The Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC (A Second Look)

Question: Hey, You look like an experienced Capital Fringe attendee. I am concerned about the high registration and insurance fee without any guarantee on venue, performance dates or percentage of box office. An expensive high risk investment. What has been your experience and others that you know of?

Answer: When I look at a fringe I base a decision on a few different factors and although price is a considering factor, it's not always a priority. Here's what I consider:

1) How long has the fringe been running?
2) What kind of fringe crowd does the festival usually attract for in-town and out-of-town acts?
3) How strong is the fringe audience community within the festival city?
4) How expensive is the city in terms of lodging, incidentals, and food?
5) How much money does it cost to apply?
6) What kind of platform increasing potential does the host city hold?



 
1) How long has the fringe been running?
This is the 5 year birthday for the Cap Fringe. For a US fringe this is usually a safe bet. If you haven't heard horrible things about a fringe at this point, chances are, they've had a decent amount of time to work out any kinks and to develop a fringe audience within the city. I've only heard great things about this fringe.

As you know, I don't recommend doing fringe festivals that are less than 3 years old. But I broke the rules with this festival and performed during years 1 and 2 because it's literally in my back yard and building my audience in DC, NY and LA has been an important part of my business plan.

2) What kind of fringe crowd does the festival usually attract for in-town and out-of-town acts?
The fringe audience continues to build in DC for both types of acts. Just ask DC performer extraordinaire Zehra Fazal who sold out just about all her shows at last years fringe and got an extended run with Headscarf and the Angry Bitch and San Diego Performer Mark Whitney who did the same thing with his show "Fool For a Client."

I think it's important to note that both performers brought their shows to the festival the year before and both had built a following there previously. Regardless, there is a large and growing and loyal fringe audience in DC, period.

3) How strong is the fringe audience community within the festival city?
The Capital Fringe has one of the strongest fringe audience communities I've seen. When they introduced the buttons the year before last and rooted down at Fort Fringe, it really helped audience members find a focal point for the fringe itself. Fort Fringe is so close to the Verizon Center area that it really helps pull in the mainstream and keep them there without feeling too much out of their comfort zone.

Add the previews that the fringe promotes and all the around town button specials and the fringe crowd in DC is, quite honestly, one step away from becoming what I would label as a group of "fringe fanatics."

4) How expensive is the city in terms of lodging, incidentals, and food?
DC offers billeting to out of town performers. I've asked for it this year, although in previous years I've made the drive back and forth from my hometown. I've usually found lodging close to my venues for under $50 using Hotels.com and Hotwire.


5) How much money does it cost to apply?
I just paid my application fee and to tell you the truth it took a bite out of my bank account - with the $30 early registration fee it came to $605. In another month, because I'm not an equity actor, I'll have to pay an additional $200 insurance fee.That brings the total amount to run my show to $805 if I don't include any advertising costs. This isn't a small bean number to most artists.

How does this compare* to some of the other US fringes?
Minnesota: $425
Boulder: $610
Orlando: $660
Indianapolis: $577

*Some of these prices may have gone up since I last documented them.

Additional things to consider are how much tickets go for (the typical price in DC is $15), what kind of split of the door you're getting (the typical split is 70% to the artists) and how big your house is (the average seating capacity is about 80 seats).

Because of all the other factors I mentioned above, if you have a really great show, you won't be able to keep the crowds away. Just ask Dog & Pony Theater Company with last year's Barebreasted Women Sword Fighting."

On average at any fringe, performers can expect to fall into the following categories in terms of gross ticket sales for their entire run of shows:
Type 1: $400 - $600
Type 2: $1,200 - $1,800 (most performers fall into this category)
Type 3 - $3,000 - $8,000

6) What kind of platform increasing potential does the host city hold?

During my first year at the Cap Fringe, I ran "The Neon Man and Me." I got a nice review in The Washington Post , DCist , DC Theatre Scene and The Washington City Paper. If you're looking to beef up your platform, DC can be just the place to do it. In addition, because of my shows there,  I landed a nice review in American Theater Magazine and a great segment on NPR in their series "How Artists Make Money."

The second year, I ran my show "Slash Coleman has Big Matzo Balls," and although it wasn't well received, I still managed to make some really great networking connections and get some great exposure with some bad reviews.

To Sum it Up: To me, the Capital Fringe is the perfect host city. The city is educated enough to know about theatre but not so saturated (like NYC) that they aren't always hungry for more.

Should you risk your investment on the Capital Fringe? To me it's a no-brainer. WWJD? I think he would go. Yes, he would definitely go.