Chicago Fringe Festival Lineup Announced
Maximum Verbosity. Phil the Void. Hobo Junction. These are not the names of race horses or yachts. They are three of the 50 performance groups that will entertain, inspire and delight audiences during the second annual Chicago Fringe Festival, taking place September 1st through 11th in the Pilsen neighborhood.
The year's theme, On the Map, Under the Radar, expresses that Chicago Fringe has carved out a strong identity as part of the worldwide Fringe theatre movement, yet remains committed to flying under the radar, offering audiences uncensored, unconventional theatrical experiences.
The 2011 Fringe lineup features an eclectic mix of drama, comedy, horror, physical theatre, spoken word, dancing, singing, puppetry, monologues, clowning, aerial acrobatics, and more. Performers from 14 states, as well as the United Kingdom and Canada, will take the stage at the Festival's five venues, having been chosen by lottery last February.
"The scope of this year's Festival stems from our success in 2010," says Associate Producer, Vinnie Lacey. "Last year, we had 2,500 patrons, and we returned $30,000 in box office revenue to our performers. This year, we've got more performers and show times slated. Our growth demonstrates how electrifying Fringe is for audiences and performers alike, and we're thrilled to turn Pilsen into the city's prime location for freewheeling and diverse theatrical revelry again."
Out-of-town acts include 'rie Shontel, who will bring her one-woman show Mama Juggs from Oakland, California, and Lakewood Ohio's acrobatic daredevil act Barely Balanced. Six productions hail from New York City, including Tim MacMillan's Soul Mates Don't Die. To raise money and publicize his show, MacMillan is biking from Brooklyn to Chicago between August 4th and 14th.
For the second year, Chicago's Rebecca Kling will be one of the Festival's hometown artists. Her one-woman multimedia show promises to draw crowds, as do other homegrown productions, including The Dance Team's Hub and Spoke, Suitcase Shakespeare Company's Othello's Furies and The Mammals' Selections from All-Girl Moby Dick.
The five Pilsen venues include two converted Chicago Arts Department galleries (Doppler Stage and Meridian Stage), Dream Theatre, Temple Gallery, and the HumanThread Center. Chicago Fringe Festival has partnered with HumanThread to present a special commemoration of 9/11, to take place at 2:00 p.m. on September 11, at the Center.
Fringe Central, 2003 S. Halsted, will be the epicenter of Festival activity, where people can buy tickets and nosh on the delicious Mexican street food and award-winning mole dishes of our official food vendor, DeColores. Artists and festival-goers can also enjoy beer and wine as they chill out and make Fringey connections of all sorts-personal, professional, artistic, romantic, metaphysical.
"Fringe is about serendipity," says Executive Director and Founder, Mikayla Brown. "That's why we choose our shows by lottery and make sure our tickets are affordable. We invite people to check out the show descriptions online and get tickets for whatever strikes their fancy. For a $10 ticket, many Fringe shows pack a huge theatrical wallop. Small theatre can be great theatre. Fringe proves that again and again."
More information about the Festival is available at www.chicagofringe.org.