the shopper edition - The New York International Fringe Festival

P12
8/15/07
www.fringenyc.org
11:45 PM
Page 1
August 10, 2007
THE SHOPPER EDITION
AUGUST
10-26 2007
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL • ISSUE NO. 1
Find out where the bunch from FringeCENTRAL are hanging this year...
THE PERSONAL
SHOPPER GOES
BANANAS
by
Photo by Dixie Sheridan
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
Avner Kam
YEP. THE 2007 NEW YORK
FringeCENTRAL is at the former
location of the legendary Banana
Express market. No wonder we
go bananas. If last year’s SoHo
location allowed us to bring
culture to the fashionistas, now
we focus on giving you extra
potassium. We’re like we are
every year: fresh, delicious and
good for you.
So may I, your FringeNYC
Personal Shopper for the fourth
year, give you a taste sample? Dive
with me into this finger-licking
buffet. We have of everything:
something tangy, something sweet
and shows about penises.
We have shows about love and
dramatic shows as crunchy and
salty as fried plantain. We have
shows so filled with fantasy, so
sweet and luxuriously rich, you
want to have them both as parfait
and flambé. Heck, I’m hungry.
Let’s start eating!
Being that we are the TMZ.com
of the East Coast, we have our
share of celebrity-obsessed wares,
though slightly older celebrities.
There’s MIRIAM who happened
to be Moses' sister, or that Southern
belle (Whence Came Ye Scarlett
O'Hara O'Hanrahan?) We have
JOAN OF ARPpO (a Swiss clown
fighting the British!) and PIAF. We
also have Leni (no, not Bruce –
Riefenstahl!).
On the political front, there’s
HILLARY AGONISTES and Dirt
(Hello! My name is Saddam). We
have ANDREA / AGAVE (about
Andrea Yates who drowned her
five children) and our own
Above: Featured in the pictures are Soneela Nankani
(Caitlin) and Jeff Brown (Ham) of An Air Balloon
Crosses Antarctica; Top Right: Naked in a Fishbowl –
Featuring: Katharine Heller (short dark hair) , Brenna
Palughi (Blonde) Lynne Rosenberg (curly hair) and
Lauren Seikaly (long dark hair); Bottom Right: Garret
smiles as Taty & Kevin work on internet installation in
the background
“Springtime for Hitler,”
BUKOWSICAL! We have another
“Capote” biopic, this time with
Marilyn Monroe (Beautiful Child)
as well as BENT TO THE FLAME
– A Night with Tennessee
Williams.
Those in the know, know
Theremin (founder of electronic
music!) And we have a true
FringeNYC celebrity, Susan Louise
O’Connor, who finally Gets Some
Play (directed by: Moritz von
Stuelpnagel! Yeepee!)
Name game
But do we have some fake
celebrities. Are supposed to know
them? Well, certainly.
We have JOHN GOLDFARB,
PLEASE COME HOME!, which
includes Middle Eastern dance
choreography, and The
Consuming Passions of Lydia
Pinkham and Rev. Sylvester
Graham (culinary curiosities!)
Then, there’s Mary Brigit
Poppleton is Writing a Memoir
(escaping Long Island in a
rowboat!) and Mother Hubbard's
Cupboard (pest control!).
Let us not forget Victor Woo –
The Average Asian American
Victor Woo – The Average Asian
American (written by the two
Kevins, who do not come off a
average Asian Americans at all!)
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore
art thou Romeo?" Hmmm… no
Romeo this year, but we do have
HAMLET – a stand up, as well as
HORATIO and The Winter's Tale
Project. And more classics:
Continued on p3
P2
8/15/07
www.fringenyc.org
11:46 PM
Page 2
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P11
Photos by George I. Rand
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
Top Left: Kevin works on removing tile from the exterior; Top Center: Hiram, Taty & Elena practice creative use of
a FringeNYC banner to cover the (also fairly appropriate) "Banana Express"; Top Right: Jill, Garret & Barrie help
an early customer; Above Left: Alexa cleans the patio, but still looks glam; Above Center: The quintessential "before"
shot; Above Right: Mid-construction, having removed the old awning; Right: Ian preps the gate for painting; Bottom
Right: Jill concentrates on "T3", the new TicketWeb service
Continued from p10
special place for our youngest audience
members, special events listings and flyers,
the press wall, the volunteer desk, a place to
make a podcast, and much, much more! One
of the best things is that it is the place where
our audience and artists come together,
which is what FringeNYC is all about!
check and what seems like miles and miles
of Ethernet cable!
FringeNYC Propaganda: Who makes
FringeCENTRAL happen?
Elena Holy: Kevin Bartlett, our Special
Events Director, who is also a really talented
electrician, contractor, constructor, cleaner
and all around wonderful guy.
FringeNYC Propaganda: What all goes on at
When we decided that having a big
FringeCENTRAL?
FringeCENTRAL space was something that
Elena Holy: Well, it’s not only the
we wanted to make a priority for
central box office and community center, it’s FringeNYC, he took on the role of
also our administrative office until the end
coordinating and building the space –
of August, as well as the home of the
dealing with vendors, hiring crew, hauling
production staff and tech storage. We’ll have off garbage, getting everything out of
our daily roll call meetings here, as well as
storage and moving our administrative
the Opening Ceremonies and departmental
offices. I think he is getting pretty tired of
meetings. We have a conference room, office stapling fabric to the ceiling… but what he
space, public space, venue boxes for box
has done to make this a home for all of us
office managers and venue directors to
is amazing. I
P10
8/15/07
11:46 PM
Page 3
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
FringeNYC gets down and dirty in Soho
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P3
Photo by Jonathan Grey
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
WILLIAMSBURG! THE MUSICAL SINGS ITS HEART OUT FOR FRINGENYC
Photograph © Dixie Sheridan 2007
Inherit the FringeNYC!
by
Joey Hood
returned to the office and logged
onto Property Shark to confirm the
owner of the space. As it turned
out, the space had changed hands
ten minutes before I logged on.
Literally, the new ownership papers
had been filed with the city
moments before.
So I prepped a nice package for
the new owners, and had it on their
FringeNYC Propaganda: How do you desks the next morning. Adam
go about finding a location to serve as
Gever, from The Alrose Group,
FringeCENTRAL?
called me a couple of days later. I
Elena Holy: Well, this year I
really couldn’t believe it.
started looking early. Kevin and I
FringeNYC Propaganda: What’s
actually did a walkabout all over
the best thing about this year’s
downtown in January, looking at
spaces that had just become available FringeCENTRAL?
Elena Holy: The patio! We have
per the commercial retail real estate
outdoor space to do FringeAL
section of the newspapers. But then,
FRESCO events like
as I was on my way down to the
FringeNYTEASERS as well as Fort
Department of Cultural affairs for
FringeJR. Outdoor space in
their announcement, I passed our
Manhattan is such a delight. Our
Banana Express, and knew I had to
FringeCENTRAL is actually central,
pursue it.
I began to look into who owned and our venues are all between
Delancey & 8th St., which is great.
the space. After I met with Darren
FringeCENTRAL is like the
Cole, from SoHo Playhouse, I
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD,
FringeCENTRAL has moved to its
cushy new digs at the former
Banana Express Market (80
Carmine St.)
FringeNYC Propaganda
recently sat down with FringeNYC
artistic director Elena Holy to get
the inside scoop.
Elena K Holy and Kevin Bartlett celebrate
the new FringeCENTRAL at the
FringeNYC opening night party.
One of the best things
is that it is the place
where our audience
and artists come
together
community center of the little town
that we build each year, and as we
say around here, “If you haven’t
been to FringeCENTRAL, you
haven’t been to FringeNYC”.
FringeNYC Propaganda: What can
you find at FringeCENTRAL?
Elena Holy: Postcards to
peruse, participants to schmooze,
special events, t-shirts and tanks, a
concierge desk with a helpful
volunteer with access to the
FringeNYC Slice-O-Matic, shows
listed by marketing tracks, a place
to sit and peruse the program guide
or the most recent issue of
FringeNYC Propaganda,
FringeNYTEASERS on the patio, a
Continued on p11
The Cast of Williamsburg! The Musical in the NYFringe Festival
Continued from p1
GALATEA, ELEKTRAFIRE – a
modern rock opera, CHEKHOV
JAZZ and an interpretation of “The
Seagull” (Days and Nights: page
121, lines 11 and 12). There is
Dressing Miss Julie (adapted from
August Strindberg), Elephant in
the Room! (after Ionesco's
“Rhinoceros” ) and LOST IN
HOLLYWOODLAND OR THE
SLUGWOMAN FROM URANUS
(retelling of Faust).
And now that we covered the
classics, can be please get to the
sex? Sure thing!
We have SLUT à la carte (She is
not a whore!) and SHE WOLVES:
Women in Sex, Death & Rebirth.
Pedicure lovers would be happy to
know we have Sodomy &
Pedicures! Penis lovers would be
happy to know we offer both Rise
like a Penis from the Flames – A
Phallic Phoenix Story as well as
PB&J where the P stands for penis
(“soylent green is made of penis!”)
Now on with the peep show:
We have All Alone (perversions!)
and angel/buddy (alien disdain for
semen!) as well as Chaser (male
nudity!)
More nudity disclaimers can
be found at DOUBLE VISION,
Poppies and Top and Bottom.
Consider yourself warned.
Speaking of behaving like
animals, we do have ANIMALS
(featuring unicorns having sex) and
Elephant in the Room!
We have an eerie comedy about
Fish and CATCH THE FISH, based
on the Vanity Fair article, “Rich,
Jaded and Lost in LA.”)) and
Naked in a Fishbowl (starring the
four chicks!).
From BAAAHHH!!! (sheepskin
and mayhem) to The Monkey Moo
(woman, man and monkey!)
through Pigeon Man Apocalypse
(he lives on pigeons!) and
Vampingo... a comedy with bite
(killer flamingos – watch out!!)
AND The Rat King Rock Opera
(hope for humankind!) to Woof,
Daddy (Do repeat after me: “Woof,
Daddy, woof.””)
I wonder – is there a special
Grace to say while chomping down
a Banana? I am only asking because
the holiness quotient in this festival
is in heaven: we have Action Jesus
(closet Christians!) and Jesus Rant:
The Religio-Comic Ravings of a
Former Christian (30% soulsearching!)
There is The Life and Times of
Martin Luther (Reformed)
(peasant mobs!) on top of Madonna
and Child and Other Divas
(Exorcism!) AND The Miracle on
Monroe Street (miraculous!) and
then there is The Gospel According
to Matthew (Christian
Fundamentalist AND gays!) A-men!
Title effort
Now, let’s discuss some
observations about FRINGE NYC
titles. There is rise in the use of
slash separators in show titles:
BANG/whimper, angel/buddy;
ANDREA / AGAVE and Life/Play:
An Experiment in Theatrical
Continued on p5
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P4
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 4
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
6 Lovers. 6 Secrets. 1 Ghost.
Another night in NYC.
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P9
FRINGENYC or FAKE?
Try to guess whether the following shows are part of FringeNYC
or our editor’s imagination
Grant Aleksander
Veronica Cruz
Josh Clayton
Laurence Lau
Written by Philip Gerson
Jenn Miller Cribbs
Maureen Mueller
Directed by Michael Lilly
Stage Manager: Carol A. Sullivan
Anactor
actorand
andhis
hishypnotherapist
hypno-therapist
bring
it onstage
An
bring
it onstage
in
this
comedic
thriller…
it’s like
in this
comedpsychological
ic psychological
thriller…it’s
like
watching
watching an
an autopsy,
autopsy,except
exceptMarvin
MarvinisisALIVE.
ALIVE.
Marvelous Shine
A transgendered lesbian rabbi
and fundraisers for Mothers
Against Drunk Driving fill this
Three Crows Theater delight.
ANSWERS
1. FRINGENYC
2. FRINGENYC
3. FAKE
4. FAKE
5. FRINGENYC
The
Program
The Sopranos
move to Wisteria
Lane in this FringeHIGH
dark comedy. It poses the
questions such as if you
had to choose between
your family and
boyfriend, what would
you do? Well, it depends
on how much money
he has.
The
Chinese
Delivery
Man Express
A Chinatown
businessman leaves a
promising Wall Street
career to serve kung
pao chicken to a ragtag
group of hipsters bored
with their lives and
Guided by Voices
discography.
I Can’t Believe Richard
Sexton Said That!
A feminist drag queen
performs a rock monologue
about her struggles of living with
Steinem ideals in a Queer as Folk world.
Williamsburg: The Musical
Speaking of hipsters, this
song-and-dance routine
extols the troubles of living
on daddy’s dime and still
not having enough money for
American Apparel’s half-off summer sale.
A Provocative
Modern Myth
Tickets :
www.fringenyc.org
Additional Information :
www.theterriblegirls.com
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P8
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 5
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
Continued from p3
Autobiography. Four makes a
trend!
There is also a shift toward
playful use of numbers in titles:
PN 1923.45 LS01 Volume 2
(The Book Play), Days and
Nights: page 121, lines 11 and
12, 36:24:36, 516 (five sixteen),
January 1986 and End’s Eve:
The Feast of 2012.
Should we warn you of
similar titles, which may cause
some confusion? Sure!
We have CHEKHOV JAZZ
and The Jazz Messenger as
well as Jazz Hand: Tales of a
One Armed Woman. We have
Antarctica and An Air Balloon
Across Antarctica.
If you want to play games,
choose from The Game or
Gamers.
For the royal flush, get
tickets for Princess Mimi, Or:
How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Frog
and Princess Sunshine’s Bitter
Pill of Truth Funhouse.
And then there is Helmet
and Hamlet – a stand up; THE
END and End’s Eve: The Feast
of 2012; FARMER SONG the
Musical and FARMTRUCKS:
A Corporate Coffee
Adventure.
We’ve got Cancer! the
musical and Two-mur Humor:
He's Malignant; She's Benign.
Consider yourself informed!
‘Stock Home’ tales…
The award goes to...
EVERYONE DESER
ROXY
FONT
by LIZA LENTINI
Directed by KATHERINE KOVNER
Friday, August 17th @ 5:15pm
Saturday, August 18th @ 2:30pm
Tuesday, August 21st @ 6:45pm
Wednesday, August 22nd @ 9:15pm
Saturday, August 25th @ 7:00pm
TICKET INFO: www.fringenyc.
The Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerc
CherryLaneTheatre.com · myspace.com
And now, ladies and gents, our
yearly awards.
The “Save our Forests”
award given to the shortest title
in the festival is split between
several four-letter words: Leni,
Dirt, Burn and Fish. Unlike
previous years, no show dared
to cross the four-letter barrier.
In a sentence
Which brings us to the “Like a
Horse” award, for those who
go out of their way to add
words to this article.
Some recipients of the
“You Soooo Big” honorable
mention are The Consuming
Passions of Lydia Pinkham
and Rev. Sylvester Graham
as well as LOST IN
HOLLYWOODLAND OR
THE SLUGWOMAN FROM
URANUS, but also Princess
Mimi, Or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love
the Frog.
The runner up, getting the
just-renamed “Woof, Daddy”
award, is THE BOY ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE
WORLD: an absurd fairy tale
love quadrangle. Congrats.
Leader of the pack
But our ultimate winner, the
big banana, the winner of the
coveted “Like a Horse” award
for excessive use of ink is:
BAUM FOR PEACE or The
True Adventures of the
Slightly World-Renowned
Lesbian Playwright Who Ran
for Congress. A lesbian
getting the “Like a Horse”
award? Yes, FringeNYC is all
about experimentation. You
go, girl! I
A READY-MADE FAMILY: Mather Zickel (ESPN's "The Bronx is Burning" with John Turturro), Lauren Cook (the hit web series
"Floaters") and newcomer Megan Tusing (seated).
P5
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P6
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 6
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P7
In ‘Air Balloon Across Antarctica,’ this South Pole is anything but Happy Feet
IRISH PLAYWRIGHT
MARTIN BLOWS OFF
SOME HOT ‘AIR’
I FIRST MET FringeNYC
playwright Darragh Martin at the
Coney Island hipster love-in, Night
of Fire. Brandishing a flimsy pair of
cardboard angel wings, he
looked like an understudy of a
low-rent Tony Kushner fantasia
in a sea of Doc Martens and
Parliament Lights.
He spoke in a burr of Dublin
cockney. His bedhead hair reminded
me of that Billy Elliott kid, too.
Fresh off the boat, Martin
enrolled in Columbia University’s
graduate program for theater geeks.
He hasn’t looked back since.
His tragicomedy of the absurd,
An Air Balloon Across Antarctica, has
already won raves from the Aussie
press with the Melbourne Age
proclaiming his work to be,
“poignant and funny, whimsical
and grave.” By the way, the play
stars an obese hamster and Amelia
Earhart. It’s a mediation of life and
death and rodents.
After further ensuring his
tentative lung cancer, the FringeNYC
Propaganda editor Joey Hood took a
trip on the ol’ exercise wheel with
Martin.
FringeNYC Propaganda: When did
you realize that you wanted to become a
playwright? And were you always a
critically lauded genius?
Darragh Martin: I wrote my first
play when I was 14. One of the
characters was called Stem. You can
imagine it was pretty awful.
I can’t say there was a big
epiphany moment where I wanted to
become a writer, but one of the
exciting things about theatre is that
you get to see your words come alive
and watching people in the audience
react to what you’ve written is a
wonderful feeling.
FringeNYC Propaganda: An Air
By the way, the play
stars an obese
hamster and Amelia
Earhart. It’s a
mediation of life and
death and rodents.
Balloon Across Antarctica has a lot of
characteristics of classic theater of the
absurd. Do you feel that this accurately
describes your work? Or do you feel that
this modifier is overused?
Darragh Martin: The play is
pretty absurd but what I like about it
is the way it balances absurdism and
realism. Yes there is a flying hamster
and a giant air balloon but the whole
thing is anchored in a pretty
standard story about love and grief.
Originally the play started as more of
an absurd exercise - just an explorer
and a hamster in a hot air balloon
playing games with each other - but
as it evolved more realistic scenes
crept their way in and I’m really glad
they did.
Having a hot air balloon and an
obese hamster is a good selling point
but I think what keeps people really
engaged with the play is the fact that
all the characters, whether it’s
Amelia Earhart or a wannabe
lemming are all rooted in reality.
FringeNYC Propaganda: Who are
some of your favorite theater of the
absurd writers? And being from the
same geographical area, do you feel a
strong kinship to Beckett?
Darragh Martin: I’ve been
influenced pretty strongly by Dylan
Thomas and Jim Cartwright. I think
Under MilkWood and Bed both
capture the kind of balance between
book, music & lryics by Steve Adams & Chan Chandler
Monday, 8-20 9:00pm • Thursday, 8-23 5:00pm
Friday, 8-24 8:30pm • Saturday, 8-25 1:00pm
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts • 566 LaGuardia Place (Washington Square South)
www.slammerthemusical.com
Equity Approved Showcase
lyricism and realism that I am
trying to create with this play.
As for Beckett, I am in awe of
him though wouldn’t necessarily
aspire to recreate his style. It takes a
certain kind of genius to make
nothing happening slowly
fascinating!
FringeNYC Propaganda: Your
play occurs in a very non-linear
pattern. While it starts off as purely
absurd, upon a second reading, smaller
details foreshadow what’s to come.
From a writing standpoint, how did
you approach An Air Balloon? Did
you plan an overarching narrative or
string together scenes piecemeal?
Darragh Martin: I had a
definite plan when I was working
through it - in terms of the
geographic journey the play would
take (from calm to storm) and the
similar emotional one the
characters make. A lot of the
writing process was about finding
the right balance for the piece and
some of the flashbacks helped keep
it afloat and stopped it from
becoming too heavy. But I wanted it
to feel a little hazy at the start, a
little like a ‘whiteout’ so that the
perspective and the proportion are
a bit blurred - you’re not sure why
the explorer and the hamster are in
the balloon, or what’s in the
urn and it’s only as the
balloon and the play travel
across Antarctica that the
story slots together.
FringeNYC
Propaganda: What’s the
greatest challenge of bringing
An Air Balloon Across
Antarctica to American
audiences? Do you think that
it will translate well?
Darragh Martin: I think
the play translates very
Above and below: Featured in the pictures
well to America. Because a lot of it are Soneela Nankani (Caitlin) and Jeff
is magic realist in style, its
Brown (Ham) of An Air Balloon Crosses
geography is more emotional than Antarctica
physical and I think the pinch-meI’m-falling-in-love and the I-can’t- torches were replaced with
breathe-emptiness of grief are
flashlights and people rappel
pretty similar whether you’re in
instead of abseiling.
An Air Balloon Across Antarctica
Darwin or Denver.
Practically, though there were a opens Aug. 10. For tickets, go to
fringenyc.org I
few edits we had to make so
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P6
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 6
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P7
In ‘Air Balloon Across Antarctica,’ this South Pole is anything but Happy Feet
IRISH PLAYWRIGHT
MARTIN BLOWS OFF
SOME HOT ‘AIR’
I FIRST MET FringeNYC
playwright Darragh Martin at the
Coney Island hipster love-in, Night
of Fire. Brandishing a flimsy pair of
cardboard angel wings, he
looked like an understudy of a
low-rent Tony Kushner fantasia
in a sea of Doc Martens and
Parliament Lights.
He spoke in a burr of Dublin
cockney. His bedhead hair reminded
me of that Billy Elliott kid, too.
Fresh off the boat, Martin
enrolled in Columbia University’s
graduate program for theater geeks.
He hasn’t looked back since.
His tragicomedy of the absurd,
An Air Balloon Across Antarctica, has
already won raves from the Aussie
press with the Melbourne Age
proclaiming his work to be,
“poignant and funny, whimsical
and grave.” By the way, the play
stars an obese hamster and Amelia
Earhart. It’s a mediation of life and
death and rodents.
After further ensuring his
tentative lung cancer, the FringeNYC
Propaganda editor Joey Hood took a
trip on the ol’ exercise wheel with
Martin.
FringeNYC Propaganda: When did
you realize that you wanted to become a
playwright? And were you always a
critically lauded genius?
Darragh Martin: I wrote my first
play when I was 14. One of the
characters was called Stem. You can
imagine it was pretty awful.
I can’t say there was a big
epiphany moment where I wanted to
become a writer, but one of the
exciting things about theatre is that
you get to see your words come alive
and watching people in the audience
react to what you’ve written is a
wonderful feeling.
FringeNYC Propaganda: An Air
By the way, the play
stars an obese
hamster and Amelia
Earhart. It’s a
mediation of life and
death and rodents.
Balloon Across Antarctica has a lot of
characteristics of classic theater of the
absurd. Do you feel that this accurately
describes your work? Or do you feel that
this modifier is overused?
Darragh Martin: The play is
pretty absurd but what I like about it
is the way it balances absurdism and
realism. Yes there is a flying hamster
and a giant air balloon but the whole
thing is anchored in a pretty
standard story about love and grief.
Originally the play started as more of
an absurd exercise - just an explorer
and a hamster in a hot air balloon
playing games with each other - but
as it evolved more realistic scenes
crept their way in and I’m really glad
they did.
Having a hot air balloon and an
obese hamster is a good selling point
but I think what keeps people really
engaged with the play is the fact that
all the characters, whether it’s
Amelia Earhart or a wannabe
lemming are all rooted in reality.
FringeNYC Propaganda: Who are
some of your favorite theater of the
absurd writers? And being from the
same geographical area, do you feel a
strong kinship to Beckett?
Darragh Martin: I’ve been
influenced pretty strongly by Dylan
Thomas and Jim Cartwright. I think
Under MilkWood and Bed both
capture the kind of balance between
book, music & lryics by Steve Adams & Chan Chandler
Monday, 8-20 9:00pm • Thursday, 8-23 5:00pm
Friday, 8-24 8:30pm • Saturday, 8-25 1:00pm
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts • 566 LaGuardia Place (Washington Square South)
www.slammerthemusical.com
Equity Approved Showcase
lyricism and realism that I am
trying to create with this play.
As for Beckett, I am in awe of
him though wouldn’t necessarily
aspire to recreate his style. It takes a
certain kind of genius to make
nothing happening slowly
fascinating!
FringeNYC Propaganda: Your
play occurs in a very non-linear
pattern. While it starts off as purely
absurd, upon a second reading, smaller
details foreshadow what’s to come.
From a writing standpoint, how did
you approach An Air Balloon? Did
you plan an overarching narrative or
string together scenes piecemeal?
Darragh Martin: I had a
definite plan when I was working
through it - in terms of the
geographic journey the play would
take (from calm to storm) and the
similar emotional one the
characters make. A lot of the
writing process was about finding
the right balance for the piece and
some of the flashbacks helped keep
it afloat and stopped it from
becoming too heavy. But I wanted it
to feel a little hazy at the start, a
little like a ‘whiteout’ so that the
perspective and the proportion are
a bit blurred - you’re not sure why
the explorer and the hamster are in
the balloon, or what’s in the
urn and it’s only as the
balloon and the play travel
across Antarctica that the
story slots together.
FringeNYC
Propaganda: What’s the
greatest challenge of bringing
An Air Balloon Across
Antarctica to American
audiences? Do you think that
it will translate well?
Darragh Martin: I think
the play translates very
Above and below: Featured in the pictures
well to America. Because a lot of it are Soneela Nankani (Caitlin) and Jeff
is magic realist in style, its
Brown (Ham) of An Air Balloon Crosses
geography is more emotional than Antarctica
physical and I think the pinch-meI’m-falling-in-love and the I-can’t- torches were replaced with
breathe-emptiness of grief are
flashlights and people rappel
pretty similar whether you’re in
instead of abseiling.
An Air Balloon Across Antarctica
Darwin or Denver.
Practically, though there were a opens Aug. 10. For tickets, go to
fringenyc.org I
few edits we had to make so
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P8
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 5
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
Continued from p3
Autobiography. Four makes a
trend!
There is also a shift toward
playful use of numbers in titles:
PN 1923.45 LS01 Volume 2
(The Book Play), Days and
Nights: page 121, lines 11 and
12, 36:24:36, 516 (five sixteen),
January 1986 and End’s Eve:
The Feast of 2012.
Should we warn you of
similar titles, which may cause
some confusion? Sure!
We have CHEKHOV JAZZ
and The Jazz Messenger as
well as Jazz Hand: Tales of a
One Armed Woman. We have
Antarctica and An Air Balloon
Across Antarctica.
If you want to play games,
choose from The Game or
Gamers.
For the royal flush, get
tickets for Princess Mimi, Or:
How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Frog
and Princess Sunshine’s Bitter
Pill of Truth Funhouse.
And then there is Helmet
and Hamlet – a stand up; THE
END and End’s Eve: The Feast
of 2012; FARMER SONG the
Musical and FARMTRUCKS:
A Corporate Coffee
Adventure.
We’ve got Cancer! the
musical and Two-mur Humor:
He's Malignant; She's Benign.
Consider yourself informed!
‘Stock Home’ tales…
The award goes to...
EVERYONE DESER
ROXY
FONT
by LIZA LENTINI
Directed by KATHERINE KOVNER
Friday, August 17th @ 5:15pm
Saturday, August 18th @ 2:30pm
Tuesday, August 21st @ 6:45pm
Wednesday, August 22nd @ 9:15pm
Saturday, August 25th @ 7:00pm
TICKET INFO: www.fringenyc.
The Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerc
CherryLaneTheatre.com · myspace.com
And now, ladies and gents, our
yearly awards.
The “Save our Forests”
award given to the shortest title
in the festival is split between
several four-letter words: Leni,
Dirt, Burn and Fish. Unlike
previous years, no show dared
to cross the four-letter barrier.
In a sentence
Which brings us to the “Like a
Horse” award, for those who
go out of their way to add
words to this article.
Some recipients of the
“You Soooo Big” honorable
mention are The Consuming
Passions of Lydia Pinkham
and Rev. Sylvester Graham
as well as LOST IN
HOLLYWOODLAND OR
THE SLUGWOMAN FROM
URANUS, but also Princess
Mimi, Or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love
the Frog.
The runner up, getting the
just-renamed “Woof, Daddy”
award, is THE BOY ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE
WORLD: an absurd fairy tale
love quadrangle. Congrats.
Leader of the pack
But our ultimate winner, the
big banana, the winner of the
coveted “Like a Horse” award
for excessive use of ink is:
BAUM FOR PEACE or The
True Adventures of the
Slightly World-Renowned
Lesbian Playwright Who Ran
for Congress. A lesbian
getting the “Like a Horse”
award? Yes, FringeNYC is all
about experimentation. You
go, girl! I
A READY-MADE FAMILY: Mather Zickel (ESPN's "The Bronx is Burning" with John Turturro), Lauren Cook (the hit web series
"Floaters") and newcomer Megan Tusing (seated).
P5
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
P4
8/15/07
11:47 PM
Page 4
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
6 Lovers. 6 Secrets. 1 Ghost.
Another night in NYC.
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P9
FRINGENYC or FAKE?
Try to guess whether the following shows are part of FringeNYC
or our editor’s imagination
Grant Aleksander
Veronica Cruz
Josh Clayton
Laurence Lau
Written by Philip Gerson
Jenn Miller Cribbs
Maureen Mueller
Directed by Michael Lilly
Stage Manager: Carol A. Sullivan
Anactor
actorand
andhis
hishypnotherapist
hypno-therapist
bring
it onstage
An
bring
it onstage
in
this
comedic
thriller…
it’s like
in this
comedpsychological
ic psychological
thriller…it’s
like
watching
watching an
an autopsy,
autopsy,except
exceptMarvin
MarvinisisALIVE.
ALIVE.
Marvelous Shine
A transgendered lesbian rabbi
and fundraisers for Mothers
Against Drunk Driving fill this
Three Crows Theater delight.
ANSWERS
1. FRINGENYC
2. FRINGENYC
3. FAKE
4. FAKE
5. FRINGENYC
The
Program
The Sopranos
move to Wisteria
Lane in this FringeHIGH
dark comedy. It poses the
questions such as if you
had to choose between
your family and
boyfriend, what would
you do? Well, it depends
on how much money
he has.
The
Chinese
Delivery
Man Express
A Chinatown
businessman leaves a
promising Wall Street
career to serve kung
pao chicken to a ragtag
group of hipsters bored
with their lives and
Guided by Voices
discography.
I Can’t Believe Richard
Sexton Said That!
A feminist drag queen
performs a rock monologue
about her struggles of living with
Steinem ideals in a Queer as Folk world.
Williamsburg: The Musical
Speaking of hipsters, this
song-and-dance routine
extols the troubles of living
on daddy’s dime and still
not having enough money for
American Apparel’s half-off summer sale.
A Provocative
Modern Myth
Tickets :
www.fringenyc.org
Additional Information :
www.theterriblegirls.com
P10
8/15/07
11:46 PM
Page 3
www.fringenyc.org
August 10, 2007
FringeNYC gets down and dirty in Soho
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P3
Photo by Jonathan Grey
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
WILLIAMSBURG! THE MUSICAL SINGS ITS HEART OUT FOR FRINGENYC
Photograph © Dixie Sheridan 2007
Inherit the FringeNYC!
by
Joey Hood
returned to the office and logged
onto Property Shark to confirm the
owner of the space. As it turned
out, the space had changed hands
ten minutes before I logged on.
Literally, the new ownership papers
had been filed with the city
moments before.
So I prepped a nice package for
the new owners, and had it on their
FringeNYC Propaganda: How do you desks the next morning. Adam
go about finding a location to serve as
Gever, from The Alrose Group,
FringeCENTRAL?
called me a couple of days later. I
Elena Holy: Well, this year I
really couldn’t believe it.
started looking early. Kevin and I
FringeNYC Propaganda: What’s
actually did a walkabout all over
the best thing about this year’s
downtown in January, looking at
spaces that had just become available FringeCENTRAL?
Elena Holy: The patio! We have
per the commercial retail real estate
outdoor space to do FringeAL
section of the newspapers. But then,
FRESCO events like
as I was on my way down to the
FringeNYTEASERS as well as Fort
Department of Cultural affairs for
FringeJR. Outdoor space in
their announcement, I passed our
Manhattan is such a delight. Our
Banana Express, and knew I had to
FringeCENTRAL is actually central,
pursue it.
I began to look into who owned and our venues are all between
Delancey & 8th St., which is great.
the space. After I met with Darren
FringeCENTRAL is like the
Cole, from SoHo Playhouse, I
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD,
FringeCENTRAL has moved to its
cushy new digs at the former
Banana Express Market (80
Carmine St.)
FringeNYC Propaganda
recently sat down with FringeNYC
artistic director Elena Holy to get
the inside scoop.
Elena K Holy and Kevin Bartlett celebrate
the new FringeCENTRAL at the
FringeNYC opening night party.
One of the best things
is that it is the place
where our audience
and artists come
together
community center of the little town
that we build each year, and as we
say around here, “If you haven’t
been to FringeCENTRAL, you
haven’t been to FringeNYC”.
FringeNYC Propaganda: What can
you find at FringeCENTRAL?
Elena Holy: Postcards to
peruse, participants to schmooze,
special events, t-shirts and tanks, a
concierge desk with a helpful
volunteer with access to the
FringeNYC Slice-O-Matic, shows
listed by marketing tracks, a place
to sit and peruse the program guide
or the most recent issue of
FringeNYC Propaganda,
FringeNYTEASERS on the patio, a
Continued on p11
The Cast of Williamsburg! The Musical in the NYFringe Festival
Continued from p1
GALATEA, ELEKTRAFIRE – a
modern rock opera, CHEKHOV
JAZZ and an interpretation of “The
Seagull” (Days and Nights: page
121, lines 11 and 12). There is
Dressing Miss Julie (adapted from
August Strindberg), Elephant in
the Room! (after Ionesco's
“Rhinoceros” ) and LOST IN
HOLLYWOODLAND OR THE
SLUGWOMAN FROM URANUS
(retelling of Faust).
And now that we covered the
classics, can be please get to the
sex? Sure thing!
We have SLUT à la carte (She is
not a whore!) and SHE WOLVES:
Women in Sex, Death & Rebirth.
Pedicure lovers would be happy to
know we have Sodomy &
Pedicures! Penis lovers would be
happy to know we offer both Rise
like a Penis from the Flames – A
Phallic Phoenix Story as well as
PB&J where the P stands for penis
(“soylent green is made of penis!”)
Now on with the peep show:
We have All Alone (perversions!)
and angel/buddy (alien disdain for
semen!) as well as Chaser (male
nudity!)
More nudity disclaimers can
be found at DOUBLE VISION,
Poppies and Top and Bottom.
Consider yourself warned.
Speaking of behaving like
animals, we do have ANIMALS
(featuring unicorns having sex) and
Elephant in the Room!
We have an eerie comedy about
Fish and CATCH THE FISH, based
on the Vanity Fair article, “Rich,
Jaded and Lost in LA.”)) and
Naked in a Fishbowl (starring the
four chicks!).
From BAAAHHH!!! (sheepskin
and mayhem) to The Monkey Moo
(woman, man and monkey!)
through Pigeon Man Apocalypse
(he lives on pigeons!) and
Vampingo... a comedy with bite
(killer flamingos – watch out!!)
AND The Rat King Rock Opera
(hope for humankind!) to Woof,
Daddy (Do repeat after me: “Woof,
Daddy, woof.””)
I wonder – is there a special
Grace to say while chomping down
a Banana? I am only asking because
the holiness quotient in this festival
is in heaven: we have Action Jesus
(closet Christians!) and Jesus Rant:
The Religio-Comic Ravings of a
Former Christian (30% soulsearching!)
There is The Life and Times of
Martin Luther (Reformed)
(peasant mobs!) on top of Madonna
and Child and Other Divas
(Exorcism!) AND The Miracle on
Monroe Street (miraculous!) and
then there is The Gospel According
to Matthew (Christian
Fundamentalist AND gays!) A-men!
Title effort
Now, let’s discuss some
observations about FRINGE NYC
titles. There is rise in the use of
slash separators in show titles:
BANG/whimper, angel/buddy;
ANDREA / AGAVE and Life/Play:
An Experiment in Theatrical
Continued on p5
P2
8/15/07
www.fringenyc.org
11:46 PM
Page 2
August 10, 2007
August 10, 2007
www.fringenyc.org
P11
Photos by George I. Rand
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
Top Left: Kevin works on removing tile from the exterior; Top Center: Hiram, Taty & Elena practice creative use of
a FringeNYC banner to cover the (also fairly appropriate) "Banana Express"; Top Right: Jill, Garret & Barrie help
an early customer; Above Left: Alexa cleans the patio, but still looks glam; Above Center: The quintessential "before"
shot; Above Right: Mid-construction, having removed the old awning; Right: Ian preps the gate for painting; Bottom
Right: Jill concentrates on "T3", the new TicketWeb service
Continued from p10
special place for our youngest audience
members, special events listings and flyers,
the press wall, the volunteer desk, a place to
make a podcast, and much, much more! One
of the best things is that it is the place where
our audience and artists come together,
which is what FringeNYC is all about!
check and what seems like miles and miles
of Ethernet cable!
FringeNYC Propaganda: Who makes
FringeCENTRAL happen?
Elena Holy: Kevin Bartlett, our Special
Events Director, who is also a really talented
electrician, contractor, constructor, cleaner
and all around wonderful guy.
FringeNYC Propaganda: What all goes on at
When we decided that having a big
FringeCENTRAL?
FringeCENTRAL space was something that
Elena Holy: Well, it’s not only the
we wanted to make a priority for
central box office and community center, it’s FringeNYC, he took on the role of
also our administrative office until the end
coordinating and building the space –
of August, as well as the home of the
dealing with vendors, hiring crew, hauling
production staff and tech storage. We’ll have off garbage, getting everything out of
our daily roll call meetings here, as well as
storage and moving our administrative
the Opening Ceremonies and departmental
offices. I think he is getting pretty tired of
meetings. We have a conference room, office stapling fabric to the ceiling… but what he
space, public space, venue boxes for box
has done to make this a home for all of us
office managers and venue directors to
is amazing. I
P12
8/15/07
www.fringenyc.org
11:45 PM
Page 1
August 10, 2007
THE SHOPPER EDITION
AUGUST
10-26 2007
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL • ISSUE NO. 1
Find out where the bunch from FringeCENTRAL are hanging this year...
THE PERSONAL
SHOPPER GOES
BANANAS
by
Photo by Dixie Sheridan
Propaganda_Aug10_07.qxp
Avner Kam
YEP. THE 2007 NEW YORK
FringeCENTRAL is at the former
location of the legendary Banana
Express market. No wonder we
go bananas. If last year’s SoHo
location allowed us to bring
culture to the fashionistas, now
we focus on giving you extra
potassium. We’re like we are
every year: fresh, delicious and
good for you.
So may I, your FringeNYC
Personal Shopper for the fourth
year, give you a taste sample? Dive
with me into this finger-licking
buffet. We have of everything:
something tangy, something sweet
and shows about penises.
We have shows about love and
dramatic shows as crunchy and
salty as fried plantain. We have
shows so filled with fantasy, so
sweet and luxuriously rich, you
want to have them both as parfait
and flambé. Heck, I’m hungry.
Let’s start eating!
Being that we are the TMZ.com
of the East Coast, we have our
share of celebrity-obsessed wares,
though slightly older celebrities.
There’s MIRIAM who happened
to be Moses' sister, or that Southern
belle (Whence Came Ye Scarlett
O'Hara O'Hanrahan?) We have
JOAN OF ARPpO (a Swiss clown
fighting the British!) and PIAF. We
also have Leni (no, not Bruce –
Riefenstahl!).
On the political front, there’s
HILLARY AGONISTES and Dirt
(Hello! My name is Saddam). We
have ANDREA / AGAVE (about
Andrea Yates who drowned her
five children) and our own
Above: Featured in the pictures are Soneela Nankani
(Caitlin) and Jeff Brown (Ham) of An Air Balloon
Crosses Antarctica; Top Right: Naked in a Fishbowl –
Featuring: Katharine Heller (short dark hair) , Brenna
Palughi (Blonde) Lynne Rosenberg (curly hair) and
Lauren Seikaly (long dark hair); Bottom Right: Garret
smiles as Taty & Kevin work on internet installation in
the background
“Springtime for Hitler,”
BUKOWSICAL! We have another
“Capote” biopic, this time with
Marilyn Monroe (Beautiful Child)
as well as BENT TO THE FLAME
– A Night with Tennessee
Williams.
Those in the know, know
Theremin (founder of electronic
music!) And we have a true
FringeNYC celebrity, Susan Louise
O’Connor, who finally Gets Some
Play (directed by: Moritz von
Stuelpnagel! Yeepee!)
Name game
But do we have some fake
celebrities. Are supposed to know
them? Well, certainly.
We have JOHN GOLDFARB,
PLEASE COME HOME!, which
includes Middle Eastern dance
choreography, and The
Consuming Passions of Lydia
Pinkham and Rev. Sylvester
Graham (culinary curiosities!)
Then, there’s Mary Brigit
Poppleton is Writing a Memoir
(escaping Long Island in a
rowboat!) and Mother Hubbard's
Cupboard (pest control!).
Let us not forget Victor Woo –
The Average Asian American
Victor Woo – The Average Asian
American (written by the two
Kevins, who do not come off a
average Asian Americans at all!)
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore
art thou Romeo?" Hmmm… no
Romeo this year, but we do have
HAMLET – a stand up, as well as
HORATIO and The Winter's Tale
Project. And more classics:
Continued on p3