Fringe Day 8, Part 2 - August 13, 2004, 2:30pm

Agog
Spoken Word Productions
MCTC Whitney Studio

As with so many Fringe shows, I went in part to support a friend. As with so many Fringe shows, I'm glad I did. I was treated to something I might not otherwise have seen.

Spoken word can be a tricky thing to make a decision to go see if you have no previous experience with it. Plays, musicals, I normally have some kind of yardstick because I know the material or the company or someone who knows someone. Spoken word is a community of performance that is only just now slightly cracking open for me a bit. I have my friends Eli Weintraub and Tom Cassidy to thank for that.

I was already familiar with Eli's comic flair as a playwright. I now know she's equally funny as a performer.

Curt Lund, who was both usher at Fast Fringe while I was over there playing producer earlier in the week, and also houses out of town Fringe artists at his place, was another amusing performer in this set.

And now I have a new name to add to my list of people to put on my must see list if their name turns up on a list of performers at a future spoken word event:

Allegra Lingo

I know what you're thinking - isn't Allegra the Assistant Audience Services Manager (who gets to do fun things like intervene in gang standoffs until the police arrive)? isn't she that chick who plays a mean clarinet? doesn't she work Fringe box office? doesn't she usher? isn't that just the coolest stage name ever, whether she made it up or not?

Well, the answer to all those questions would be yes, and she's also been a spoken word performer for a number of years. Here, she shared a charming three part piece on her experiences as the girlfriend of the maid of honor at a straight wedding. It was a delightful framework to hang the rest of the set on.

Sometimes when you see a friend's show, you regret it. Sometimes, like this one, you get lucky.

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)