Festival most successful to date
The ninth annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival closed on June 9th with record attendance and sales numbers. This year’s Festival featured 37 performances and special events, including two FringeNext performances and a workshop production by the group that presented last year’s FringeNext sell-out, The First Book of the Bible.
Festival growth was up for the ninth consecutive year. Single ticket purchases were up 11% while pass sales were on par with the 2011 sales numbers. Total attendance for the festival was up nearly 9% from 7,177 in 2011 to 7,728 in 2012. This year’s Festival drew artists from all over the country including Portland, OR, Houston, TX, Nashville, TN, Dearborn, MI, San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and many more. Overall more than 230 artists were drawn to Cincinnati to show local audiences their work.
This year’s Festival saw several sales records smashed. Record breaking attendance (patrons in seats) was set for June 2nd’s performances. Total sales on this day were the highest single day of sales in the history of the Festival. The total number of sellouts is believed to be a record as well. While this information has never been tracked before, it is believed that the 24 shows that sold out are the most in any single festival. Radio Star and Strange Dreamz both sold out shows before their first performance opened. Radio Star, The Sweet Burning Yonder, Grim & Fischer, and Don’t Cross The Streams: the cease and desist musical all sold out remaining performances before their runs were complete. Radio Star and Grim & Fischer both officially sold out all of their performances.
“We were thrilled to see so many shows selling out in advance of their openings. This is a rare occurrence, and to have it happen with multiple shows was a great way to start the Festival,” says Eric Vosmeier, Producing Artistic Director.
Continued this year, FringeNext is a program aimed at providing opportunity to the next generation of artists. FringeNext had two groups of students from the School for Creative and Performing Arts who gave performances of Blown Up and You Will Have 25 Minutes to Complete This Essay. Each of these groups premiered shows that were created by, produced by, directed by, and featured some of the regions up-and-coming young artists. The School for Creative and Performing Arts’ Black Box Theatre hosted the FringeNext performances.
Also in its second year, FringeDevelopment is a collaborative effort between the community and the artists who attended the festival this year. Know Theatre curated some programming and events exclusively for artists including workshops such as Plate Spinning, Stage Combat, an Improv workshop, and a panel discussion on touring Fringe Festivals. This year’s work, Exodus (from the creative team behind last year’s FringeNext hit The First Book of the Bible), also benefited from the concentration of artists and utilized their creativity to move forward the development of a new work. Brian Isaac Phillips, Producing Artistic Director at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company led the workshop which focused on script work and culminated with a staged reading of Exodus.
Other special events included True Theatre’s second annual presentation of trueFRINGE, featuring artists from this year’s Festival including Kevin Holladay (Where is My Mind?), Kevin J. Thornton (Strange Dreamz), Tommy Nugent (American Badass in Cincy), Justin Baldwin (Quake) as well as Fringe Artist Liaison and Channel Fringe co-anchor, Sadie Bowman. Madcap Puppets presented their Strung Out Puppet Cabaret – and puppet slam. Madcap brought well known puppetry artists from all over the country to create a one of a kind puppet show.
Improvisational comedy was also well represented at the Fringe. Jackson Street Market group and Know Theatre’s house improv troupe OTRi performed their long form show, The Chronicle, to an enthusiastic Fringe audience with the help of performers from this year’s The Screw You Revue and Radio Star. In a very special late night appearance, The Second City Touring company currently performing in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Less Pride…More Pork joined the Bar Series on Wednesday, June 6 and wowed Fringe-goers with their improv set.
Vosmeier says, “This year’s line up of Special Events was awesome. It was great to be able to collaborate with Madcap Puppets, True Theatre, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to continue to add new programming to the Festival lineup. I love having the opportunity to show off not only our local Fringe Artists, but also some of the other companies in Cincinnati who create such diverse and quality performances.” He continues, “One of the most exciting things about this year’s Festival is the sheer number of local professional performing arts organizations that participated in some way. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, New Edgecliff Theatre, Madcap Puppets, MamLuft & Co. Dance, and more helped make this year’s Festival a collaborative community where artists come together and share ideas and share their work. It’s the most beautiful thing I can imagine that the Cincinnati Fringe Festival contributes to the artistic community in Cincinnati in this way.”
The Bar Series continued to expand by bringing the Fringe community of artists, staff, volunteers and audience members together with a variety of events at Know Theatre’s Underground every night after the performances. Events included Fringe Olympics, Preview Night, Night without Technology, Segway Night, Fringe Prom, and Fringe-A-Oke. Bar series attendees also had the opportunity to take a ride on the Pedal Wagon and to dine on some of the areas most delicious food was provided nightly by local restaurants and food trucks.
The Visual Fringe this year involved a mural created by Higher Level Art’s mural artists, Danny Babcock and Matthew Dayler. This year’s mural drew inspiration from questions answered by Fringe artists such as, “What does Cincy Fringe mean to the Over-the-Rhine community?” and “What makes you laugh?” Also, Matt Steffen of Matt Steffen Photography added a new dimension to this year’s Fringe Festival by documenting performances and festival activities with The Visual Fringe Long Exposure Project. Throughout the festival, Matt took a series of long exposures which were displayed at Know Theatre and other Fringe venues during the Festival.
“We were unable to make the Film Fringe project happen this year, but we did continue the idea of Fringe Documented through Matt’s photography project. The photos turned out beautifully. It is fascinating to see these images, whether you were able to experience the productions or not. They have a kineticism to them that captures the performances in a static medium. It’s kind of amazing.”
Vosmeier concludes, “I am overwhelmed by the success and positive feedback from audiences and artists alike about this year’s Festival. The community created between all Festival participants grows stronger and stronger every year. The staff of Know Theatre did an absolutely amazing job at making this year’s Festival happen. I am so proud of them and everyone who pitched in to create these 12 days of absolute magic. It’s a special thing to be allowed to work with this group of people on the Fringe Festival. The Cincinnati Fringe Festival is work of hundreds of people. It is truly a Festival created by the community. The staff and Board of Directors of Know Theatre are proud to be a part of this community.”
This year, the Festival awarded four Pick of the Fringe awards. This year’s Performance winners include:
- Dr. Robert J. Thierauf Producers’ Pick of the Fringe – The Screw You Revue
- Artists’ Pick of the Fringe – METHTACULAR!
- Audience Pick of the Fringe – On Her Pillow
- Critics’ Pick of the Fringe – Bombus and Berylline or the Bumblebee and the Hummingbird
- FringeNext Pick of Fringe – Blown Up
- Linda Bowen Full Frontal Pick of the Fringe – Grim and Fischer: a deathly comedy in full face mask
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