Photo Source: Star Thrower Photography
"There is no curatorial aspect of what the shows are," says Ben Hill, festival director and co-founder. "No one is trying to set guidelines for what performances have to mean. It has become a real representation of all the emerging arts in Los Angeles."
There is not even a selection committee for the fest, and any performer who can secure a venue can take part, making it a singular opportunity for budding artists. This unconventional format is based on the original Edinburgh Festival Fringe, created in Scotland in 1947. This year more than 200 shows, featuring hundreds of performers, comprise the engagements.
The performance lineup runs the gamut from more traditional theater to cabaret and magic shows and, more recently, film. Performances run practically nonstop in the theaters along Santa Monica Boulevard, as well as in bars, clubs, tents, and other pop-up venues. "We are really trying to up the ante this year," Hill says. "We encourage creating non-traditional stages."
Amid the scattered performance sites, however, the festival is introducing a larger centralized location this year called Fringe Central. Featuring a bar and two stages, the space will function as a launching-off point for visitors attempting to navigate the immense number of options available.
The chance to gain exposure via the growing Los Angeles audience is what drew Michael Rosenbaum, puppeteer and member of R-rated improv group Puppet Mayhem, to the Fringe. A first-time participant, Rosenbaum, who mostly performs in Orange County, is thrilled to be joining a more expansive artistic community with his foulmouthed puppet, Kromp. "Sometimes the theater world feels small, but it's nice to know that it isn't as small as you think," he says. "You just have to look for it. It's good to know that art thrives still."
Rosenbaum and the other members of Puppet Mayhem are also counting on the edgier feel of the festival. With the open-access policy of Fringe comes the opportunity for more controversial art to take the stage. With plays titled "I Didn't Mean to Be a Virgin in the 80s" and "Sex aka Wieners and Boobs," the naughty puppets of the improv group will be in good company.
"We are basically like Sesame Street for adults," Rosenbaum says. "We really use that feeling of nostalgia that puppets give adults. You learned your ABCs from Elmo, and now you learn what an STD is from my character, Kromp."
Families looking for more child-friendly entertainment need not despair. On Sundays, Fringe Central will become Fringe Family, a venue with children's plays, roving circus performers, and magicians. Fringe Special Programs Director Jon Armstrong, who helped conceive Fringe Family, said it is important not to leave out children's theater for the sake of edginess. "Los Angeles wants to be hip and adult, but that's a bad way to go about it," he says. "Children's theater is just as valid an art form as any other."
The Fringe is also reaching out to younger audiences and performers through the Student Fringe program, which brings local students 12 and older to the Fringe Central theater to participate in performance workshops. Hill said he hopes the program will spur in younger audiences a lasting interest in the performing arts. "It's about giving back to the community," he says. "Part of our mission is to create a community of art lovers, art managers, and performers here in Los Angeles."
The chance to broaden artistic horizons is not limited to students. Book writer and lyricist David Wisehart, whose first musical, "Virginia City," will premiere at the Fringe this year, credits his three years of participation in the festival with making him a better producer. Wisehart says this year's festival presented a solid deadline and inspired him to finish "Virginia City," a collaboration with his brother, composer Daniel Wisehart.
Virgin City (David Wisehart)
A Broadway-style musical scaled down for a smaller theater and cast, "Virginia City" tells the story of Mark Twain's transformative experience in the Nevada mining town. "It's the coming of age of a writer, and also a love story, with some really fun music," Wisehart says.
Wisehart hopes the Fringe will not be the only time his musical is staged, but even if it is, he counts the experience a victory. "You have to define what is success for you when you do a project like this," he says. "For me, we met our deadline after 20 years of collaboration. We are already a success, even if the show never goes up."
With "Virginia City" as just one of many new artistic ventures to be featured, the Hollywood Fringe Festival faces its biggest year yet.
"Los Angeles has an inaccurate reputation for not being a theater town," Hill says. "But it's a town that has healthy, unpretentious, and burgeoning art scenes. People with positive attitudes are coming together and making something beautiful."
