Fringe Festival!
North America's Largest Arts Fest Returns
NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL
** 11th Annual Festival runs August 10 - 26 **
New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will present the 11th Annual Festival from August 10 - 26, 2007. Each year the festival presents programming by 190 of the world's best emerging theater troupes and dance companies.
The Festival will present work representing 9 countries (including Sweden, Japan, Australia, France, Ireland, England and Romania) and 17 US states (including Iowa, Utah, Minnesota, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, Florida and Illinois). FringeNYC will offer performances covering a wide range of disciplines, including theater, performance art, dance, children's theater, spoken word, puppetry, and multimedia. Shows include Cancer! The Musical, Jazz Hand: Tales of a One Armed Woman, Face-Off With Ugliness, The Winter's Tale Project, Myles The HypoAllergenic Superhero, Mr. Baseball, Bucharest Calling, Enough About Me…Let's Talk About Jew, Dressing Miss Julie, I Dig Doug, Chekhov Jazz, and Lost! How a Certain TV Mega-Hunk Stole My Identity.
In 2007, twenty of New York City's most prominent downtown performance venues will host productions from around the globe as part of FringeNYC. Host venues, ranging in size from 50 to 500 seats, include The Lucille Lortel, Soho Playhouse, Players Theatre, Bleecker Theater, Lafayette Theater, CSV Cultural and Educational Center, and Cherry Lane Theater. FringeCentral is located at 80 Carmine Street, at the corner of Varick.
FringeNYC is a production of The Present Company, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Elena K. Holy.
In 1997, New York City became the seventh US city to host a fringe festival, joining Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston, Orlando and San Francisco. In its first decade FringeNYC presented nearly 2000 performing groups from the U.K., Canada, Poland, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Germany, the Czech Republic and across the U.S., prompting Switzerland's national daily, The New Zurich Zeitung, to declare, “FringeNYC has become the premiere meeting ground for alternative artists.” The festival has also been the launching pad for numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers, long-running downtown hits, and regional theater productions including Urinetown, Never Swim Alone, Debbie Does Dallas, Dog Sees God, 21 Dog Years, and Matt & Ben. This fall, FringeNYC alumni Silence! The Musical and Walmartopia are scheduled to open Off-Broadway.
Tickets are $15 each at 212-279-4488 (inside NYC) or 1-888-FRINGENYC (outside NYC). Discount passes to multiple shows are also available. For more information, including a complete list of shows and show descriptions, visit www.FringeNYC.org.
Some highlights of the Festival include:
Asking For It
What happens when you ask for what you think you want, then get kicked in the ass over and over? Can you figure out what it is you really should be asking for … DARK comedy with sex and music. Directed by Tony Award nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett (who also choreographed the original 1984 film Footloose.)
An Air Balloon Across Antarctica
One air balloon. Contents: One explorer, exceptional. One hamster, obese. One urn, full. Green-Room Award Nominee for Best New Writing, Melbourne, Australia, 2004.
And Somewhere Men Are Laughing
Time - 1955. Place - Brooklyn, NY. As the Dodgers and the Yankees battle it out on the field, a Brooklyn family is battling for its own survival. A funny, gritty and poignant tale of a city... fighting for redemption and forgiveness. Directed by Tony Award nominee Bill Russell (Side Show).
Bash'd! - A Gay Rap Opera
Two gay hip hop artists, Feminem and T-Bag, chronicle the tale of a pair of lovers. When one of the duo is bashed, the other is prompted to take revenge. Toronto hit makes NYC debut.
Bucharest Calling
17 years after the fall of communism, young people in Bucharest struggle to define new identities and overcome failure. A fresh & edgy Romanian play by Peca Stefan makes its US Premiere. Performed in English by Bucharest, Romania’s much acclaimed Monday Theatre.
Bye Bye Big Guy
An irreverent, raunchy musical spoof of celebrity memorial services. Fractured fairy tale characters, ridiculous tributes, inappropriate singing, ill-advised dancing, and a multitude of dwarfs come together to pay their last respects to a giant of a man, Rumplestiltskin. The book is by Michael Slade, whose writing credits include the soaps Another World, One Life to Live, Passions, and Days of Our Lives, plus the book for the children’s musicals Superfudge, Where’s Waldo? and Pokemon Live! (which premiered at Radio City). He is currently working on a new musical with Melissa Manchester.
The Commission
The seduction of war. The casualties of passion. This world premiere by acclaimed writer Steven Fechter ("The Woodsman") spins backward in time to reveal the fragments, both personal and political, left behind in the wake of a bloody civil war.
Elephant in the Room!
Present day Manhattan: The globe is warming, glaciers are leaving (along with the bees) and we're up to our eyeballs in cow farts. And now, people are turning into elephants; so what are you gonna do?........ man, we're screwed. Written and directed by Dan Fogler (Spelling Bee), inspired by Eugene Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros.'
The End
Gus and Jacob are starving in a post-apocalyptic netherworld. Then the last woman alive stumbles into their midst, prompting a new hope: the revival of the endangered species of man. A tragic comedy about the decay of mankind. Directed ny hot up-and-coming Broadway actor Christopher Denham (Master Harold…and the boys, The Lieutenant of Inishmore).
Hillary Agonistes
Spring 2009. Hillary in the White House. 65 million people disappear. Is the Rapture upon us? Pat Robertson, Stephen Hawking, Chelsea and the Antichrist weigh in. Can Madame President avert Armageddon. Starring Priscilla Barnes (TV’s Threes Company) as Mrs. Clinton.
I Dig Doug
A teenager’s world is turned upside down when she discovers the presidential election is the ultimate reality television. It’s a journey that leads her from New York to Iowa, from MTV to C-Span, and from hot, young popstars to pot-bellied politicians. Directed by Bert V. Royal (Dog Sees God).
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
The award winning creators of The Exorcist and Song of Singapore team up for a new musical comedy about love, spy planes, harem girls, and the Notre Dame football team, complete with belly dancing and a Middle Eastern score. Book by William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist, A Shot in the Dark, Gunn, and Darling Lili) based on his novel.
Kiss & Makeup
It's opening night for a smalltown community theater, and now the President is coming! The leading lady cracks under pressure, forcing the leading man to play BOTH parts! Sometimes showbiz is a drag! Starring David Sabella (Little Mary Sunshine in Broadway’s Chicago) and Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Avenue Q).
Ladies of Eola Heights
Move over Tyler Perry -- this blockbuster hit cross-dressing dramedy direct from Orlando (where it has even inspired sequels) makes its NYC debut. Three estranged southern sisters reunite to bury their daddy AND discover their brother has become a sister. All hell, and one Christian, breaks loose.
Lights Rise on Grace
Grace falls for Large. Riece falls for Large. Large... falls. First love. Lost love. New love. Tough love. "Lights Rise On Grace" follows three desperate New Yorkers as they defy tradition, uncover and recover secrets. A new play by Chad Beckim, one of NYC’s most promising young writers (a Princess Grace finalist), directed by Robert O’Hara (In The Continuum).
Night
A runaway bride hides out in a laundromat. A couple celebrates their anniversary with new lovers. A hotshot realtor makes a deal with a ghost. Is it a dream, or just another night in NYC? Playwright Philip Gerson wrote numerous scripts for the TV shows Murder She Wrote, Dr Quinn Medecine Woman and Christy. The production stars Grant Aleksander (The Guiding Light and All My Children) and Laurence Lau (One Life to Live, Another World, and All My Children).
Pogo & Evie: A Zydeco Musical
Violent secrets from generations past threaten the star-crossed romance of one Zydeco boy and his Cajun lady. Can Pogo and Evie betray their families? Can they resist the love that threatens to boil over in the steamy Louisiana heat? Written by Aaron Latham (Urban Cowboy, the movie screenplay and Broadway musical book). Co-starring Keith Johnston (Chris Rock Show, Ave X, Spunk.)
Reader
Reader tells the story of a censor forced to confront the sins of his past when a mysterious unfinished manuscript turns up bearing an uncanny resemblance to his life. Suddenly, the future is dictated by every word he allows. The NYC Premiere of a new play by Ariel Dorfman (Death and The Maiden, Mascara).
Slammer!
Go on a wild ride with innocent Tabitha…thrown into a women’s prison! Reverend Mama protects. Smiley preys. Warden Eva Danka punishes. The Corporation crushes. The captives revolt! All in the Slammer! This new musical stars Saverio Guerra (TV’s Becker).
Stand Up Black Britain
A trio of acclaimed Black British comedians present their sharp, funny & sideways take on modern life. Featuring Gina Yashere (finalist on NBC’s ‘Last Comic Standing’), John Simmit (Dipsy in BBC’s Teletubbies), and Curtis Walker, (UK comedy’s Don, from hit Britflick Bullet Boy).
Victor Woo - The Average Asian American
1980’s preteen Victor Woo dreams of becoming a pop star “sensation”. His Chinese-born parents see a different future. Confronting cultural expectations and media stereotypes, “The Average Asian American” reconciles his duty to his family, his heritage, and himself.
