Fringe 2005 - The Great TV Shuffle

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to record 12 interview segments for my TV, Cue to Cue, for our six Fringe spotlight episodes that'll run in July and August on the St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) and TPT-17, St. Paul's public TV station.

All kinds of things need to dovetail just so for us to pull it off.

First, we need studio time. Which we've got. But it's not all weekend time like it has been in the past. Sunday, June 19th won't be hard to fill, but Monday, June 20th might be.

Then, we need to touch base with potential guests to see if they're available and interested.

But ideally, they aren't people we've interviewed in the past, either in or out of Fringe time, since we also tape at other times of the there, and there's a lot of overlap between the Fringe community and the larger theater community (which is a good problem to have, don't get me wrong).

And of course, we'd like them to be both entertaining in the excerpt from their upcoming Fringe show, and a good interview - neither of which is as easy as it sounds. Some folks in the past which we thought would be wildly entertaining performers either had an off day, or it just didn't translate from live on stage into a no audience, in-studio taping situation. And some chatty folks look like a deer in the headlights when the cameras and lights hit them.

Because we're taping in advance, none of the equally cool out of town acts are a possibility. So, yay for local artists! But it does cut into our potential pool of guests to ask.

Just like the Fringe, we want the shows to reflect the diversity of the performing community. So it can't all just be excerpts from solo shows, or all musicals, or all dance, all classics or all new plays. We also don't all veterans or all newbies.

It's quite a little juggling act, these competing needs. Somehow we always manage to pull it off. But here in crunch time, it always feels a little hairy. I'll keep you posted.

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