offered. By the way, there’s one more innovation for 2017: an extra day — Sunday, June 11 — designated for encore performances of the six “Pick of the Fringe” winners, announced on Saturday evening. If performers are still in Cincinnati — those who travel from one festival to another sometimes depart for their next gig — their shows will be presented on Sunday afternoon and early evening.
The following shows sound good on paper, but none have actually been seen. Part of the fun of Fringe is stumbling into something you didn’t expect and being charmed. And part of the risk is going to see a show that sounds great only to find that it wasn’t what you expected. Once more: We recommend some advance study using your own filters.
Theater
The category of theater has more shows than any other. But don’t think there’s much similarity to be found. For instance, the Cincinnati-based Performance Gallery has assembled bed (a fever dream) (opening 9 p.m. June 1) described as “funny, surreal theater exploring the world of our beds.” People are born in beds and die in beds, and do a lot of messing around in bed. This company — the only presenter to have earned a spot in all 14 Cincy Fringe Festivals — is a collaborative of local theater artists.
Another set of local creators, writer-actor Trey Tatum and director Bridget Leak, also known as Queen City Flash, will present The Disappearance of Nicole Jacobs, part 1: The Sister (opening 7:45 p.m. May 31). The drama’s summary description: “The town searched for Nicole. Her sister searched for strength.” Last year this team presented The Midnight Express, and in 2014 they were the creators of Slut Shaming, a powerful work that Xavier University restaged last fall.
Fairy tales often inspire creators. Gideon Productions from Queens, N.Y. will present God of Obsidian (opening 9 p.m. May 31). A dark tale about a psychologically abusive relationship, it’s about a woman who seeks a story that will take her back across a bridge to freedom. Gideon Productions’ playwright Mac Rogers’ two podcasts, The Message andLifeAfter, have been downloaded 6 million times.
In Cait Robinson’s kates (opening 6:30 p.m. June 2), two sisters accidentally given the same name keep getting confused until their mother turns one of them into a sheep. The plot is rooted in a tale from Ireland’s Orkney Island, but the story has been reimagined as an Americana Rock dreamscape.
If you’re seeking more traditional theater, you might consider Nine Short Plays for the Theatre by Joe Stollenwerk (opening 7 p.m. May 31). He was the artistic director of Cincinnati’s Ovation Theatre Company for nine years; now he teaches theater at the University of South Dakota. He says his short pieces comprise a wide range of styles, from meta-theater, autobiography and absurdism to parody and poignancy.
Some Fringe pieces are rooted in real life. Samara Lerman’s Where There Were Woods (opening 9 p.m. June 6) is about a journey of survival, courage and storytelling. The Seattle-based writer based her script on stories her Ukrainian grandmother told her about escaping from oppression in the 1930s.
Dance
Dance is a component of every Fringe, and the local company Pones Inc. has been a regular participant. It’s an interesting group — they say they “use their bodies to speak their minds.” For Place/Setting (opening 7 p.m. June 1) they held four workshops with 14 immigrants from around the world. Their true stories have been woven into a piece about how food connects us all, and it includes an opportunity to share a meal and learn more. The show’s description says it “changes from family dinner to art gallery, cooking show to dance.” Pones’ shows are always thought-provoking and engaging.
If dance appeals to you, you might also check out Lakshmi Sriraman’ Rumi’s Field (opening 6:30 p.m. June 1). Based in Lexington, Ky., she uses sacred movements from a traditional Indian dance form, Bharatanatyam, to weave stories about humans’ relationship with the elements of nature — earth, water, wind, fire and space. Sriraman, an award-winning teacher of dance, is a solo performer.
The Fringe also routinely offers opportunities to teens to present FringeNext productions. Usually these come from Cincinnati-area high schools, including this year’s productions from Fort Thomas’ Highlands High School (Play for Now) and Cincinnati’s Notre Dame Academy (Reagachev). But for the first time, an out-of-town company from Lexington’s Blackbird Dance Theatre is one of the FringeNexters. It will present Reaper (opening 9 p.m. June 1), an original dance concert about facing fears and chasing desires. It’s set in Lexington and features a script by a Lexington student, music from local composers and a cast of students from Lexington high schools.
Musicals
If musicals are your thing, Cincy Fringe will have some choices, including a family-friendly piece by Dr. Dour & Peach called The Monster Songs (opening 7:45 p.m. June 2). Toby and Rachel Mulford are from Washington, D.C., where they’ve done theater, storytelling, teaching, clowning and more. In this show they sing about lovesick mummies, giant lizards, bargain-hunting zombies and other creatures of the night, accompanying themselves on guitar, cello and banjo. They like to say, “The mysterious is scrutinized. The strange is eternalized. And the dangerous is epitomized.”
For something completely different, consider Romeo + Juliet + Anybodys by The Functional Shoes (opening 8:30 p.m. June 6), an artistic collective from New York City. They make plays and music and put them together. Playwright Genevieve Simon, an Ohio native, played the character of Anybodys (the overlooked tomboy who is one of the Jets) in her high school’s production of West Side Story. Now she’s back in Ohio to perform her play that gives that minor character her say. Featuring original Grunge Folk music, publicity says, “This play will make you wanna laugh, squirm, dance and burn the patriarchy to the ground.”
Solo Performances
Solo shows have provided some of the most memorable Fringe performances over the years. They are often works by artists who showcase their piece at multiple festivals, which means they are veterans. People still recall 7(x1) Samurai, an incredibly energetic re-enactment of a classic film from 2009.
Another Cincy Fringe veteran, Paul Strickland, first charmed local audiences with his one-man show, Ain’t True and Uncle False, in 2013. He’s been back with award-winning works since then (in fact, he now lives in Greater Cincinnati and tours his creations to Fringes in Canada and elsewhere in the U.S.). For 2017 he’s created a new piece, Balls of Yarns (opening 7:45 p.m. June 1); you can be sure it will be full of puns, original songs and tall tales. Strickland calls this one “a weird-larious one-man musical adventure. Songs! Yarns! Balls!” His work has also been described as “David Lynch meets The Wizard of Oz.”
Many of the solo shows that show up for Cincy Fringe from elsewhere are humor-based, but they can also have serious content. The group Solitary Project’s 8×10 (opening 7 p.m. May 31) is about the horrific effects of solitary confinement. Howard Petrick’s Fight for 52¢ (opening 7:45 p.m. May 31) also covers a serious topic: It’s the story of V. R. Dunne, the organizer of the most influential strike in U.S. history, and a major moment in the history of worker solidarity: the Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike of 1934.
Of course, there are dozens of other shows to explore before June 11. Keep in mind the guidelines that the jurors used to make their selections to ensure that these shows will be unique, simple to produce and full of diversity, innovation and passion. And weirdness. That’s what makes the Cincy Fringe endlessly entertaining.
The CINCINNATI FRINGE FESTIVAL runs May 30- June 11 at various venues in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Tickets/more info: cincyfringe.com.
This article appears in May 24-31, 2017.
