When Capital Fringe announced in January that it had abolished its signature annual festival, “it felt like a part of my heart was broken,” says Aubri O’Connor. “My theatre company was formed for Capital Fringe and grew within Capital Fringe.”
In fact, O’Connor’s Nu Sass Productions launched with its debut show at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival. “I still remember how excited I was when we were accepted,” O’Connor says. “It was the biggest thing that’s happened to me in my life.”
O’Connor emphasizes the importance of preserving capital fringes, and it should be noted that acceptance at a festival can be a vital moment for young artists. Many performers have started their successful careers after starting with the Fringe, which often marks the beginning of a meaningful artistic journey.
Several professional theatre companies that began at the festival are still thriving, and two such companies, Pinky, theatre productions led by Karen Lange and theatre promotions led by Tracy Elbacher, join forces with NU SASS to continue the DC tradition in the new district fringe.
The first festival of the year will be held over the next three weekends at Vanness’ UDC campus, and has been officially billed to “present the locally grown theatre to make you entertain, think and feel.” It’s all a result of only a few months to properly plan.
“It all came together in four months. This is a very short period of time for a single play, let alone the entire festival,” says O’Connor. “There are no reason why the festival is happening, not us, not Tracy, not us, there’s no reason why the festival is happening.
To make this year’s debut event easier to manage, organizers intentionally limited the scope of programming. With over 60 submissions, the founder chose to make it a judges festival and selected a few shows to present. The final lineup includes seven major productions, each with four to six performances, with eight additional shows labeled “Grade 1”, some of which run twice.
In addition to 15 ticket productions scheduled for the UDC’s approximately 85-seat Phoenix Theatre, UDC’s outdoor firefly amphitheater, there will be almost 20 free performances, from Disney Singh Alonghi to “Shakespeare in the Pub” and karaoke. Performers include Avanbad Theatre, Artless Bird’s Improvisation Shakespeare, Film Art Performer Rob Parish, Breakfast Schnitzel Improvisation Theatre Company, singer/showtoon artist Anastasialy, and bandboys Pearl and Arivox & The Sadrads.
Approximately half of ticket-based productions feature LGBTQ artists or themes. The queer lineup includes:
- A guide to modern ownership The queer non-binary theatre artist Calodabury, Dark (musical) comedy is described as “10 cast.”[investigating] Trauma while paying homage to the magic of musical theatres” (7/11, 7/13, 7/20, 7/24, 7/27).
- go Rodin Arcero and Pablo Guillen are “wordless tales” of physical theatre presented by a gay couple who play two clowns “drawn” “7/13, 7/17, 7/23, 7/24, 7/27).
- Now in the ashes Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz are historic dramas that profile four abolition women, announced by Theatre51 with a cast of 10 (7/19).
- Paulette and “good” Daniel Maceda is a character comedy (7/19, 7/25).
- The hardest word to say Ché Navin Arrington, an ongoing drama that explores how the human body handles trauma and performs by a cast of six (7/26).
- pit An experimental study of a strange black teen drug artist published by Lenox Kamara by The Confetti Collective, described as offering a “Night of Nonsense and Nostalgia” (7/26).
- Matt and Lily gather togetheran hour-long stand-up from queer polyalcomedian Lily Kerrigan along with “her self-proclaimed himbo boyfriend,” Matthew Marcus (7/26).
The ju judge was intentional in striving for a wide variety of artists and themes. O’Connor said:
The district fringe will open on Friday, July 11th and will be held for three weeks on Vanness’ UDC campus starting Sunday, July 27th. Tickets are available at $15 per show, while the multi-show pass is available as a 4-pack for $56, 10-pack for $120, or as a $166 access pass. visit www.districtfringe.com.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
