Final CincyFringe Weekend Recommendations

Tonight and tomorrow are the last days of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, if you want to Catch a few shows here are some recommendations:

Friday
The Finkle's Theater Show
Harold
Tantric Acting at the Holiday Inn
A Short Lecture of a Different Time
Queer in the U.S.A.
Medea
A Night of Well Adjusted Ladies
Just Say Know
That One Show
Soul Juice
Cyrano

Saturday
Aberrant Reflections on the Barbarism of You & I
The Finkle's Theater Show
Harold
A Short Lecture of a Different Time
The Council
Ain't That Good News
Sophie's Dream
Money Back Guaranteed
Blue Collar Diaries
True Body Project III
Queer in the U.S.A.


Best advice: Get your tickets on line NOW! Many of these shows are going to sell out well before the show starts.

A Slap in the Face For Miller

The Cincinnati Business Courier is reporting that Mark Miller, Treasurer of COAST, lost his legal case against the Hamilton County Commissioners, in which he claimed certain commission executive sessions violated the Ohio Open Meetings Law. The Judge ordered Miller to pay the costs of litigation.

I've seen no word on an appeal, but I would expect one.

World Cup at Fountain Square!

Are you looking to root on the USA against England in the World Cup on June 12th? Come out to Fountain Square where organizers will have the game on the big screen and will have beer flowing from 1:30PM to 5PM.

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!

Wendell Young Appointed to City Council

So, who was surprised to hear that Wendell Young was appointed to fill Laketa Cole's Council seat? The job had been Bernadette Watson's, but reports indicate she didn't get the appointment because she wouldn't guarantee the jobs of Cole's staff.

So, we have a new council member because Cole was given a job to avoid running against Alicia Reece. Cole in turn stated publicly that she was picking the person based on race, and one would pick a person who would keep her staff employed. Cronyism is common in politics, but it is not good for politics.

Yes, this sucks. Picking a person based on race is illegal. People have shed blood to make that happen. Politically speaking, Cole had no choice but to pick a black person to fill her seat, but why would she be so upfront about it and not get any flack for doing that? If Berding or Qualls or Bortz or Ghiz did the same thing, you know what we would be hearing. We aren't hearing that. Why are we not hearing Chris Smitherman screaming at the top of his lungs against Cole for publicly stating she was picking a person because of race? Yes, I think there's an obvious Conventional Wisdom answer to that question, but can anyone answer it honestly? Why is there not outrage about this? Why was it OK for Cole to Discriminate against every other race but her own?

Wendell Young seems like a very nice person, but he has not shown he has the passion needed to be a vibrant councilman. His campaigns have not been very strong, a sign he's not had the full commitment to get elected. The job is now his, so he has the power to show he was the right choice. I hope he is successful.

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.

Changes in Enquirer Coverage

It looks like the Enquirer's Politics Extra Blog will have a new voice: Sharon Coolidge, who will now be covering Hamilton County for the paper. For the past several years, Ms. Coolidge has covered the Hamilton County Courthouse. Jessica Brown, previously assigned to the Hamilton County beat, will now cover CPS issues.

No word yet on whether the Enquirer will shift someone to replace Ms. Coolidge, or whether the paper will now have just one HamCo Courthouse reporter (Kimball Perry). Dan Horn covers federal court issues, so perhaps he'll be split between the two now.

Either way, Ms. Coolidge's presence in the courthouse and her courthouse reporting will be missed.