Fringe Lottery 2005

So to institute a lottery, the Fringe makes it a party open to the community, and unlike that Shirley Jackson story, no one had to get stoned before the evening was done (well, not with rocks anyway. I'm sure some people probably went home and...)

But I digress.

The thing I liked most about the lottery, over and above the sense of fun and community, and the free beer and pizza, all of which were big draws, mind you - the thing I didn't just like but admired was how open and transparent it made the process.

Unlike some arts organizations in town, who've become ever more byzantine and cloaked in secrecy when it comes to selecting the chosen few artists they'll spend their time and resources on, the Fringe decides to throw open the doors and let everyone watch. While not everyone got the result they wanted, and might have ended up way down on the waiting list, they got to see it happen right in front of them.

And the Fringe staff just set the lottery up and tallied the results. They didn't even pick the ping pong balls out of the rotating cage. A series of random artists sitting in the audience were picked by Patrick Braucher (perhaps better known as CoCo Fondue from last year's Fringe show "These Pumps Are Killing Me" from DragIn Productions). These volunteers pulled the ping pong balls, without looking, handed them off to Patrick who handed them off to lovely mistress of ceremonies Leah Cooper who read them off, plus the name and description of the show associated with the number on the ball.

While it's not quite the same thing as the panel discussions the Minnesota State Arts Board opens up to the public when deciding who will receive their annual fellowships, the spirit is very much the same. And the State Arts Board doesn't feed you. Go, Fringe!

Rather than let the Fringe and the artists who love it become the victims of the Fringe's burgeoning popularity, the Fringe staff did something about it. They've leveled the playing field. And made a party out of it besides.

Last year, it was all about getting the application in the mail so it arrived on the first day that applications were accepted - not a day before, and hopefully not a day after. The Fringe received 190 applications that first day for only 175 slots. Rather than leave it to the vagaries of fate and the U.S. Postal Service as to who ended up on the top of the mail pile and who ended up on the bottom, the Fringe opened it all up again this year and gave everyone a fighting chance. A two month window to submit materials. Then all the potential productions were given a number, the number was written on a ping pong ball, the full list of productions and their numbers and information was copied so everyone attending the lottery could follow along and learn about their fellow Fringers. The balls were put in a festive wire cage, rolled around, and picked at random by a cross-section of volunteers from the audience - some of whom were so young that Leah had to selectively edit some of the more colorful language out of show descriptions until it was time to take the kids home to bed.

Roughly 240 applications.

Roughly 140 slots.

Roughly 2 hours of ping pong balls, tension, pizza and beer.

The slots may increase and the first folks on the waiting list may yet get in without too much waiting. But venues need to be confirmed. Better to choose too few and then be able to make some more people very happy, than choose too many and have to disappoint some people who thought they were in for sure.

And a whole lot of fluctuation hits between now and March 15, the deadline for people to withdraw without losing their deposit. And June 1, the deadline (last year anyway) for getting in your show description for the big printed program. What we see now on the list will no doubt be very different as it always is with every Fringe by the time opening night in August arrives. One of the many joys of Fringe is that sense of seat-of-the-pants improvisation that happens in pulling together a brand new show. And it's already begun and shall continue.

Kudos to the Fringe for making lemonade out of lemons yet again. And giving all artists a fair shot at seeing their show in the 2005 Fringe.

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