Promotional images for CURRICULUM VITAE, THE GOD BLOG and WHITE GIRL.
For those of you wondering what exactly IS the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, you can read the official version here. I like to describe it this way: Remember those neighborhood kids who used to put on shows in their garage? Well it’s kind of like that except they are all grown up and geez do alot of them have issues.
sO, In trying to tackle the monster that is the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, I went through the descriptions of all 30 productions and divided them into three categories: those I really wanted to see, those that sounded interesting, and the remaining performances that I would catch if I could.
Armed with those three categories and my 2011 Fringe Grid, (available here in .pdf) I laid out my attendance schedule to make as many shows as early in their runs as possible.
For Day 1, Wednesday, June 1st, I’ll be attending:
- 7pm at 1423 Vine
CURRICULUM VITAE from Jimmy Hogg
It’s a show about my introduction into the working world at a very young age and consequent period of underemployment, moving from one awful experience to the next. It’s also a users guide as to how to get a job. It’s really the show where I made my mark on the Fringe scene by establishing a style that was very physically detailed, exceptionally fast-paced and packed with details, descriptions, segues and anecdotes leaving the audience little time to breathe until the curtain comes down.
Unfortunately I missed Jimmy’s A BRIEF HISTORY OF PETTY CRIME during last year’s Fringe Festival, (well truthfully I missed the entire festival), but I thought I might enjoy someone else’s comic take on unemployment, because living it, no so funny.
- 8:15pm at the Art Academy of Cincinnati
THE GOD BLOG from What If Play Shop Players
Yo, Fringe Fans! The Big Guy here, asking you to come see me and my friends from Celestial Services in THE GOD BLOG, a radio soap opera which asks the musical questions, “Can a burned out, demographically irrelevant deity find happiness in this crazy world he created AND stop Granola Guy Lucifer from confiscating his donuts at the staff meeting?” See for yourself why I need a new gig. Hey, remember that bike you got on your seventh birthday? I’m not trying to lay guilt trips on anyone…just sayin’ the Big Guy would appreciate a little love. Thanks!
OK, so I’m a sucker for the religious-themed Fringe shows. I think the reason can be traced back to a college Religious Philosophy class that was constantly interrupted by a fellow student brandishing his Bible. The point of the class, to me, was to learn what other major religions of the world believed. He however took it as an opportunity to declare each of those beliefs as incorrect because “The Bible says…” It was a LONG semester.
- 9:15pm at ArtWorks
WHITE GIRL from Maythinee Washington
What is beauty? What is race? How do we see ourselves and determine our identity? WHITE GIRL is an original solo show employing found text & sound with movement and pantomime telling a story of a girl exploring these questions. At times comic and poignant, the artist draws from her personal history and plays with pop culture to create a work that continues to be thought-provoking long after it has ended.
Full disclosure, the only show available to me after THE GOD BLOG on Monday night is WHITE GIRL. With no gap between the ending of TGB and the beginning of WG, it’s a block and a half mad dash to the final venue. There is no performance after WG, so holding for five minutes wouldn’t throw the scheduling off (hint, hint).
Just like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a fringe show on description alone. Part of the fun is taking a chance on something and finding a hidden gem.
With the way the Fringe is structured you can enjoy dinner after work, see a show or two, and be home in time for the 11 o’clock news. If you are passing near downtown Cincinnati/Over-the-Rhine over the weekend, leave a few hours early and catch a performance.
If you purchase a voyeur pass, you can see six shows for the price of five.
BTW, if you are interested in my opinion of what I find, be sure to visit this blog on Thursday for my reviews.
Official Cincy Fringe site | Plan your Fringe-ing with my daily show grid |
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 