Cincy Fringe preps for year twelve, the DodecaFringe!
Know Theatre of Cincinnati is hitting the home stretch for the 12th annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival —lovingly referred to in-house as the “DodecaFringe.” This year’s Festival runs May 26-June 6, 2015 and is shaping up to be the biggest Cincy Fringe yet. The Fringe is once again set to welcome over 8,000 visitors to Downtown and Over-the-Rhine as we offer the region’s only theatre and arts festival that’s Kinda Weird. Like You..
Cincy Fringe will begin on Tuesday, May 26 with the official CityBeat Fringe Kick-Off Party and continues through June 6, with 40 Performance Fringe Productions (including 4 FringeNext participants), 2 FringeDevelopment pieces, a handful of exciting Special Events, and another larger-than-life mural project from Higher Level Art as part of the Visual Fringe…with more to be announced!
The official CityBeat Fringe Kick-Off Party launches the festivities on May 26 at 6:00pm. Guests will enjoy local bands Pop Goes the Evil and Lagniappe, the launch of the 2015 Channel Fringe Hard-Hitting Action News Update, complimentary food, cash bar, and more. It is a great way to meet Fringe artists, staff, volunteers, and other audience members. A suggested donation of $10 will grant admission to the event and a drink ticket for Know’s Underground bar.
The 2015 Festival brought in a record-setting number of applications for the Performance Fringe. Associate Producer Chris Wesselman notes, “We weren’t on pace to set any records this year but the final day we accepted applications saw a tidal wave pour in that pushed us to an all-time high. Cincy Fringe continues to attract artists old and new as we maintain our focus on the festival’s goal of creating an artist-friendly environment, including keeping the cost of producing at Cincy Fringe lower than any other festival, providing unique opportunities for artists to grow and collaborate while they are here, and preserving the amazingly loyal and supportive audience that comes out for Fringe every year.”
This year’s line-up includes a wonderful balance of local vs. out of town producers with 53% of shows coming right out of Cincinnati. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen the numbers tip slightly in favor of out-of-town productions,” Know’s Producing Artistic Director Andrew Hungerford explains, “so it’s exciting to see that balance tilt the other way. Cincinnati has a deep pool of talented artists and we love being able to provide a showcase for their work. Cincy Fringe provides a unique opportunity for the entirety of the Cincinnati theatre community to play together and this year’s lineup truly underscores that.”
A total of 40 shows have been accepted for the Performance Fringe and, of those accepted productions, 21 hail from the Cincinnati region and 19 come from outside of immediate area, including a record-setting four international acts arriving from South Africa, Japan, Canada, and the UK. Know’s Associate Artistic Director Tamara Winters adds, “International acts bring a worldly perspective to Cincy Fringe that really provides something special. Our ability to attract artists from all corners of the globe is thrilling and it’s great to see how our reputation amongst Fringe Festivals and artists continues to grow.”
The breakdown of this year’s line-up is as follows: Dance – 3, Interdisciplinary/Other – 10, Musical – 3, Play – 15, Solo – 9.
The FringeNext portion of the Performance Fringe heads into its fifth year of providing local teens a unique opportunity to produce, write, direct, and act in original works alongside the rest of the Fringe artists. FringeNext is aimed at fostering high school performers and providing a training ground for these aspiring theatre professionals. We’ve accepted four FringeNext productions this year, representing artists from three local schools; The School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), Highlands High School, and St. Xavier High School. Chris Wesselman remarks, “We’re always blown away by the overall strength of our FringeNext submissions and this year was no different. With the opportunity to work on projects they might otherwise be unable to, these young artists don’t hold back. They dive into their work with all the gusto and passion of regular Fringers and we’re elated to have these groups joining our lineup.” Three FringeNext productions are Plays, one is Interdisciplinary/Other.
This year the Performance Fringe Jury, which adjudicates all submissions (including FringeNext), was increased to a record twenty-four jurors to expand upon application feedback in an effort to increase the diversity and variety within the lineup. This year’s jury was composed of notable actors, writers, directors, producers, and other individuals rooted within Cincinnati’s amazing theatre community, consisting of: Andrew Hungerford, Betsy Shank, Brandon Robert Martin, Brian Isaac Phillips, Burgess Byrd, Chris Wesselman, D. Lynn Meyers, Darnell Benjamin, Daryl Harris, Dave Levy, Derek Snow, Heather Britt, Jeanne Mam-Luft, Jim Stump, Julie Engebrecht, Justin McCombs, Maggie Lou Rader, Mark Lutwak, Michael Burnham, Mike Flohr, Richard Hess, Rico Reid, Shannon Rae Lutz, and Tamara Winters.
The 2015 Fringe Festival will also include the fourth year of our FringeDevelopment programming. FringeDevelopment is an opportunity for artists to leverage the overwhelming creativity of the Fringe community and focus it into the development of a new work during the 12 days of the Festival. FringeDevelopment partners writers, producers, actors, and other artists from across Fringe groups and provides the time, space, and support for them to create or continue developing a new work and culminates in a one-night-only performance towards the end of the festival. This year we’re proud to welcome a familiar face – and a not-so-familiar face – to FringeDevelopment. Local artist Alison Vodnoy, no stranger to the Cincy Fringe, will be workshopping a new project, HUNGRY MOTHER and we’ll soon announce a second exciting development project from an internationally acclaimed Fringe artist.
Rounding out the performance offerings this year will be our Special Event presentations. “Every year we feature a collection of special, one-off events that bring added flavor to the Festival,” Andrew Hungerford explains, “and we’ve got some really cool presentations to share in 2015, both returning classics and brand new events.”
Back for another year will be trueFRINGE, the Festival-focused installment of True Theatre, a storytelling series featured quarterly at Know Theatre as part of the Jackson Street Market resource-sharing program, which will feature Fringe staff and artists.
OTRimprov, another Jackson Street Market participant, also returns to Fringe with a one-night preview of their Improv Festival of Cincinnati (IF Cincy) where local improvisers (and maybe some other not-so-local special guests) will give you a taste of what you can expect at the 2nd Annual IF Cincy in September of 2015. We also welcome back Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s Intern Company with their production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill.
The final item on the docket for our Special Events is a crossover promotion with the OTR Performs Series at Washington Park as Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park presents an exciting staged concert reading of KJ Sanchez’s play Cincinnati King, which tells the story of music pioneer Syd Nathan and King Records. More information on all these events can be found at the end of this release.
The Cincinnati Fringe Festival also features unique art projects every year as part of our Visual Fringe. This year we’ll once again welcome the team at Higher Level Art to coat a side of our building with one of their amazing murals, with this year’s project planned for the south side of Know Theatre.
This year’s Visual Fringe will also feature a series of mini-projects still in the planning stage. Final information can be expected in the official Cincy Fringe Guide when it is dispersed by our print and media sponsor, Cincinnati CityBeat, on May 13th
After all the shows are finished each day, artists, audience members, staff, and volunteers gather together at Know Theatre’s Underground/Fringe Headquarters for the Fringe Bar Series, headlined by the Channel Fringe Hard Hitting Action News Update, a broadcast that can get a little silly as it covers all the pertinent information about goings-on at Cincy Fringe, including openings, closings, sell-outs, schedule changes, and reminders about upcoming events. Following Channel Fringe, the Bar Series will feature different activities and themes, such as the 60 Second Fringe Previews, Fringe Olympics, Fringe-A-Oke, Fringe Prom, Segway Night, and Fringetoberfest. Food will be provided and select food vendors will be on site for special nights in the Bar Series. The entire 2015 Bar Series lineup will be revealed in the official Cincy Fringe Guide.
Tickets:
- $15 for single tickets
- $30 One Night Stand Pass - two ticket pass plus a drink at Know’s Underground bar.
- $65 Voyeur Pass – 6-ticket pass good for any combination of tickets and patrons.
- $200 Full Frontal All-Access Pass – good for as many shows as possible (one patron)
Artists receive 50% of ticket and pass sales. Passes are on sale now through www.cincyfringe.com and by calling 513.300.5669(KNOW). Single tickets will go on sale when the full festival schedule is announced on May 13th. During the festival, passes and single tickets to all performances can be purchased online 24 hours a day, over the phone from 11am to 10pm, or in person at the headquarters box office at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, 1120 Jackson Street, or at individual venues thirty minutes prior to showtimes.
Below is a list of performances accepted into the 12th Annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival, including productions within the FringeNext and FringeDevelopment series’ as well any Special Events. (Productions with these special designations are notated with parentheticals next to show titles.) As is the case with Fringe Festivals, details of the line-up are subject to change. This release will be updated with any changes. Please visit cincyfringe.com for the most up to date information.
2015 Cincy Fringe Productions
Show Title: !ke e: /xarra //ke A New African Folk Tale
Artist/Group Name: Mazibuko Productions (New Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: This production is a work-in-progress that takes a light-hearted look at understanding the heavy topic of race, its politics and troublesome history in South Africa. Through African storytelling, song, found text and some audience participation, two South Africans try to discover what it means to be united in diversity.
Artist/Company Biography: Mazibuko Productions is a South African company made up of husband and wife team Sifiso and Melonie. The name Mazibuko is Zulu for harbor, and through our work we want to cultivate places of refuge, and facilitate discussions that allow audiences to talk about social issues that create discord. We are interested in creating original stories that reflect our present, while being rooted in our past.
Primary Contact Name: Melonie Mazibuko
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
Show Title: { ? }
Artist/Group Name: Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective (Returning Participant)
Genre: Musical
Brief Description: Are you a writer or do you write? Are you a teacher or do you teach? Are you a father or do you parent? Strip away all of the roles you play and what is left? The story of a Jane Doe with dissociative amnesia, sifting through her subconscious with the help of an enigmatic musician and a perceptive doctor. Written by Serenity Fisher with music performed and composed by cellist Michael G. Ronstadt.
Artist/Company Biography: “You’ll never untangle the circumstances that brought you to this moment.” – Leonard Cohen. Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective began as a single, short-term project that has since become a vision dedicated to creating space for artists to creati-consciously share what is in their hearts, minds and imaginations. Originally founded by Serenity Fisher and Robin O’Neal Kissel, TLTC creates original, socially conscious work through the exploration of overlapping artistic mediums. Together, Serenity Fisher and Robin O’Neal Kissel bring words, music, compelling concepts and fascinating collaborative partners to projects. TLTC thrives on integrating eclectic groups of artists to expand and bring unlimited creative potential to their work. Previous works “Sophie’s Dream” (2010), “Opal Opus” (2011) and “Vortex of the Great Unknown” (2013) debuted at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and were voted Audience Pick of the Fringe in respective years. Robin O’Neal Kissel is a certified Creativity Coach, who offers powerful creative empowerment through her business, Laugh & Dream Creative Coaching. Serenity Fisher is an international singer-songwriter/recording artist whose band Serenity Fisher and the Cardboard Hearts made its theatrical debut in TLTC’s 2014 Fringe show “Booty! A Revolutionary Pirate Tale.”
Primary Contact Name: Serenity Fisher
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Boxed Up (FringeNext)
Artist/Group Name: An Ensemble of Stitches (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: 6 year old Hope, a girl who loves to color and write, is visited by a special guest on her birthday, the future version of herself in a presence that is tattered and worn. Future Hope delivers a box that explodes into the exterior of Hope’s world thus unraveling all of Hope’s stories. Told through the eyes of a child in vignette format Boxed Up is the journey of the struggle of growing up by making imagination a reality.
Artist/Company Biography: Writer and director Mallory Kraus is a recent graduate of the School of Creative and Performing Arts. She has been participating in shows since the age of 5 and is excited to be returning to FringeNext. She was last seen in 2014’s Confessions of a Fatherless Daughter.
Primary Contact Name: Mallory Kraus From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Cathedral City
Artist/Group Name: Kurt Fitzpatrick (Returning Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: SEX, DEATH, and STEPHEN KING! “Fitzpatrick bops along in a rapid-fire whirl of pop culture references, personal revelations, goofy side-trips into B-movie Adventureland, and musings on mortality. There’s something endearing about Fitzpatrick as he opens up to strangers on stage, almost daring them to take his wild ride.” – Fresno Bee. “A Fringe experience par excellence. ★★★★★” -Nuvo, IndyFringe.
Artist/Company Biography: Kurt Fitzpatrick has been touring festivals since 2004 with his solo shows Hooray for Speech Therapy, Rebel Without a Niche, The Last Straight Man In Theatre, and Cathedral City. Last year he performed at the CincyFringe’s Lineup Announcement party with his hit show Bromance with the Rev. Nuge. He wrote and co-stars in the Canadian and U.S. Fringe hit Best Picture, which won Patrons’ Pick in last year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
Primary Contact Name: Kurt Fitzpatrick
From: Jersey City, NJ
Show Title: Chemistry
Artist/Group Name: The Cake Shop Theater Company (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Steph struggles with chronic depression. Jamie just overachieved himself off the deep end. When they meet in their psychiatrist’s office, they can’t deny their chemistry, but can they survive it? Winner of the New York International Fringe Festival Excellence in Playwriting award, CHEMISTRY is a pitch black and piercingly insightful comedy about being crazy in love.
Artist/Company Biography: The Cake Shop is a theater company dedicated to new and newly recovered works that give an uncensored voice to emerging artists in collaboration. In pursuit of resonant stories, we choose each project for its potential to feed, delight, and stimulate audience and artists alike.
Primary Contact Name: Katie Lupica
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Cincinnati King (Special Event)
Artist/Group Name: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play (Staged Concert Reading)
Brief Description: Celebrating King Records is an evening of music and memories, capped with an exciting staged concert reading of KJ Sanchez’s play Cincinnati King, which tells the story of music pioneer Syd Nathan and King Records. The play serves as a theatrical album about the history of Cincinnati music, racial equality and the legendary record label. King Records legend Philip Paul kicks off the evening with a one-of-a-kind performance and behind-the-scenes stories. 5:30-6:30pm: Philip Paul Plays King Records’ Greatest Hits; 7-8:30pm: Staged Concert Reading of Cincinnati King. Part of the OTR Performs Series in Washington Park.
Artist/Company Biography: Cincinnati King was compiled and written by KJ Sanchez in collaboration with American Records and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. A playwright and director, Ms. Sanchez is one of the Playhouse’s associate artists and the founder and CEO of American Records, a company devoted to making theatre that chronicles our time. At the Playhouse, she directed Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Seven Spots on the Sun, Joan the Girl of Arc and Venus in Fur. As a playwright, she has been produced at Asolo Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Two River Theater, Center Stage (Baltimore), Round House Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company and off-Broadway at Urban Stages Theater and HERE Arts Center. Her newest play, X’s and O’s (A Gridiron Love Story), based on interviews with professional football players about head injury, premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in January.
Primary Contact Name: KJ Sanchez
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Show Title: CODA (Children of Deaf Adults)
Artist/Group Name: Two Hands Productions (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: One man leads you through the journey of being the ears for his family. As son and interpreter for his Deaf parents, Tim struggles to find where he belongs between the Deaf and hearing worlds. In this touching and comedic piece of growing up with Deaf Parents, CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) brings to light the gifts and pitfalls of having Deaf parents.
Artist/Company Biography: Mark Murray recently graduated Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Acting with an emphasis in Original Works. He is also the founder and artistic director of Two Hands Productions, a theatre company that focuses on collaboration, minimalist story telling, and provocative new work. Mark currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Primary Contact Name: Mark Murray
From: Brooklyn, NY
Show Title: Cody Clark: A Different Way of Thinking
Artist/Group Name: Cody Clark (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: Cody Clark has a different way of thinking, a different way of seeing the world. He discovered his love for magic at age 11, 9 years and 9 months after his parents discovered he had autism. Through stage magic and story, sleight of hand and journey of mind, Cody will show you the world through his eyes. Maybe you’ll find that his way of thinking isn’t all too different from yours. Artist/Company Biography: Cody’s exciting, unique brand of magic is based on over 10 years of experience as a magician, along with his experience from studying Marketing and Theatre Arts at the University of Louisville. He has presented his full-length one-man show Cody Clark: A Different Way of Thinking at the Slant Culture Theatre Festival in Louisville and at Wizardz Magic Theatre in Newport, KY. He also is a regular performer on the monthly magic show circuit, which includes Derby City Magic in Louisville, Indy Magic Monthly in Indianapolis and Magic Chicago.
Primary Contact Name: Cody Clark
From: Louisville, KY
Show Title: Dog Show
Artist/Group Name: Animal Engine (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: What do dogs do when their masters leave? Put on a French farce! Quick entrances, mistaken identities, and love triangles collide with panting, sniffing, and lots of leg humping in this unusual and saucy comedy! Inspired by the plays of Georges Feydeau and the behaviors of Man’s best friend, Dog Show is a knee slapping love letter to the joys of unleashing your inner animal.
Artist/Company Biography: Founded in 2011 as a physical devised theatre ensemble, Animal Engine Theatre Company is dedicated to creating strange worlds with a relatable touch; bold works of performance that are clever, quirky, sharp, and new. The company has created 4 major works. “The Vindlevoss Family Circus Spectacular” is a zombie circus adventure created with the contents of a single suitcase. “Age of the Android” is a gleefully and historically inaccurate immersive telling of Thomas Edison’s greatest invention. “Petunia and Chicken” is a Willa Cather inspired prairie love story told with only a hat, a scarf, and song. “Dog Show” is a French farce performed by dogs with nothing but squeaky toys and animal ingenuity. The company is led by 2 artistic directors; husband and wife team Karim Muasher and Carrie Brown. New works are performed both in the company’s hometown of New York City and across the country at theatres, festivals, and schools.
Primary Contact Name: Karim Muasher
From: New York, NY
Show Title: Down Among the Vultures
Artist/Group Name: Green Hills Theatre Collective (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: After an accidental cat litter mogul in a rust belt town kills himself, his fortune is willed to an exotic pet condor, leaving his family to drift in the wake of his death. Down Among the Vultures is a poetic, dark comedy about desperation, decay and the assassination of an endangered species.
Artist/Company Biography: Green Hills Theatre Collective founding members Bradley Evans & Laura Madden are both Kentucky transplants living in New York City after graduating with their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Northern Kentucky University. GHTC looks to challenge the pedestrian dead-end of young artists in the city by performing works that portray the unattractive, everyday, messy relationships that bind us together. GHTC aims to allow artists to expand their knowledge and craft of theatre while building off of established and new works that challenge growth in all aspects of production. With a strong base in exploration and collaboration through the rehearsal process, GHTC strives to bring a strong and poignant product to their audiences.
Primary Contact Name: Laura Madden
From: New York, NY
Show Title: Drunk Shakespeare
Artist/Group Name: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (New Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Drunk Shakespeare. Belly on up to the Bard as a group of Cincinnati’s premiere classical actors put on a pint size production of one of Shakespeare’s beloved works, while a series of drinking game style rules lead them get progressively more plastered through the course of the show. There are even opportunities for the audience to get in on the action, and help the actors get through the final cup and couplet.
Artist/Company Biography: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is a resident ensemble theatre company bringing Shakespeare and the Classics to life for audiences of all ages.
Primary Contact Name: Jeremy Dubin
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: dungeon
Artist/Group Name: Hit The Lights, Dad Theater Co. (New Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: A young man falls into the unknown to rescue something he holds dear. Inspired by kabuki, video games, horror movies, and Pixar shorts, Hit the Lights, Dad Theater Co. build a world where the darkness speaks louder than the light.
Artist/Company Biography: Hit the Lights, Dad Theater Co. is an artistic agreement from New York City (by way of Cincinnati) who works to tell simple stories in unconventional ways.
Primary Contact Name: Casey Leach
From: New York City, NY
Show Title: Edgar Allan
Artist/Group Name: The Coldharts (Returning Participant)
Genre: Musical
Brief Description: Eleven year old Edgar Allan has one goal: to be the most remarkable boy at boarding school. He has only one obstacle: Edgar Allan. A manic lullabye inspired by the childhood and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The Coldharts, creators of last year’s sell-out show, The Legend of White Woman Creek, return with a dark musical comedy for brave children of all ages. “Best of the 2014 Fringe Festival”– Minneapolis City Pages.
Artist/Company Biography: The Coldharts are Katie Hartman and Nick Ryan, two theatre artists based in Brooklyn, New York. They create American Gothic-inspired, devised, music-theatre. Their work has been seen in Minneapolis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Hill City, Bemidji, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, Bellingham, Seattle, New York City & Wichita County, Kansas.
Primary Contact Name: Katie Hartman
From: Brooklyn, NY
Show Title: Escape Routes (FringeNext)
Artist/Group Name: Teenage Talk Productions (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: What could you get if you broke down this wall? This question, among many others, is addressed in the production Escape Routes. When promising student and potential valedictorian Clark Jacobsen is forced to pair up on a philosophy project with delinquent slacker Johnny Carter, the pair seems extremely different at first glance. However, as the boys’ friendship grows, it is apparent that the two are not as different as it would seem statistically.
Artist/Company Biography: Teenage Talk Productions – This is a collective of high school students who have started on a mission for truth and honesty. This is their first adventure into letting their voices be heard.
Primary Contact Name: Ben Eglian
From: Fort Thomas, KY
Show Title: Fixate
Artist/Group Name: Unity Productions (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Wesley is desperately trying to overcome his OCD since being dumped due to “poor priorities.” During an episode with his light switch, a stranger named April appears in his apartment; a curious payoff of desires to escape her child-nephew’s birthday party. In effort to understand how they’ve been brought together, Wesley and April reveal more about themselves than either typically would. Through this, “why” they’ve been brought together becomes particularly evident.
Artist/Company Biography: Dedicated to making a positive change through the arts, education, and community service, Unity produces work that brings a diversity of artists and audiences together, combines art forms, and provokes healthy thought. Our goal is to create engaging stories that encourage conversation, beyond our art, about important subjects in society. We ask questions rather than provide answers to generate beneficial introspection, and with our humble team and small budget we aim for the finest artistic presentation.
Primary Contact Name: Jon Kovach
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Heard
Artist/Group Name: Queen City Queer Theatre Collective (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Haunted by her dark religious upbringing, Esther hears voices that help her separate the world outside from the safety of the world within. When exposing her inner life shatters her fragile stability, the fallout leads her on a journey she can’t control – but perhaps one that will finally give her the freedom she needs to overcome her past.
Artist/Company Biography: Queen City Queer Theatre Collective was founded by Linnea Bond and Lindsey Mercer with the support of numerous local artists and activists. Providing free queer play readings the second Monday of each month in the Cabaret space of Below Zero Lounge, QCQTC seeks to connect art, theatre, community, and activism.
Primary Contact Name: Linnea Bond
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Hitchhikers May Be Inmates
Artist/Group Name: Clifton Performance Theater (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Dave is new to AA and struggling mightily. JD, his sponsor, own tenuous grasp on sobriety is exactly what Dave doesn’t need. Their evening spent flirting with disaster is funny and cautionary.
Artist/Company Biography: Kevin Crowley returns to Fringe, following his 2014 Fringe hit, Sarge. Crowley also acts, alongside Michael Bath, directed by Buz Davis co-members of the lauded local theater company The Clifton Players. Crowley, Bath and Davis have worked together on several of Clifton Players hit shows, Irish Curse, disgruntled employees, and A Behanding in Spokane
Primary Contact Name: Kevin Crowley From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Hungry Mother (FringeDevelopment)
Artist/Group Name: Vodianoi (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Russian folklore depicts Baba Yaga as a child-eating crone. But, who was Baba Yaga when she eighteen? What if her energy was eternally alive in our political, familial, and sexual relationships? Travel through space and time to meet Yaga at three different ages, in three different eras and locations. HUNGRY MOTHER explores Baba Yaga as a contemporary archetype, asking: when should we eat and when should we be eaten? Come ready to play Bingo.
Artist/Company Biography: Alison Vodnoy Wolf is an actress, playwright, dancer, and choreographer. She has performed in the Cincy Fringe since 2006 in (un)natural disaster, iLove, In Rehearsal, and Traffick. She was also a collaborating writer and choreographer for Pones Inc’s Traffick last Fringe. In the 2008 Fringe, Alison’s original one-woman show, In Rehearsal, was recognized with two Cincinnati Acclaim Awards, one for solo performance and one for solo script. As a playwright, her adaptations, The Eyes of Oedipus and The Dragon, were performed at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Her adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses was commissioned and performed by CCM Drama. Alison earned her BFA from CCM and is in the final year of an MFA program at Goddard College in Vermont.
Primary Contact Name: Alison Vodnoy Wolf
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Hunting Monsters (FringeNext)
Artist/Group Name: NextUp Productions (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: A thrilling exhibit of the attitudes of American people in regards to the political, social, and economic status of others. Hunting Monsters delves into the dichotomies of moral stances of different people in a war torn America. The cogs of the machine of our lives become unwound and we are forced to make decisions based on our perception of truth.
Artist/Company Biography: NextUp Productions allows young men and women interested in theatre to gain experience by writing and producing their own original shows.
Primary Contact Name: Will Graham
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: In the Midst, the Middle, the Muddle, in Amongst
Artist/Group Name: Nicole A. Hershey (New Participant)
Genre: Dance
Brief Description: In the Midst, the Middle, the Muddle, in Amongst is a one-woman show telling my story of dealing with depression as a teenager. Between my spoken journal entries and choreography, I relive my journey from the earliest signs of depression. A simultaneous mental and physical breakdown create a story of losing myself and the hardship of finding myself again.
Artist/Company Biography: Nicole A. Hershey earned her BA in Dance and Psychology from The University of Iowa. While in school, Nicole performed works by Alan Sener, Michael Medcalf, Joseph Cox, and Jessica Anthony. In 2012, Nicole co-created and co-directed an 8-week choreography workshop at the Iowa Juvenile Home. She was invited to dance in Intersections: Music + Dance, a Cunningham- and Cage-style performance exploring the coincidences that happen when music and dance are composed in isolation from each other. Nicole moved to Cincinnati in 2013 to dance with MamLuft&Co Dance for their seventh season. During her time with MamLuft&Co, Nicole had the opportunity to collaborate with Allard van Hoorn for Buildering: Misbehaving the City. She performed with InBocca Performance in their production Swan Lake: A Waking Dream. She began dancing for Pones, Inc. in 2014 for their site-specific piece ConverseNation in Over-the-Rhine and their collaboration with Lindsey M. Whittle for #connect: Velcro Vortex. Nicole collaborates with the dancers of Pones, Inc. to create socially-conscious, site-specific performances around Cincinnati andNorthern Kentucky.
Primary Contact Name: Nicole A. Hershey
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Jesus, Do You Like Me? Please Mark Yes or No.
Artist/Group Name: Eileen Tull (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: A frazzled, but well-intentioned young woman organizes the Second Coming of Christ after receiving a divine message from an unlikely source. Like Gilda Radner in a Beckett play, she and the audience wait for Jesus’s grand entrance. This explosive one-woman piece tangos with (un)wavering faith, love by vending machine light, the path to self-discovery, and a mystical, blessed vegetable. Answers to all existential crises guaranteed.
Artist/Company Biography: Eileen Tull is a Cincinnati native currently based in Chicago. She is thrilled to be bringing this show back to her hometown after a one-night-only performance in a high school gymatorium in 2013. Eileen’s work as a solo performer, poet, storyteller, performance artist, stand-up comedian, and theatre creator has been seen throughout the country from the Bay Area to New York City. She creates a variety of work about empathy, feminism, addiction and recovery, and seeking joy. She has performed Jesus…in the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the SF Theatre Festival, New York’s United Solo Festival, and the Chicago Fringe Festival. In Cincinnati, she has performed at Go Bananas, the Contemporary Arts Center, Kennedy Heights Arts Center, Bogart’s, Contemporary Dance Theater, popp=d art gallery, and Women Writing for (a) Change. Since re-relocating to Chicago last June, Eileen has been rapidly developing her creative style, performing at the Moth, Salonathon, Zanies Comedy Club, The Abbie Hoffman Festival, The Nerdologues, Beast Women, Loose Chicks, and the Stoop, among others. In the spring of 2015, Eileen began co-curating Sappho’s Salon, a space for female-identifying artists who are creating work exploring queerness, gender, and feminism at Chicago’s famous Women and Children First Bookstore. www.eileentull.com
Primary Contact Name: Eileen Tull
From: Chicago, IL
Show Title: Kiss Around Pass Around
Artist/Group Name: SHOSHINZ (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: A hilarious and exciting adventure featuring a mysterious creature wandering the world looking for its daddy. North, south, east, and west… Leaves, wind, water, thunder – for a peculiar traveler, anything’s a compass. This unruly innocent creature will sneak in and steal your heart. ‘When you die, you close your eyes, you know? When you close your eyes, it goes black, you know?’
Artist/Company Biography: Yanomi started Shoshinz and has created the very unique physical & musical shows since 2005. Her delicate silences and coy demeanor will lure you in, and then they will bend your mind with brilliant physical theater, dance, absurd music and song. Shoshinz is one of the most renowned comedy acts in Japan, regularly performing in Japan, Canada, and the United States. Best Theatre Performance -Taipei Fringe 2013, Audience Choice Award – FRIGID New York 2013, Best International Show -Orlando Fringe 2013, Director’s Award – Capital Fringe 2012, Best of Fest – Winnipeg Fringe 2010.
Primary Contact Name: Hiromi Yano
From: Tokyo, Japan
Show Title: Love and Information by Caryl Churchill (Special Event)
Artist/Group Name: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s Acting Intern Company (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Someone sneezes. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone won’t answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone is her brother’s mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone’s never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope, more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know.
Artist/Company Biography: Featuring: Aziza Macklin, Deirdre Manning, Emily Scott, Kadeem Ali Harris, Molly Israel, Natalie Joyce Smith, Patrick E. Phillips, and Terrance J. Ganser. Directed by Ben Raanan.
Primary Contact Name: Shannon Rae Lutz
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: METH: a love story
Artist/Group Name: #theatrecompany (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: After a night of partying, two college students wake up in a meth den. Connection, hijinks and tragedy ensue. METH: a love story tackles drug culture, hook up culture and economic disparity with absurdism and irreverence.
Artist/Company Biography: #theatercompany is a company of young theater professionals. The company is dedicated to creating honest, contemporary and exciting new work. #theatercompany is built up of current students and recent graduates of CCM Drama at the University of Cincinnati. They will be performing their original show #thecrowdfundproject in New York City in June 2015.
Primary Contact Name: AC Horton
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Moonlight After Midnight
Artist/Group Name: Concrete Drops (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Love, loss, memory, and mystery intertwine when a beautiful woman and a secretive man enact scenes from a relationship in the private theater of a midnight hotel room. Best Original Work -Ottawa Fringe. Critic’s Pick Nominee -Ottawa and Vancouver Fringes. “5 STARS- This elegant show turns on itself like an emotional kaleidoscope.” –Winnipeg Press. “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted out of theatre. Riveting chemistry.” -Capital Critics Circle. “Yes: dramatic ambition and sophistication!” –Georgia Straight, Vancouver
Artist/Company Biography: Martin Dockery and Vanessa Quesnelle founded Concrete Drops Theatre Company in 2011. It is their mission to engage, entertain and challenge audiences with theatrical productions that range from the comically absurd to the dramatic, to take audiences on a journey that is both fanciful and thought provoking. Since it’s inception, Concrete Drops has created, performed and toured four shows across Canada and the US. Three of them being two person plays starring the company’s founders Martin Dockery and Vanessa Quesnelle (Oh, That Wily Snake!, The Pit, Moonlight After Midnight) and the fourth is a solo show starring Vanessa Quesnelle (The Abyss Burrow).
Primary Contact Name: Vanessa Quesnelle From: London, Ontario
Show Title: Mouthy Bitch
Artist/Group Name: Toss the Bonnet (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: Self-described interpersonal dynamics guru Kate Carden leads seminars that explore male/female relationships. Stories of her own relationship history and uncommon sexual experiences hijack her current seminar, as she takes her audience on a hilarious and heartbreaking journey, seasoned with adult language and candid sexual references. Just when Kate is on the verge of clarity, an unexpected discovery changes everything.
Artist/Company Biography: As of this writing, Dennis Bush has twenty-six published plays and nine published monologue collections. His play Asylum has had nearly five hundred productions around the world. In the span of three months, this past year, his play Below the Belt was produced multiple times in the United States, Canada, and Egypt. Bush has extensive credits as a coach for writers and actors, and as a script/dialogue consultant for theatre, film, and television. In addition, he has had short fiction and creative nonfiction published in noted literary periodicals. Described by TheatreMania as “a writer to be reckoned with,” Dennis is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Kelsey Torstveit’s performance credits include: Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard at the 14th St Y in NYC, Minerva Jones in Jimmy Maize’s production of Spoon River Anthology at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, Celia Pope in A Hatful of Rain directed by Johanna McKeon, which was a part of the ITeSELF Theatre Festival in Warsaw, Poland. She has performed regionally in Vermont, playing Lenny Magrath in Fable Theatre’s production of Crimes of the Heart and Natalia Landauer in I Am a Camera at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater in Cape Cod. Most recently she played Mrs. Dilber in A Christmas Carol at Playhouse in the Park directed by Michael Haney and was in the touring company of the Playhouse’s Off the Hill productions of Theory of Mind directed by Bridget Leak and Bird Brain directed by Mark Lutwak. She is a member of the 2014-2015 Bruce E. Coleman Acting Intern Company at Playhouse in the Park. B.F.A. in Drama from New York University, and Outstanding Achievement in Studio Theatre Award recipient from NYU. Ryan Amador is a director and creative artist from Los Angeles. His previous work includes Lord of the Flies performed on a Manhattan roof in Winter, as well as re-inventions of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Michael John LaChuisa’s Lucky Nurse, & the NY Premiere of All That He Was. In the summers, Ryan Amador directs and curates the REALAD Show for NYU Abu Dhabi with a cast of 14-15 students from around the world. Ryan has also produced four collections of original songs, available on his music website, RyanAmador.com.edu: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
Primary Contact Name: Kelsey Torstveit
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: My Twisted Face
Artist/Group Name: InBocca Performance (New Participant)
Genre: Dance
Brief Description: Cassandra, chosen handmaiden of Apollo, was granted the gift of prophecy. Yet, when she sexually denied Apollo, in his fury, he cursed her so that no one would ever believe a word she said, despite the truths she prophesied. ‘My Twisted Face’ uses this myth and the stories of women who have been sexually assaulted/raped to explore the ‘rape culture’ that is becoming more and more prevalent in our world.
Artist/Company Biography: InBocca Performance is a theatre group with the goal of performing high-quality and cutting-edge theatre productions and inspiring actors to be creators. We create mostly devised and deconstructed work, specifically with local members of our community, no matter their age. We believe in taking risks, making mistakes, and going for broke. We specialize in shining light in dark places.
Primary Contact Name: Caroline Stine
From: Ft. Thomas, KY
Show Title: Occupational Pleasures
Artist/Group Name: Homegrown Theater (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Dan and Louise are keeping their office fling on the downlow. They’re not sure how serious they are and, well, their coworkers are total weirdos. This becomes even more clear when they discover that everyone in the office reads fan-fiction about their theoretical relationship. Disturbed by this revelation, Dan and Louise find themselves in a war between the two competing storylines: a 50 Shades-esque smutfest and a syrupy romance.
Artist/Company Biography: Theater for the backyard dreamer, free of pesticides and preservatives, fresh from our imagination to yours. The Homegrown Theater is a Cincinnati, OH based company created in 2012 by Leah Strasser and Tyler Smetts. The group, comprised of local actors, writers, visual artists and musicians was formed to create theatrical works which utilize a variety of art forms. Our goal is to expand on our understanding of theater and its collective and collaborative nature through refreshing new plays, which stretch the imagination and push the limits of common decency. This year is our fourth time at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Last year was the premiere of Night Walkers by Elizabeth Harris. In 2013 Pulling Off Procreation, by John Hendel, won the Founder’s Pick of the Fringe. Homegrown’s maiden production was The Doppelganger Cometh and Overtaketh, written by Tyler Smetts.
Primary Contact Name: Leah Strasser
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: OTRimprov: the IF Cincy 2015 Preview (Special Event)
Artist/Group Name: OTRimprov (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other/Other (Improv)
Brief Description: Get a sneak peak of the upcoming Improv Festival of Cincinnati (IF Cincy)! Want to know exactly what the show is going to be? Join the club! We won’t know what happens until you see what happens. If you like your performances to be unique, your performers on metaphorical tight ropes, and your plays playful, this is the night for you. Join Cincinnati’s #1 Improv Team and special guests for a night of unscripted fun.
Artist/Company Biography: OTRimprov is collaborative, simple, and joyful. Our company brings talented performers to the stage who together create consistently interesting, often funny, and always inventive scenes. OTRimprov (OTRi) began in 2010 as a collection of wayward improvisers looking for like-minded performers and a place to play in Cincinnati. After headlining numerous shows for the Little Big Night comedy performances at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, they formed their own partnership with Know Theatre’s Jackson Street Market, a resource sharing program for fledgling companies, and began producing shows independently. This continued partnership allows them to call Know’s Underground space on Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine home. The group continues to explore a variety of styles and formats, while developing a strong improv community populated with smart, engaging people and doing work that is collaborative, curious, and sometimes a little bit daring. They also foster new talent through training and a welcome atmosphere where all performers feel inspired to explore and take risks. Members of OTRi have studied and performed with a variety of improv theatres and groups around the US, including Second City, iO, iO West, ACME Comedy Theatre, Mission IMPROVable, SmartyPants, Wit’s End, and Incredulity.
Primary Contact Name: Kat Smith
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Show Title: Pangea (FringeNext)
Artist/Group Name: Third Eye Warriors (New Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Pangea is a breathing theatrical art gallery with the goal of reminding humans that we all came from one, that we are one, and in the end we will be one. Inspired by the work of Dave Hughes, the creator of Liquid Television and Off The Air, Pangea is a compilation of original monologues, scenes, dance, music, songs, performance art, and spiritual writings.
Artist/Company Biography: The Third Eye Warriors are a collective of multi-disciplinary artists in the tri-state area. They believe in creating art with their integrity before anything else. “If you aren’t being true to yourself, you aren’t alive.” With that in mind we explore what it is to be alive and act alive. We are devoted to creating art for a greater purpose and social good.
Primary Contact Name: Maliyah Gramata-Jones
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Prefer Not To Say
Artist/Group Name: Prefer Not to Say (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Two 24 year olds incomprehensibly find themselves aged 31. Without any recollection of the past 7 years, they try to recapture their identity. Using ourselves as outlines, we work with the audience to investigate the components of personality. Rather than trying to define ourselves through pre-determined categories, we hand over control to the present. A piece of interactive theatre, trying to find out what makes us, us, through every person we meet.
Artist/Company Biography: This group make their second appearance at the Cincinnati Fringe, after winning the Founder’s Pick of the Fringe in 2013 and mysteriously disappearing in 2014. They have performed at various fringe festivals and venues across the United Kingdom, including Buxton and Edinburgh Fringes (2010-2012). Prefer Not To Say marks a new method of devising, where we have undertaken a series of research-through-performance events as a way of gathering material. Performing these mini interactive performances in informal spaces and leisure groups, such as life drawing classes, choirs, workplaces and fitness groups, we have documented conversations with a wide range of people which were taken into a rehearsal room to create this full length piece.
Show Title: Radio Gomorrah LIVE!
Artist/Group Name: The Burying Beetles (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: It’s the future: Ecosystems in collapse. The One-Percent cavorts in Mercedes escape pods while the rest of us – enslaved by our micro-chip implants – roast rats over toxic waste fires. Only three people can save humanity: a foul-mouthed social dropout, a pathologically cheerful religious fanatic, and a Cyber-Babe with a past. It’s a radio serial, live on stage, with the audience as sound-effects artists. It’s Radio Gomorrah LIVE! It’s the future. Ooops.
Artist/Company Biography: Radio Gomorrah LIVE! is the 4th production by the Burying Beetles to see the light of Fringe. The Sweet, Burning Yonder in 2012, And the Rand Played On in 2013, and Revolting Circumstances in 2014 — we did ’em all and damn ’em what says we didn’t. A rollicking band of vagrant scholars, face-making buffoons and chronic malcontents, the Burying Beetles include much-touted Michael Burnham as director and performer, the redoubtable Paul Morris as performer and co-director, and the reclusive, somewhat mulchlike John Ray as writer. Ramona Toussaint is producer, Priscilla is costumer, and David Levy is sound consultant.
Primary Contact Name: John Ray
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Shelter
Artist/Group Name: Pones Inc. + Queen City Flash (Returning Participants)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: A theater/dance mashup, Shelter is a collaboration between Pones Inc. (Traffick, 2014 Cincy Fringe Full Frontal and Producer’s Pick, as well as League of Cincinnati Theatre’s Fringe Favorite) and Queen City Flash (Slut Shaming, 2014 Cincy Fringe Artists’ Pick). At the end of the world, a teenage couple seek refuge in a backyard fallout shelter. As lights flicker and sirens blare, their internment reveals the cracks between them and their reliance on each other. They soon discover that survival isn’t what you escape, but what you bring with you.
Artist/Company Biography: Pones Inc. provides artistic opportunities for community growth by creating engaging new ways for audiences to experience dance. Founded in 2008, Pones Inc. has collaborated with over 200 artists and 80 arts and service organizations. The company creates site-specific performances through a fusion of movement and dance with other art forms. Pones Inc.’s accessible and participatory performances have been seen in over 90 Greater Cincinnati locations, as well as Indianapolis, Chicago, and internationally in Italy. Ongoing programs are available year round for artists and art groups, schools, and businesses. Pones Inc. performers use their bodies to speak their minds. The collective uses its signature ‘pedestrian-inspired’ movement to spark collaboration, connection, and community. Pones Inc. believes that art creates powerful change. ponesinc.com. Queen City Flash is a new theater company dedicated to open access to the arts and expanding audiences’ sense of theatricality by untethering the arts from physical space, prohibitive costs, and traditional notions. Through flash mob-style theater, artists and communities combine to transform environments and unite over stories, picnics, and sunsets. QueenCityFlash.com
Primary Contact Name: Kim Popa
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Shirtzencockle
Artist/Group Name: Performance Gallery (Returning Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Folk and Fairy Tales provide a rich moral tapestry to explore – full of surrealism, magical and ridiculous moments and gory content that make our modern sensibilities uncomfortably tingly. This ensemble devised work uses ancient story content to create an energetic romp into the questionable world of morality and how it has been imposed on us through the cautionary tales of our childhood.
Artist/Company Biography: For those among you unfamiliar with our little band of misfits, we are Performance Gallery, a Cincinnati-based collaborative of theatre artists existing to produce and promote challenging works of theatre. We are often outlandish, sometimes profound and strive to be unpredictable. Founded in 2002, we have produced a varying amount of works per year in a variety of spaces, including original plays (Chasing the Wolf,’04, Gilgamesh in Uruk, G.I. in Iraq, ‘06), some revamped classics (The Maids, ’03, Woyzeck, ‘05) and eleven widely different, original offerings at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival We had a successful remount of fricative (our 2008 Cincy Fringe offering) at IndyFringe in August 2011 and took it to the inaugural Atlanta Fringe in May 2012. Collaborations include Through the Eyes of a Crow, with Cincinnati-based Pones, Inc, which played in a variety of venues around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in 2011 and Dead Can Dance with Cincinnati’s Exhale Dance Tribe for Halloween 2012 and 2013. We also manage an amazing drama-based literacy program for Cincinnati Public Schools called Books In Action which delivers two actors into forty-eight Head Start pre-school rooms once every month during the school year.
Primary Contact Name: Regina Pugh
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Squares
Artist/Group Name: dog & pony dc (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: The rules of the playground were simple: play nice, play fair, and have fun. But the rules of life? More complicated. Play nice, and you’re not assertive enough; play fair, and fall behind. And only winners have fun. Sometimes it seems like the bullies are still king. That hardly seems fair, or right, or… American. Can you retake the blacktop and square game, for all of us?
Artist/Company Biography: dog & pony dc is an devised theatre ensemble focused on creating new ways for audiences to experience theatre. Whether it’s an ultra-violent live-action version of the Punch and Judy puppet show, or an imagined civic ceremony that ignites debate about a time capsule’s contents, d&pdc shows playfully explore the elastic relationship between artist and audience. We like to think that going to our shows is like going to a concert…a rock concert. Everyone’s energized and engaged in the moment, and sometimes the audience ends up on stage. We just premiered our eighth original show—Toast—and are building three more, as well as interactive experiences of local DC museums. Washington Post has lauded us for “broadening playgoers’ understanding of the riddles theater can unravel.” Now to toot our own horn: d&pdc is DC’s leading devised theatre company and is emerging as a national leader in audience engagement and participatory theatre. d&pdc was a two-time participant in the Mead Theatre Lab program Flashpoint and was nominated by Washington Post Express as a “Best Theatre (Small)” in 2010. Beertown was the first ensemble-devised show to receive a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding New Play (2011) and Beertown made Washington Post’s top 10 shows list for 2012. In 2013, A Killing Game won the “Dr. Robert J. Thierauf Producers’ Pick of the Fringe Award” at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. d&pdc has presented about our work locally and nationally. In January 2014, we made a critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway debut with Beertown at 59E59 and returned in July to perform at Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.. We’re big fans of moustaches and props. @dogandponydc
Primary Contact Name: Melanie Harker
From: Washington, DC
Show Title: Succession
Artist/Group Name: Valerie Green/Dance Entropy (New Participant)
Genre: Dance
Brief Description: Succession is rich in texture, intertwining extreme explorations of human behavior while exhibiting raw power mixed with delicate human vulnerability. Ms. Green has thread together segments from her body of solo works to create a life cycle journey. From channeling fluid movements of a fetus in the amniotic sac, to interim life stages, and the immediacy of. Emotions, the cyclical journey continues with a metaphor for transformation, aging, and the disruption of order amidst an installation of hundreds of flowers. Succession concludes in a rite of passion, with a spiritual burial of the past followed by a symbolic rebirth in the planting of oneself. This powerful solo work, executed through cunning sensuality, relies on exposing aspects of the archetypal female, all sourced from the deep recesses of the character’s psyche.
Artist/Company Biography: Valerie Green (Artistic Director) has been an active dancer, choreographer and teacher in the New York City dance community for 19 years. She created her own company, Dance Entropy in 1998, adding a permanent company home in 2005 called Green Space. Green Space serves the dance community by providing an affordable and welcoming environment for rehearsals, classes, and performances. To date Ms. Green has created 28 dances and 7 evening length works. Her choreography has been seen throughout NYC and has also toured to various venues throughout the US. Internationally she has taught and performed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, India, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Albania, Guatemala and Canada. As a guest artist, Valerie has received commissions from Texas State University, BITEF Theater in Belgrade, Serbia, and Theater Alternativa in Tirana, Albania. She has also taught at the UNLV, Texas State, LaGuardia Community College, University of Nanterre, France, and at the Faculty of Drama & Art in Belgrade, Serbia and Sarajevo, Bosnia. Valerie’s choreographic work and teaching style is influenced by her formative years working with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, her certification in Body/Mind Fitness and her undergraduate work at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Primary Contact Name: Valerie Green
From: New York City, NY
Show Title: Tales Too Tall for Trailers
Artist/Group Name: ManDamsel & FellaLady (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Trailer-park tall-tales for adults that kids can enjoy too! Paul Strickland (Ain’t True and Uncle False, Papa Squat’s Store of Sorts) and Erika Kate MacDonald join forces in this off-kilter musical comedy full of funny songs, strange southern stories, shadow puppetry and more! Pee-Wee Herman meets Mark Twain! “An hour spent with master storyteller Paul Strickland is an hour well spent and one you shouldn’t miss.” – Cincinnati Enquirer
Artist/Company Biography: ManDamsel and FellaLady are acclaimed Storyteller and Comedian Paul Strickland (3-time “Best of Fest” at Orlando Fringe, “Top Ten 2013 Theater Events” – St. Paul Pioneer Press, “Pick O’ the Fringe” – Cincy Fringe 2013) and Award-Winning Theater Performer Erika Kate MacDonald (Critic’s Choice Award “Best Female Performance” Orlando Fringe 2014). The two met on the Fringe Theater circuit while touring their individual solo shows. After 5 months of traveling together they decided to become partners in art and life and recently settled in Covington, KY, a place where they can affordably develop and produce new works of alternative theater for adventurous audiences.
Primary Contact Name: Paul Strickland
From: Covington, KY
Show Title: Tammy Faye’s Final Audition
Artist/Group Name: Brick Monkey Theater Ensemble (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: Tammy Faye Bakker was the sweetheart of Christian TV in the 1970’s and 80’s, until it all came crashing down. As she nears the end of her life, she attempts a comeback. In a fevered dream, she enlists the men in her life to audition for one final TV show. Tammy Faye’s Final Audition goes beyond the makeup and the tears to the naked truth.
Artist/Company Biography: Brick Monkey Theater Ensemble is Southeast Ohio’s professional theater company. Our mission is to challenge, engage and inspire the residents of our community with explosive and thought-provoking theater. Brick Monkey develops and produces new theater works, as well as contemporary and classic plays. With a commitment to collaboration and a desire to integrate our art into the fabric of our region, we strive to explore, confront and affirm what it means to be alive.
Primary Contact Name: Merri Biechler
From: Athens, Ohio
Show Title: The Famous Haydell Sisters Comeback Tour
Artist/Group Name: The Famous Haydell Sisters (New Participant)
Genre: Musical
Brief Description: If you love country music you’ll love this hilarious comeback concert. If you hate country music you’ll ESPECIALLY love this hilarious comeback concert. With original comedic songs and a true sad story by early ‘90s superstars Mattie and Maybelle Haydell—onstage together for the first time since 1993! With classic tunes like “Wrangler Butt,” “Seven Seconds (Too Short a Ride),” and a heartwarming dose of ’90s nostalgia, it’s the good old days all over again!
Artist/Company Biography: Since their last record flopped in 1993, amid personal scandals and legal turmoil, fans of the biggest sister act in country music history feared their beloved Mattie and Maybelle would never speak to each other again, let alone reunite onstage. But now these former teen stars, tarnished with the patina of maturity after paying the debts of fame, have come together to raise their voices in famous harmony once more.
Primary Contact Name: Sadie Bowman
From: Portland, OR
Show Title: THE HUNGER ARTIST
Artist/Group Name: Glorious Bomb Squad (New Participant)
Genre: Play
Brief Description: The heyday of Starvation Artists is over. The rest are retired or dead. But the Hunger Artist is still fasting. Long after the days of sold out auditoriums and crazed fans are gone, he sets out on the longest fast of his life, to recapture the old glory and to prove that he’s the best that ever was.
Artist/Company Biography: The Glorious Bomb Squad is a vagabond theatre collective in its third working year. With special interests in found-space work and non-traditional performer-audience relationships, we’re equally at home on a proscenium stage or in a patch of mud under a bridge. Currently, we’re taking our work to American fringe festivals, creating new radio plays, and tending Turbotheatre: Impossible, the blog of impossible play scripts.
Primary Contact Name: Jordan Walsh
From: Chicago, IL
Show Title: trueFRINGE
Artist/Group Name: True Theatre (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other (Storytelling)
Brief Description: For the fifth year in a row, True Theatre will be presenting trueFRINGE, featuring five artists associated with this year’s Festival. Each storyteller will be sharing true, personal stories that will give you a behind-the-scenes look at life in-and-around the theatre that will make you laugh, cry, and shake your head*. Don’t miss the chance to make your Fringe experience complete with this ONE NIGHT ONLY show! (*Laughing, crying, and head-shaking guaranteed.)
Artist/Company Biography: True Theatre brings together a wide variety of people to share stories in an effort to create Community, encourage discussion, and remind everyone that ALL of us have stories to tell with unique insights and broad appeal. Though storytelling can take on many forms, True Theatre realizes that what great stories have in common are their power to hold attention, slow time, and capture the imagination. They may redden cheeks, make eyes water, and elicit eruptions of laughter. They take you somewhere. Although great storytelling is not limited to true, personal stories, True Theatre believes that these real moments of our lives, from the mundane to the extraordinary, give both the speaker AND the listener the ultimate sense of being part of a larger community than they were aware. Come join us for an evening of True Theatre …where time slows down and we can listen.
Primary Contact Name: Dave Levy
From: Cincinnati, OH
Show Title: Validate Me
Artist/Group Name: Carly Ann Filbin (New Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: “You must give yourself the approval you seek from others. Just kidding.” – Carly Ann Filbin Carly wrote a solo show and doesn’t care if you like it! Except that she does, a lot, and needs you to come see it. And then afterwards she needs you to tell her it was funny and that she’s making good life choices and you approve of her opinions. Did you guys like this show description?
Artist/Company Biography: CARLY ANN FILBIN is an actor/writer/comedian lusting and lunching in NYC by way of Cleveland Ohio (I know, right!?). When she’s not making funny faces in the mirror, she’s flirting with guys who have cute dogs. If you want to see her on stage, check out her improv team, BUCHANAN, at the Upright Citizens Brigade in the East Village. If you want to see Carly on the internet, check out her vlog, HI GUYS, IT’S ME, CARLY on her youtube channel. If you want to see Carly tell awkward sex stories all over America, check out Awkward Sex…And the City in a town near you. If you want to make out with her, just ask, she probably has a crush on you. Carly is obsessed with her hair.
Primary Contact Name: Carly Ann Filbin
From: New York City, NY
Show Title: We Gotta Cheer Up Gary
Artist/Group Name: Four Humors (Returning Participant)
Genre: Interdisciplinary/Other
Brief Description: Thanks for purchasing the UltimateCheerUp® package from Four Humors, LLC. When it comes to being professionally cheered up, we know you have lots of options, so thanks for choosing us to do it right. With more than 10 years of professional cheer-up experience, we guarantee 100% satisfaction! Our trained staff will be on hand to cheer up your FRIEND, GARY at the CINCINNATIFRINGEFESTIVAL on DAYOFWEEK, MAY 26 – JUNE 6 at TBA o’clock. See you then!
Artist/Company Biography: Four Humors strives to create art that celebrates the humor, stupidity, and beauty of our world by letting the artist connect with the audience in a vulnerable and honest way. FOUR HUMORS has been producing theater since 2005, focusing largely on newly devised work, created by the company. Previous works include Fringe Festival hits such as Inspector Rex (2005), Deviled Eggs (2006), Bards (2007), Mortem Capiendum (2008), Sideways Stories from Wayside School (2009), You Only Live Forever Once (2011), Candide (2012), and Four Humors’ Lolita: A Three Man Show (2013) as well as work throughout the season including Beckett’s Widow (2007), Romeo and Juliet, Love is Blind… and Furry (2009), Welcome to Dystopia (2010) The Age of Wordsworth (2011), Happy Cafe (2011), The Extraordinary Terms of Ordinary Life (2011), Skinner Box (2011), Bombus and Berylline (2012), Harold (2012), and The Murderer Did It (2013). From 2010-2012 Four Humors also produced two seasons of the monthly cabaret The Firsty Thursday Show in downtown Minneapolis featuring original sketches as well as local guest artists and musicians.
Primary Contact Name: Jason Ballweber
From: Minneapolis, MN
Show Title: You Seem Pretty Great
Artist/Group Name: Mike Fotis (Returning Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: You Seem Pretty Great is a storytelling show about dogs and meeting new people and not worrying so much and believing that we all have an amazing story in us! YSPG combines storytelling, improv and audience participation into one unique and hilarious audience experience. It’s basically a total giggle fest.
Artist/Company Biography: Mike Fotis is an accomplished storyteller, comedian and improviser from MPLS, MN. He was in the 2014 Cincy Fringe with a storytelling show called Fotis Canyon. That show was enjoyed by the good people of Cincinnati. You will feel the same about You Seem Pretty Great.
Primary Contact Name: Mike Fotis
From: Minneapolis, MN
Show Title: Zombie-Logue
Artist/Group Name: Hugo West Theatricals (Returning Participant)
Genre: Solo
Brief Description: Whenever we talk about the zombie apocalypse, we never consider that a zombie might have a story to tell. As with any story, there are a lot of inaccuracies. But what this zombie knows might just be the cure to ending the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. …or he might hold the answer to eradicating gingivitis. That might still be a win.
Artist/Company Biography: Hugo West Theatricals returns to the Cincy Fringe stage for the third time. Their two previous entries have been musicals: Don’t Cross The Streams: The Cease & Desist Musical and Hot Damn! It’s the Loveland Frog! This group has also performed at the Indy Fringe in 2012 with Don’t Cross The Streams, and also presented the Cincinnati regional premiere of A Klingon Christmas Carol in 2013. Now the company is producing its first solo piece for the Cincy Fringe, entitled Zombie-Logue. Hugo West Theatricals consists of Cincinnati natives and producers Joshua Steele and Michael Hall.
Primary Contact Name: Michael Hall
From: Cincinnati, OH
Since 1997, Know Theatre has been dedicated to creating explosive and evocative live entertainment. We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.
Know Theatre’s work is made possible by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. Know is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving.
Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 