Tag Archives: theater

U.S. Fringes are Local Festivals, Plain and Simple.

local vs national

A Caveat: I know a lot of organizers of Fringe festivals personally through a variety of circumstances. These opinions are my own and are no reflection on the huge amount of respect I have for the dedication, perseverance and aptitude they demonstrate to bring alternative and small scale theater to their communities. 

Also, I’m up to anyone disputing this but I want the math to back it up, not just general numbers. How do out-of -towners payouts differ from local producers?

Last year  published a post called To Fringe or Not to Fringe in which I broke down what the circuit was like. I have only toured fringes in the U.S., and only if I’ve done extensive research on them so that I’m not walking away in the red (although I have anyway). In my previous post I spoke briefly about how some fringes can have a local focus where out-of-towners such as myself get lost in the shuffle. I realized something however… Continue reading →

Daydreaming for the Fuck of it

Insert imaginative expression and possible non sequitur here.

I’m constantly daydreaming. Unfortunately these wonderful and playful aspects of my imagination get met with a pragmatic set of questions:

*Could I get a grant for that?
*How much time would it take to develop into a full piece?
*Do I really need a suspended trapeze that is two feet off the ground that I only use for a 2 second inside joke? Continue reading →

Subjective Success in the Self-Help Web

I’ve been thinking a shit ton about success as I work on the final part of my one-man trilogy on the underbelly of the self-help movement. Kicking Ass and Taking Names (tagline: Measuring Success One Failure at a Time) has been one of the projects I’ve been mind dumping onto my laptop all of December. It’s been a lot slower than expected. Continue reading →

Zero Stars. I Couldn’t Ask for More.

Me Want Stars

Wow. In the midst of my run at Minnesota Fringe I get an audience review with zero stars. Zero. Stars. What shocks me most is that this made me smile. What the fuck am I smiling about? This is bringing down my overall score. This is going to kill my audience. Actually… I couldn’t have asked for anything better to happen. Continue reading →

Touring the College Circuit Through Speakers Bureaus

There are several ways to get on the radar of colleges and universities for performance opportunities. From contacting Student Activity Committees to attending Campus Activity Conferences like NACA and APCA to various funded and underfunded Student Groups on campuses it can seem daunting and overwhelming at first, but there is a way to streamline the process so that you are essentially wedding out the shit.  Continue reading →

To Fringe or Not to Fringe…

Me and Mr. David Gaines working the Minnesota Fringe crowds.

…that is the question. I have done four U.S. fringe festivals which is nothing compared to some people I know. I based my decisions to tour to certain ones on a number of factors and research but actually doing them presents things you can only get through experience. One thing that happens when you tour the fringe circuit is you hear what works and what doesn’t really quickly from the other artists you end up meeting. Here’s the down-low. Continue reading →

Thanks for Falling Asleep During My Show

It’s going to happen. There is no way around the fact that someone is going to fall asleep during one of your performances (if not every time you perform). Don’t worry, I’m going to point out reasons why this occurs so that you don’t take it personally and ways you can deal with it that are both helpful and potentially horrifying. Continue reading →