Over at blog.myspace.com/orlandofringe, social media director for the Orlando Fringe Mark Baratelli has begun posting a series of videos that relate generally to the festival. Mark will also be doing a Fringe Ads channel on MySpace which is basically giving the middle finger to Blogging Fringe restricting Blogging Fringe to metajournalism. I’m still not sure exactly how this will be recieved. If he is willing, I would like to contribute to this channel and help them out, but who knows what the response will be by Mark and Beth and others. I’ve only just heard about this a few hours ago, so I’m still not sure if this can really be a two-horse town.
Regardless, go check out the videos and tell us what you think in the comments.
I got a chance to attend the lottery drawing for the Fringe Shows and Play in a Day this week. Beth said they had 91 applicants this year, which I’m sure breaks some sort of record.
To explain, under the rules laid down by the Canadian Ass’n of Fringe Festivals (CAFF), our festival must reserve 20% of their spots for international shows and 20% for shows from their home country. Our Fringe is the oldest in America, coming up on the 16th year, with over $175,000 going to the performers last year and projections for this year are higher as we are adding a new venue. The Silver Venue will be in the Orlando Rep, which I believe is where they have held Kid’s Fringe in the past, but I could be wrong.
Beth told us they are expecting 60-68 shows this year with 84 approved from the lottery drawing, which is great compared to last year’s 58. Best of luck to all the producers and performers, as well as a Happy Thanksgiving to all their friends and families! (except the Canadians and the one company from overseas, I guess)
SILVER VENUE:
Armando Simon Local
Futura Bold Local
Jessica Mariko and Marla Mirabal Local
Maf54 Local
NOTCO Local
PB&J Brewery Local
Peter Alden Entertainment Local
InFlux Dance National
ORANGE VENUE:
Big Sandwich Productions International (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Guys in Disguise International (Edmonton, Alberta)
Babyblue Star Productions LLC Local
Doodie Humor Local
Douglas Productions (Boys) Local
Excellent Adventure Productions Local
Watson Arts National (Brooklyn, NY)
PURPLE VENUE:
Ricardo’s Flamenco Flow International (Edinburgh, Scotland and Bolivia)
Angel Kiss Productions Local
Dr. Smyles Circus Inc. Local
Kevin Gavin Local
SoundStage Local
The Green Room Company Local
Winter Springs Performing Arts Local
Yellow Light Productions Local
Six Characters National (New York, NY)
YELLOW VENUE:
Voci Dance Local
Chipped Paint Productions International (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Goddess Productions International (Toronto, Ontario)
Out of Pocket International (Edmonton, Alberta)
Tethersend Productions International (Toronto, Ontario)
The Roodie Pancake Experiment International (Toronto, Ontario)
CineDance Jazz Dance Local
Aspen Comedy Works National (Aspen, CO)
Courtney Cunningham National (Brooklyn, NY)
theater simple National (Seattle, WA)
PINK VENUE:
Brett Nicholson Local
Duck Church Productions Local
Last Minute Panic Productions Local
Micai Productions Local
Michi Productions Local
Orlando Gay Chorus Local
Penguin Point Productions Local
Gemma Wilcox National
The Studio Theatre of Wellington National (Wellington, FL)
Too Much Religion Inc. National (Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
GREEN VENUE:
4:2:Five Local
Baggypants Theater Company Local
Carbon Productions Local
Cattle Prods. Local
Clarion Refugees Local
Everybody Dance Local
Green Lunch Box Productions Local
LMW Workshop Local
Matanzas Project Local
Bashful Scandinavian Productions National (New York, NY)
BROWN VENUE:
Dewie Chaffee Local
Douglas Productions (Saint Kristie) Local
Kangagirl Productions LLC Local
Kirk Marsh Local
Nothin’ Productions Local
Orlando Youth Alliance Local
Peripheral Vision Local
Randy Productions Local
The Living Room Players Local
RED VENUE:
Boutwell Diniz Productions Local
Playwrights Roundtable Local
The Sturm und Drang Company Local
Awkward Moment Productions National (Minneaplois, MN)
DeXdance Contemporary Dance Company National (Wall, NJ)
Judith Black: Storyteller National (Marblehead, MA)
Magic Taylor’d for You! National (Indianapolis, IN)
Matheatre National (Austin, TX)
The Habit Productions National (Seattle, WA)
Too Much Free Time Productions National (New York, NY)
BLUE VENUE:
Endangered Productions International (Edmonton, Alberta)
ReAL Theatre International (Toronto, Ontario)
DnA Productions Local
DnA Productions/M-n-N Theatrical Local
I.D. 10-t productions Local
Mark Baratelli Local
Slothco Productions Local
Tod Kimbro Local
Name Change Pending Extreme Improv Troupe National (Boytnon Beach, FL)
SPECIAL EVENT SHOWS:
Wanzie Presents: Forbidden Fringe (Silver- 2 shows only)
Brian Feldman: Photobooth Marathon - (Bring Your Own Venue)
Expect to see lots more about all of these shows here at Blogging Fringe.
A note on the Special Event Shows: Blogging Fringe friend Brian Feldman has said he is going to be spending 24 hours in a photobooth at the Orlando Rep opening weekend, making a Guiness World Record attempt. Also something very exciting from Michael Wanzie this year: he will be attending all of the shows and writing a musical that will play on Patron’s Pick day in the new Silver Venue. I’m not sure what the second show will be, but Beth said something about the awards show…
The file is just an MP3 - no iPod is required to listen to this show, although that is a popular way to enjoy podcasts. We have also made our feed available for easy linking to iTunes or other feed readers.
I am very pleased to see more and more people coming to the Puppet Festival every night. That either means that the word has gotten out, or people are bringing their friends. I hope both are equally true.
I won’t be around at all Saturday, as I signed up to do the UCF Marching Knight Alumni Band tomorrow for my last opportunity to perform in the Citrus Bowl. I will certainly be around quite as much as I can on Sunday. I am hoping to get a little time to talk to the folks from Dramaton about their puppets and their show, and anyone else who will be around.
If you miss me, there’s always MySpace to help us keep in touch, or more traditionally email or phone. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you have a Ryan Price business card somewhere. The number still works, it’s been the same since Summer 2005.
I hope all my new friends keep in touch. I would love to hear what you’re doing with yourselves after the festival, and get some real interviews out of Puppet Festival too. The whole thing is so compact, it’s tough to catch people when they will have some good quality downtime. Fringe was better for that sort of thing, and film festivals haven’t been too bad either.
Show: Songs of Mirth and Mayhem Company:Paul Mesner Puppets Venue: Mad Cow Theatre (corner of Pine St. and Magnolia Ave.) Show times: Thu Nov 2, 10:15 PM; Tickets: $15 Call: 407-297-8788 - info and tickets
When I spoke with Paul Mesner tonight, he told me that Songs of Mirth and Mayhem is a much younger program than Wiley and the Hairy Man (a few months compared to a few decades). Still, my 24-year-old self found this show to be even better than Hairy Man. In no way is this show intended for young people, covering several adult subjects including drugs, sex, and violence!
What do event bloggers do with our phtos and video? Do we make pretty slideshows? Add fancy graphics? Do any editing at all? Not when it’s almost 1:30 and we have 3 more posts to write!
Show: The Traveler Company:Dramaton Theater Venue: Mad Cow Theatre (corner of Pine St. and Magnolia Ave.) Show times: Thu Nov 2, 9:15 PM; Fri Nov 3, 7:45 PM; Tickets: $15 Call: 407-297-8788 - info and tickets
I didn’t know what to expect from The Traveler going in to the show. What I found was something very special. New York’s Dramaton Theater made themselves famous doing non-verbal theatre, but the Traveler is more straightforward. The play is a collection three short stories about people on literal different walks of life. The first two stories are adapted from previous works, namely Richard Midleton’s On the Brighton Road (1911) and William Yeats’ Purgatory (1922). The third story was written for Dramaton by Enma Ito of Fantoma Theater Company of Osaka, Japan. The stories really go together to make up a whole in this piece: hats off, kids.
Possibly the most notable part of the show are the puppets.
Once again I have no time to post, as Jack and the Beanstalk starts in 15 minutes. I might not make it!! Very quickly I wanted to point to a video by Blogging Fringe’s friend Mark Baratelli. He made a video about himself of all subjects, and he mentions that he will be performing in Sunday night’s show. Check it out:
After seeing The Traveler and Songs of Mirth and Mayhem today, I went to Club Pita with a friend, and we hung out a bit late. I need to get some sleep now, but I will post the reviews tomorrow afternoon, promise.
If you read Elizabeth Maupin’s blog today, you’ll see that she was having some trouble with her blog software. I suppose that is one reason for neglecting a post about Orlando Puppet Festival until 28 hours after it opened. I posted as soon as I got home from the first show, and at least I mentioned it in my post on Sunday. I don’t want to get braggy, but I do want to point out a lack of support for this event from the traditional media in town. There are plenty of puppet festivals around, but only one Orlando Puppet Festival. The Fringe gets insane amounts of coverage, and this event (and other events like the Orlando Film Festival should get similar fanfare. If the media are not willing to support Orlando Art, than who but the bloggers and blog readers can get the word out?
Also: Mayor Buddy was in attendance at the Orlando Film Fest, but what about this event? Does he know it’s happening? Does he have the time to attend the cocktail reception on Saturday? Also on the point of the traditional media: if the Mayor of Orlando attends an event, it sounds pretty newsworthy to me. Explain that one.
Show: Wiley and the Hairy Man Company:Paul Mesner Puppets Venue: Mad Cow Theatre (corner of Pine St. and Magnolia Ave.) Show times: Wed, Nov 1, 7:00 PM; Fri, Nov 3, 10:30 AM; Fri, Nov 3, 1:00 PM; Tickets: $15, $12 with Student ID Call: 407-297-8788 - info and tickets
Paul Mesner is clearly an accomplished puppet performer and builder. I know this because he performed the entire show on his own, live, doing all the voices AND running the tape machine! Paul has been performing Wiley for almost 20 years now, testified by the fact that some of the puppets are built from “Reagan Era Government Cheese Boxes”.
Uh-oh! Some of our first Non-Fringe content starts to leak in. The Orlando Puppet Festival opened today with a wine and cheese reception, followed by a screening of Handmade Puppet Dreams, a collection of shorts compiled by Heather Henson and Michelle Renee Bousquet. Following that was one of many presentations of Paul Mesner’s Wiley and the Hairy Man. I got a chance to talk to Heather once again and a few of the organizers assembled.
I’m sure I will be bringing in more reports and some interviews soon. Right now I have a million things to do before tomorrow, some of them to this site. Last week I added music players so you can listen to interviews without having to leave the page. Read AND listen! How cool is that? Let me know what you think.
Also, my plan for this year’s season is coming together bit by bit. Get your webmaster’s email out, because I will want to talk to him or her very soon.
Take-aways
-get good photos
-make video and audio pieces while your show is not in performance
-pass along good material to help spread the word about groups
-submit your cool photos/video/slide shows to the Fringe Myspace and be featured
-And of course, subscribe to the Fringe blog
Why? I want to help you make said videos, interview you, make it downloadable and even host the files if need be, all in the name of educating the people about your show, your past works, whatever. MySpace is only one part of the internet, and frankly some people are afraid of it. I know it stinks having to submit your material to two places, but the payoff will be worth it (for you and your audience).
