CincyFringe 22.5 Hour Play Project Starts Tonight!

The Cincinnati Fringe Festival's 22.5 hour play project starts tonight at about 12:30 AM after Fringe Olympics. There are still a few spots open. Here are all of the details:

Does a 12 day festival of explosive and experimental independent performing arts seem a little too…rehearsed to you? Is the honest, free-form flavor of unbridled creativity that runs rampant at the Cincy Fringe a little…over-polished for your spontaneous personality? Are you looking for the freshest of the fresh, the rawest of the raw, the spontaeousest of the spontaneous?

This year’s Cincy Fringe is embracing that critical mass of contagious creativity that incubates amid all of the artistic stimulation of the festival. We invite your participation in our first attempt at a 24-Hour Play Project.

Artists meet, are assembled into teams, given some very loose framework, synchronize their watches, and meet again 24 (or in our case, maybe something like 22 ½) hours later, each team with a short play that has been written, staged, rehearsed, memorized and ready to perform in less time than it takes for this lumbering old planet we’re sitting on to heave itself around on its axis.


HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
-You sign up by emailing sbowman@knowtheatre.com. Participation is limited to 25.
-After Fringe Olympics on Monday, June 7 (around 11:30pmish) you and the other participants assemble in Know Theatre Underground. You will be randomly assigned to teams of 4-5 people.
-Your team will be given a series of elements (perhaps a phrase, an image, a prop, and/or something else) that you are required to work into your piece.
-Your team then has until 10:30pm the following day, Tuesday, June 8 to make a play! It should be 10-15 minutes in length (no more!), be completely original (so no adaptation of or borrowing from existing works—these are to be world premiers!), it must be at least somewhat rehearsed and finished (it's not an improv jam) and other than the required elements you’ll be given, there are no restrictions!

It is up to your team to democratically allocate responsibilities. Your team can write collaboratively or assign a head writer. Your team can say “screw text” and base it on improv, music, secret dreams, or anything else. Your team can appoint one director or not. Costume designer? Dramaturg? Foley artist? Decide what needs to be done and make sure one of you does it. Your team can all act in it, or some or only one of you can act in it. Your team can do whatever your team wants. Just keep your finished product to 15 minutes and be ready to perform—no matter what—at 10:30pm Tuesday.

WHAT FRINGE PROVIDES:
A performance space. The event will take place on the Underground Stage. We will provide two chairs, a piano and two actor blocks for you to use or not use as you desire.

An audience. So make your show good. And invite your friends—admission is free as part of the Underground Series.

Access to props and costumes. During the hours of 2-4 on Tuesday afternoon, you are invited to Know Theatre’s stock storage to sign out any costume or prop pieces that you desire. We do take names and we do kick asses, so you will be held accountable for returning everything you borrow in the same condition in which you took it.

WHAT FRINGE DOES NOT PROVIDE:
Rehearsal space. Sorry—you gotta be creative here.

Uptight rules and restrictions that otherwise stifle your creative spirit. This project is about the joy of feverish creativity. We want your piece to be original and we provide some unifying elements to get you going, but otherwise you will not be censored for content. Working in a short time frame with randomly assigned partners is an experiment and is sure to lead to surprising discoveries. Have fun! Oh, but keep your clothes on while you’re on the stage—nudity’s not allowed in the Underground. Liquor laws, blah blah blah.

If you do this, you might be on my team. Ahhh! The Horror!

Fringe Day Two

Last night Fringe kicked off to a raucous start with great music and food that you may have missed. That's your loss. Tonight you get your first change to see performances, so go on-line to www.cincyfringe.com and buy your tickets!

Not sure what to see? More ideas on can't miss shows can be found in Metromix from Enquirer Theatre critic, Jacki Demaline.

My shows tonight are That One Show and Aberrant Reflections on the Barbarism of You & I.

CincyFringe: The Buzz on What to See

I am always asked by friends and even random strangers, what should I see at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.  My first answer is EVERYTHING.  I get a blank stare and tell I am going to see all 29 shows and 1 special performance.  That gets another blank stare, followed by a comment along the lines of  "Wow, that's kind of crazy."  When I get past that I offer up some shows I've heard some buzz about.  Below is the list of shows I would suggest everyone plan on seeing.  These are not going to be the best shows of the festival.  These are the shows that are either from groups that I've see before and like the synopsis of their show, or these are shows people have mentioned they've heard good things about.  If will be leaving out a bunch of good shows that people will rave about.  That happens every year at Fringe, you will be surprised by at least one show, if not ten.

These are not in any significant order, other than I hope alphabetical.


A Brief History of Petty Crime
A Short Lecture of a Different Time
Aberrant Reflections on the Barbarism of You & I
Cyrano
Harold
Salem! The Musical
Tantric Acting at the Holiday Inn
That One Show
The Council
The Finkle's Theater Show
Trust

Knock Three Times

It's Time to Make Your CincyFringe Selections

It's time to start selecting the shows you are going to see at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Below is a listing of all of the Productions with a link to TheConveyor.com's preview article.

A Brief History of Petty Crime
A Night of Well Adjusted Ladies
A Short Lecture of a Different Time
Aberrant Reflections on the Barbarism of You & I
Aftershock! An Event!
Ain't That Good News
Cyrano
Harold
Just Say Know
Medea
Money Back Guaranteed
Nevermore
Of People and Not Things
Queer in the U.S.A.
Safety In Numbers
Salem! The Musical
Sophie's Dream
Soul Juice
Tantric Acting at the Holiday Inn
That One Show
The Comfort of Anger
The Council
The End Is Near
The Finkle's Theater Show
The Global Lovers
The Long Way Home
The Water Draft
Trust
Blue Collar Diaries

Congrats to Liz Vosmeier on Acclaim Award

At Monday night's Acclaim Awards, see Rick Pender's recap here, the Know Theatre's Liz Vosmeier received a special MVP award for her efforts during the 2009-2010 Theatre season. Liz has done a great job this year acting at the Know, but as Rick points out, her work backstage has been crucial to the company's success. This was a well deserved honor.

You can show your support of Liz and the rest of the Know at Fringe. Liz appears in Of People and Not Things.

Volunteer For CincyFringe!!!!

The Cincinnati Fringe Festival is an amazing event, but it takes amazing people to put it on. Please volunteer today for the festival and be part of Art in Cincinnati. Check out the Volunteer page where you can see the available shifts. As always you can earn free tickets!

At CincyFringe Speed Is Sometimes the Key to Success

But, not always.

www.cincyfringe.com

Rules To Follow at CincyFringe When on a Segway

Oh, Eric...

Visual Fringe Line-Up Announced!

The Visual Arts portion of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival was announced earlier this week. The exhibit runs at the Childlaw Gallery at the Art Academy of Cincinnati 1212 Jackson Street and runs from June 1-12.

Join in the opening night reception on June 1st as part of the Fringe Kick-Off Party, 6PM to 9PM at the Childlaw Gallery. Afterwards head down a block to the Know Theatre for the Kick-Off of the Performance and Film portions of Fringe.

Cincinnati Fringe Festival: New Website and Line-Up

Last night the Cincinnati Fringe Festival held an event to celibate the relaunching of their website www.cincyfringe.com and at the same time announced the line-up for the 2010 festival.

32 shows mostly from out of town will descend on Know Theatre starting June 1st for the 7th annual event. For a listing of the productions, check here. As is normal, the line-up is subject to change.

This year TheConveyor.com will once again be reviewing shows and giving insights and out of sights on the festival.

If you have never been to Fringe, then clear your calendar for the first 12 days of June. It is theatre and community at its best.

Twitter folks, please spread the word. We used #cincyfringe last year, so I hope that is repeated!

Last Day for CincyFringe

OK, it is time to put up or shut up! I am seeing three Fringe Shows today and that will bring my total to 31 shows, which is all of them. You need to get out and see at least one show today. This is your last chance and you will regret it if you don't go.

Here again are my recommendations for today:

It Might Be OK - 2:00 PM
Sex, Dreams, and Self Control! - 4:30PM
Guns and Chickens - 5:00PM
Cinema Fantastique - 8:00PM
April Fools - 8:30PM
7 (x1) Samurai - 8:30PM
Assholes and Aureoles 9:15PM

Go to www.cincyfringe.com for all of the details.

2 Days of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival Left

There are two days left of Cincinnati Fringe Festival remaining and a ton of great shows to see. The Conveyor has show reviews. Here are shows that top my list and the times they are showing:

Friday:
The Edge - 7:00PM
4 Food Groups - 7:30PM
Gravesongs - 8:30PM
Empire of Feathers - 9:00PM
April Fools - 9:00PM
KAZ/m - 9:00PM
The Success Show - 9:15PM
7 (x1) Samurai - 9:15PM

Saturday
It Might Be OK - 2:00 PM
Sex, Dreams, and Self Control! - 4:30PM
Guns and Chickens - 5:00PM
Cinema Fantastique - 8:00PM
April Fools - 8:30PM
7 (x1) Samurai - 8:30PM
Assholes and Aureoles 9:15PM

See as many as you can and then hit the Underground at the Know Theatre for the Awards Show and finale party.

CincyFringe Kicks Off

Here is my first on the spot blog report from the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. The crowd is starting to wonder over from the Visual Fringe opening. The early word is that the Fringe Action News will premier to night.

Fringe Action News!

Something new at this year's Cincinnati Fringe Festival will be a nightly news cast brought to you live at 10:30PM at the Know Theatre's Underground (1120 Jackson St.). The hard hitting team of Fringe Journalists will be on the prowl for every bit of Fringe News. The Fringe Blog will surely be a source of tons and tons of leads, but if you have leads yourself, email the crack Fringe Action News Staff: actionnewstipline@knowtheatre.com with your leads, stories, gossip, secret documents you want to leak, or just funny stuff you think other blokes might find kinda funny.

Fringe Day One: Kickoff Party Tonight!

The Cincinnati Fringe Festival is here! Get your ass to the Know Theatre tonight for the Kickoff Party! It features music from Eclipse, food from Mixx Ultra Lounge and Venice on Vine, finally beer specials from Christian Moerlein! The party begins at 9 PM at 1120 Jackson Street, after the Visual Fringe opening (6 PM - 8 PM) at Art Academy of Cincinnati. Suggested donation is $5.

There is still time to volunteer for the festival and get free tickets. Get the info here.

If you can't pick the shows you want to see, you can see them all! I am!

Finally, for Review of shows, behind the scenes posts from Staff, and all around bloggy good times at Fringe, check out the Fringe Blog at TheConveyor.com.

CincyFringe - Pick Your Shows!

What shows are you going to see at this year's Cincinnati Fringe Festival? A full list is here.

Do show titles affect your pick? This year a few titles will either stiffen your attention or repel you completely. For example:
Assholes and Aureoles, presented by InterAction Theater, Inc. (Bloomington, IN)

Also, you know Ken Ham (of the Creation Museum) has to see Brother Bailey's Pageant of Moral Superiority and Creation Science Jamboree, presented by Ornamental Messiah Productions. (Jackson, TN)

CincyFringe BigBrainer - THE END?

Is this the End of BigBrainer? Will our heroic scientists survive love, sex, drinking, and slapstick hilarity?

If you wan to find out if this is the real end of series, you will have to get your Full Frontal Pass for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. They are for sale now on the fringe website: www.cincyfringe.com.

The festival and your road to hilarity starts on May 26th!

CincyFringe - Big Brainer IV is Here

There is no Time to not waste on this, but Your Future depends on going back and there is no escape from this really unfunny comment.

CincyFringe Big Brainer III

There is way to much Fruit in this one.