Fringe 2005 - A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

The saving grace of showcases is that they aren't all one thing. It's a grab bag of different artists and styles, sometimes gathered around a common theme, sometimes not.

Having helped produce a two-part, two-slot showcase of short plays last year with Fast Fringe, I know firsthand that the logistics of such an undertaking can be tricky - even if, as in our case, you use the same director and same cast for both slots and all ten short plays. You're still dealing with ten different playwrights. That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and everyone has their own ideas about how it should all turn out.

That's why I'm full of admiration for people who do it well, make it successful, and somehow also manage to make it look almost easy - like the folks involved in Thirst (Mondays at Joe's Garage, which, if you haven't seen, you should, it's a marvelous and entertaining collection of brand new short works by local writers with some of the best actors in town bringing them to life - you can check out here or here for more info)

Two showcases I've got my eye on for this year's Fringe already, sight unseen, are:

Paula Anderson
Spoken Word Showcase
4 or 5 performers doing short readings of their work

Molly Balcom
Works/Plays 2005
A series of short plays by local emerging writers and directors.

Why, you ask? Basically because of the people involved. I know Paula Anderson and she's a loyal supporter of the arts, particularly new work, in this town. Anything with her behind it is something I want to see.

Molly Balcom and the Works/Plays people have been fostering new work for a while now as well, with regular showcases of experimental work throughout the year. So if they're bringing their act to the Fringe, I'm interested.

There are several other showcases on the schedule. Check them out. After all, if something in the showcase doesn't strike your fancy, in a few minutes something entirely different will come along. Your odds of finding something you like are very good in this kind of structure.

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