Guest Review: Philly Fringe Festival

By Guest Reviewer: H.R. Britton
Guest Festival Ranking: How many bow ties would you give this fringe? 4 out of 5

Mr. Fringey’s Description: Lenny Bruce meets Martha Stewart.

Overview:
The Sunny-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe is the bomb)

1. Provided you find and arrange a venue, you're always guaranteed to be part of the festival. You can plan on it, as opposed to other festivals which either judge you, or pick you out of a hat.

2. You can set your own schedule.

3. Philly is a friendly city, and the audiences are enthusiastic.

The Flip-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe sucks or what makes it difficult)

1. It can be a hassle to have to find and arrange the venue.

2. You're responsible for providing your own light & sound people, as well as your ownbox office person.

3. As I'm a solo performer, I find it a bit of a hassle to go to the Fringe Central to collect the 'will call' tickets before the show.

Ease of Filling Seats:
What's the best way to fill your seats here marketing-wise?
I've tried a number of things. I take a small ad out in the program guide. I put cards out in nearby coffeehouses and bookshops. Sometimes I stand out on the street and give out cards and talk to people. I've never been disappointed with the size of my houses

Is there a fringe central?
Yes. There's a ticketing center, and there's also a late night hangout for the artists.

Is there a showcase for out of town performers?
There's not a specific "out of town" showcase. However, leading up to the Festival there are events where fringers can get to know one another and perform excerpts from their work. There's one called "The Binge" and there's a "late night cabaret," which may be unofficial, and of course, at the night-time artist hangout there are performances too.

Potential to Make Money:

Do you get 100% of door? If not, how much.
Tickets at the door: 100%. Tickets through the fringe Box office have about 8 or 10% deducted

Do performers see other shows for free?
As I remember it, you get to see shows for $5

Do you get paid each night?
At the door ticket proceeds go directly to the theater company, since they're administering their own box office.

If not how? Were you paid on time if the money was sent to you?
The proceeds from the tickets sold online and at the Fringe Ticket Central come later, maybe a month or so.

Navigation of the City

What city do you fly into and how did you get to your destination?
You can fly, bus or train into Philadelphia. There's pretty good public transportation to the airport, and the train station is right downtown. NYC and Newark are also relatively nearby airports.

Can you walk to all the venues? If not how did you get around?
You can walk to a lot of the venues, especially the ones in the Old City. Otherwise, there's a bus and subway, and you can plot a trip on the Transit Authority's website.

Did you use fringe fest lodging? No

If so, how was the lodging? If not, who did you stay with? One time I stayed at the youth hostel on Bank Street, which is okay. One time I stayed with a friend.

How big of a money sock do you need here, based on food prices, and other expenses? (Choose one: A tiny sock, a men's tube sock, a full blown stocking) men's tube sock

Fringe Specs:
Age in Fringe Years: 13 going on 43.
Festival Dates: September 4 - 19
Application Deadline: April 3, 2010.
And: They also have a Facebook application
Applying: $80 on-line at http://www.livearts-fringe.org/
Festival Cost: Mandatory Fees: $80 application fee, Marketing Fee: $100 for 50-word description; $200 for 50-word description and photo. 10% fee for box office ticket sales. General Liability Insurance $95-$177, Sandwich Board rental fee $40.

Ticket Prices: You set your own in whole dollar amounts

About Mr. Fringy's Guest Reviewer: HR Britton

Mr. Fringey’s tag: The man in the overcoat with the anxiously comic stories and monologues.

Check himout at:

www.OvercoatTheater.com

www.myspace.com/overcoattheater

What categories does your show fall under?
Solo show, storytelling, travelogue, religious rant.

How long have you been fringing?
last 4 years, plus one in 2001

How many fringes do you do each year?
1 to 3

What has been your favorite fringe?

Hard to say, obviously. I really liked the close knit and supportive feeling of San Francisco's fringe. I think Philly is fun and accessible.

What has been your biggest money making fringe?
Probably Philly.

What fringe did you make your most important contact?

At what fringe? FringeNYC. I got a great review of "Jesus Rant" in BackStage, also, through that show I got a paid gig at another solo festival.

In one word, why do you fringe?
Exposure

What's the name of the show (s) you are fringing this year?
"Jesus Rant" (in Ottawa) "Melting in
Madras" (Frigid New York, Philly)

Do you use your own tech person at your shows? If so, how much do you pay them?
At Philly and New York. For the run, I paid one helper about 150, give or take.

Any fringes to avoid?
No.

Photos by: Ignacio Carballo
Cards by: Amy Mees

Guest Review: Frigid Fest (New York City)

By Guest Reviewer: Chris Harcum

Guest Festival Ranking: 5 out of 5

Mr. Fringey's Description: A wing and a prayer and a staple gun filled with frozen gummy bears.

Overview:

The Sunny-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe is the bomb)

1. It's contained. 30 shows in 3 venues with over 150 performances in 12 days on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. 2 venues are in the same building. The other venue is a short, easy walk so you can catch almost any performance back to back to back.

2. It's connected. Horse Trade and EXIT Theatre/San Francisco Fringe Festival + Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals = a truly fringe-tastic experience.

3. It's a smooth ride. The Horse Trade people really care and help you.

The Flip-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe sucks or what makes it difficult)

1. It's in its third year. It's getting a good reputation. It hasn't made household names yet but it's becoming tough to jump in there. It's not going to get bigger so you have to pounce on the entry. The online entries are 1/3 of the number of participants. That registration filled up in under 2 minutes this year. The next 1/3 are Canadian participants. The final 1/3 are drawn from a hat at midnight on Halloween. That's how I got in when I was in it in '08.

2. It's still a fringe. You need to have your game together. Your show needs to be at a performance level, your marketing plan needs to be in place, your tech needs to collapse or expand at a moment's notice and you have to hustle. Some people are good fringe citizens and some are self-involved jerks. From my experience, Frigid has more of the former. Actually, last year's Frigid only had 2 groups I did my best to avoid.

3. Canadian fringe people have a frisky tradition of handing out postcards and busking at other people's shows to generate audience. New Yorkers have a caustic tradition of hating this because of the guys hawking specials for strip clubs in Times Square. You can always tell the Canadian participants by this. I know it works elsewhere but in NYC it's like watching your kids lose a soccer match.

Potential to Make Money:

Do you get 100% of door? If not, how much. 100%

Do performers see other shows for free? Yes if they are available.

Do you get paid each night? If not how? Were you paid on time if the money was sent to you? Yes.

Fringe Specs:
Age in Fringe Years: 3
Festival Dates: Feb 25 – March 8
Application Deadline: October 31
And: “Our audience numbers were up more than 20% from last year, almost a 50% increase from our first festival only three years ago, this is amazing.”
Applying: $35: On-line at http://frigidnewyork.info
Festival Cost: The Kraine Theater $850, The Red Room $550, UNDER St. Marks $675

Ticket Prices: $15 and under.

Navigation of the City

What city do you fly into and how did you get to your destination? Laguardia, JFK or Newark International. Public transportation from any of these airports can get you to midtown. The F, V and 6 subway trains are close.

About Mr. Fringey Guest Reviewer:

Name: Chris Harcum

Show Name: American Badass (or 12 Characters in Search of a National Identity).

Check him out: www.chrisharcum.com

Bully Award: The New York Fringe

As if the New York Fringe Festival didn’t have a bad enough reputation already, it gets this years, Bully Award once again for basically telling the Long Island Fringe Festival that it couldn’t use the name “Fringe” in it’s festival name.

I guess having Brooklyn and Ellis Island, isn’t enough, they have to have the word fringe too? Warning to all you other fringes out there who may get a cease and desist warning in the future- you’ve been warned.

Here’s a letter that the good peeps in charge of the LI fringe sent to The New York City International Fringe Festival

Dear NYCIFF,
We would like to take this opportunity to address issues which have been brought to our attention. The New York City International Fringe Festival has managed to get a service mark, the equivalent of a trademark, on the words “Fringe Festival” in the state of New York. This is the equivalent of service marking the words “Pet Shop”, “Bakery” or “Drug Store”, generic phrases used to describe a type of service.

Well, our friends at the NYCIFF have decided that we are confusing people by referring to ourselves as the Long Island Fringe Festival and have demanded that we stop immediately or face legal action.

First of all, if they had actually looked closely, they would have known that the name of the festival is “Fringe 2009 - Experience Long Island”. While it is true that we are the first Long Island Fringe Festival, that is just what we are and that cannot be ruled on in a court of law, it is just a fact.

When we started to put together the festival in September of 2008, it was meant to be a tribute and a celebration of the long and proud tradition of Fringe, an event that started in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1947 at the first International Performance Festival, not on New York City in 1992, and is now an annual event celebrated by 100’s of Fringe Festivals world wide.

If anyone should be allowed to lay claim to the words fringe festival, Edinburgh should be in front of the line with no one behind them. In the true spirit of theatrical collegiality, however, they have let this celebration of creative arts expand and encircle the globe with the spirit and name Fringe Festival. This is what the original fringers had set out to do, entertain and enlighten the general public with a wide range of creative talent assembled into a Fringe Festival.

With an abundance of dancers, musicians, poets, playwrights, visual artists and more on Long Island and around the world, it seems that the more opportunities there are to showcase these people the better. Unfortunately The Present Co., organizers of the NYCIFF, believes that they are the only one who should be allowed to be called a “Fringe Festival”.
May I also add that this seems to be a selective enforcement as no other fringe festival in New York has been told to stop other than the Long Island Fringe. It is also strange that instead of trying to contact us and discuss their concerns, they instead went directly to a lawyer and decided to threaten a lawsuit.

The organizers of Fringe 2009 are not difficult to find. Our names, phone numbers and e mail address are public knowledge and are posted on many websites. So it makes us wonder how a little first year festival could cause such a problem for a well established event such as the New York City International Fringe Festival.

To anyone out there who was confused we apologize. Fringe 2009 is in no way connected to the NYCIFF and we definitely want that to be clear. We are our own festival of Fringe, the first on Long Island, and we are proud to have done this and for that we offer no apology.

“Fringe 2009 - Experience Long Island”

Guest Review: Saskatoon Fringe Festival

By Guest Reviewer: FIELY A. MATIAS

Guest Festival Ranking: 5 BOWTIES OUT OF 5.

Mr. Fringey’s Description: Benjamin Franklin meets Will Rogers in drag.

Overview:

The Sunny-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe is the bomb)

1. THE STAFF: I loved the Fringe staff at the Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival! Very friendly, very helpful and everyone of them came to see my show. I'm still friends with them! I was billeted, all my questions were answered in a timely manner whenever I called, I was paid on time and always treated with a friendly smile!

2. THE AUDIENCE: They came out in droves! I was scheduled into a 160-seat venue and had several sold out performances! The audience was fun, welcoming, playful and numerous! Very friendly city!

3. THE MEDIA COVERAGE: The media coverage at the Saskatoon Fringe was amazing! From the newspapers to the radio to the television stations (big and small) -- the coverage of this Fringe was so well-rounded and complete! My show (and my ugly mug!) appeared several times in the StarPhoenix, I was interviewed by two radio stations, and appeared on two television programs (one national, one local). Lots of press -- it was great!

The Flip-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe sucks or what makes it difficult)

1. FRINGE CONFUSION: There are two Fringe festivals of sorts in Saskatoon. The street fair (buskers, live music, dry ribs and tons of carousing teenagers) and the theatre festival. In one sense this works, the street fair brings people to your venue area but many seem unaware that there is a theater festival going on -- they're there for a burger and some drinks. So, there are plenty of folks to whom you may attempt to sell your show but many times they are happy simply catching a busker show or two, eating and leaving. And the newspapers/media are covering the theatre festival while printing about the street fair. The drawback - sometimes the theatre festival gets lost amongst all the food carts and buskers. This can make it difficult to sell your show -- but not impossible. Keep plugging away with your press, flyers, posters and chatting people up -- the good people of Saskatoon are very open to hearing about your show!

2. HOT GYMNASIUMS: I hesitate to even mention this as my venue was a hot gym and I had the third highest selling show of the fest in 2007. It's clear, the heat doesn't keep audience away! Hot venues and sweating are to be expected at many Fringe fests but in July on the plains in Canada -- kids, it gets hot!

2. AGAIN, THE DRY RIBS: I loved and hated dry ribs - all at the same time! If you have never had a deep-fat fried beef rib, you can't begin to imagine the agita involved! Love the taste, hate my waist! Get ready to gain weight on all the yummy street fair food! :)

Ease of Filling Seats:

What's the best way to fill your seats here marketing-wise?

Like any Fringe -- get out on those streets and chat people up! Whether it's postcards or giant posters attached to the top of your backpack (my personal fave that worked well for my show!), talk and talk and talk and have fun and talk some more! Get your press out on time with great, colorful professional photos, go see other Fringe shows -- be seen! Make yourself as accessible to the press, the potential audience and other Fringers as possible. PS. Really, in my experience, flyers are a bother to audiences waiting in line. Be creative and that will get you more audience than shoving flyers in people's hands that end up in garbage anyway.

Is there a fringe central?

Yes, there are Fringe offices where the staff works/lives -- :) -- and tickets are sold. Signboards for each show are displayed outside of these central offices. PS. In 2007, a performer could sign up for a free sandwich board for the entire fest. Decorate it as you wish!

Is there a showcase for out of town performers?

Not that I'm aware of. There were press/marketing opportunities but not outright one-night-only showcases for either local or out of town performers. Edmonton and Vancouver have this down pat -- I would love to see this event take hold in Saskatoon!

Potential to Make Money:

Do you get 100% of door? If not, how much.

Yes!
Do performers see other shows for free?

Not in 2007. We all used 'passwords' that immediately put us on a 'Comp ticket' list and got us into shows. Oops -- was I not supposed to mention that? :)

Do you get paid each night? If not how? Were you paid on time if the money was sent to you?

No. I think I was paid twice -- once half-way through the fest and a final payment the day after the fest closed. I was paid on time and correctly by check.

Navigation of the City

What city do you fly into and how did you get to your destination?

I drove. I was touring the CAFF across Canada. Driving around Saskatoon was easy -- there's one road in and one road out if you're heading east to west. :)

Can you walk to all the venues? If not how did you get around?

Absolutely! I found that all the venues were centrally located and within easy walking distance of each other. And you can always get some dry ribs from that street fair along the way!

Did you use fringe fest lodging? If so, how was the lodging? If not, who did you stay with?

Yes, I was billeted by the Fringe at a volunteer's house. I loved it! The billetors were wonderful people, I had plenty of room and privacy (a private upstairs apartment to myself), located very close to the Fringe. Thanks, Saskatoon!

How big of a money sock do you need here, based on food prices, and other expenses? (Choose one: A tiny sock, a men's tube sock, a full blown stocking)

A tiny sock. I didn't find Saskatoon expensive.

Fringe Specs:

Age in Fringe Years: 37 (Wow!)

Festival Dates: July 30 - August 8

Application Deadline: September 2, 2009

And: The "Best Little Fringe" in Canada.

Applying: On-line application form http://www.saskatoon.org

Festival Cost: $650.

Ticket Prices: $12 or under.

About Mr. Fringy's Guest Reviewer: Fiely Matias (17 Fringe fests)

LOUNGE-ZILLA! (Orlando, San Francisco, Atlantic/Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver Fringes) THE NAKED GUY (Orlando Fringe) SQUARED, THE GAME SHOW (Orlando Fringe) NOT SHIRLEY MACLAINE (Seattle, Kelowna, Sudbury Fringes - none still in existence)

Mr. Fringey’s tag: The freest fruit on the tree.

Check her/him out at::

http://www.loungezillasings.com

http://www.facebook.com/ fielymatias

http://www.thenakedguyonline.com

http://www.myspace.com/loungezillasings

What categories does your show fall under? (IE, comedy, women, religious, etc).

Comedy, cabaret

How long have you been fringing?

17 years! I'm that old! My first Fringe was in 1992 (Seattle and Vancouver if I remember correctly) and I have performed at the Orlando (4 times), San Francisco, Vancouver (twice), Kelowna (defunct, I think), Seattle (defunct, I know), Edmonton, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Sudbury (defunct?), Atlantic/Halifax - if you include non-CAFF Fringes like the FringeNYC (twice) and Prague, I have performed in 17 Fringe fests.

How many fringes do you do each year?

Varies -- some years one or two, some years I tour, some years not at all.

What has been your favorite fringe?

Oh gosh -- you're asking me to pick my favorite child. No can do. Let's just say, I've never met Fringe that I haven't liked. There's been many great experiences at each Fringe in which I've participated!

What has been your biggest money making fringe?

Top 4: Orlando (biggest), Edmonton (second biggest), Vancouver (third), Saskatoon (4th) -- all fairly close in dollar amount!

What fringe did you make your most important contact?

Orlando Fringe (Beth Marshall). Among oher contacts, she invited us to perform at the CAFF member annual meeting which introduced me to all the other Fringes. Thanks, Beth! PS. I have made alot of great contacts in all the Fringes.

In one word, why do you fringe?

FREEDOM! If you allow me more than one word: I Fringe because it's an artist's dream come true in that it is a non-censored, non-juried playground for theatre performers to express their creativity however they like. And if you saw my shows, you'd understand why this appeals to me! :) Bonus: I have made some great, lifelong friends over the past years Fringeing around North America!

What's the name of the show (s) you are fringing this year?

I'm writing a new show this year so look for me in 2010 with several shows: 'LOUNGE-ZILLA!' - we have yet to perform in Montreal, Winnipeg, among others -- 'Bitches of The Kingdom', a new musical in which the storybook princesses comically bemoan their treatment and exploitation in the Disney animated films -- 'The Naked Guy', a live sitcom hit that played to sold out houses at two separate Orlando Fringe fests (100-seats sold-out for entire run & 250-seats sold-out run)!
Do you use your own tech person at your shows? If so, how much do you pay them?

No. I use the Fringe-provided tech and have had great experiences!

Any fringes to avoid?

The ones I'd tell you to avoid are already gone! :)

Photos by:

Eric Esteban, Orlando Florida