- OTHER MEDIA
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- from TalkinBroadway.com
- NEWS ABOUT 14TH ANNUAL S.F. FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL
- Posted by: TB West Coast Rep 04:43 pm EDT 08/02/05
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Big Business and U.S. Economy Get Jaundiced Eye
at 14th Annual S.F. Fringe Theatre Festival
- Among topics at 12-Day Festival are Evil Conglomerates, Manipulated
Consumers, and the Return of a 1930s-like Depression
- San Francisco. August 2, 2005. The 2005 San Francisco Fringe Festival,
September 7 through 18, brings over 40 different shows to seven venues
in downtown San Francisco. The 14th annual event features up to 25 different
shows each day, scheduled at the EXIT Theatre & EXIT Stage Left (156
Eddy Street), EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street), and four other venues
near Union Square (see below).
- Among the 40+ shows in this year’s festival are comedy improv
troupes, Chinese clowns, drag queens, ethnic stand-ups, werewolf stories,
homeless rock star stories, and artificial insemination stories, to name
a few. Known for theatre that pulls no punches, this year’s Fringe
Festival also includes at least five shows that cast a jaundiced eye on
Big Business, the U.S. economy, and the world of work.
- Show Me Where it Hurts, written and performed by Fringe favorites and
San Franciscans Karen Ripley and Annie Larson, accompanied by the Gallimaufry
Orchestra, is a “whirlwind musical adventure teeming with irony and
political travesties through the 1930s Depression.” Ripley and Larson
ask the musical question about Hoovervilles and apples sold on street corners
– “Is all this about to happen again?” Karen Ripley has
been a Bay Area favorite for two decades. Annie Larson's 1999 Fringe show
received the "Most Sold Out Performances Award." Both have been
performing together to standing ovations from Chico to Michigan.
- Annie Larson and Karen Ripley
- in Show Me Where it Hurts
- From Los Angeles comes the improv-based troupe, The People Who Do That,
performing Corntato, the story of a genetically modified snack food foisted
on the American public by the international conglomerate, Scamron. What
happens when one of America's biggest corporations is desperate for a hit?
Enter a potent blend of snack food and genetic experiment known only as
"CornTato." This tasty combo of corn and potato (with natural
flavor!) quickly becomes America's Favorite Snack Food, but not without
perilous and ridiculous consequences. Can it be stopped?
- In Are Ya Working? Polish/Irish American Steven Karwoski distills twenty
years of schlepping in the trenches of the working world into one hilarious
performance of stories, poems, and rants. Inspired by his grandmother's
chronic question, "Are ya working?" Karwoski celebrates the rich
tapestry of his Catholic, working-class upbringing and reveals how it forged
his reality as The Uber Schlepper.
- Mediavoid, by the Pulse company, takes a darkly comic approach to issues
like sexual exploitation of women under the guise of "empowerment,”
glorification of war and power in the name of "freedom", and
psychological manipulation of consumers in order to sell products. Mediavoid
allows for audience participation. Pulse is part of the Shahrzad Dance
Company of Berkeley.
- Taking manipulation of the populace to its ultimate end is A Name You
Can Trust by Idle Hands Productions of San Francisco. The struggle for
the collection of human souls has grown increasingly unrewarding, encouraging
two spirits to break out on their own. Convincing humans to sell their
souls to unknown parties, however, is another issue entirely.
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- Some Fringe Background
- The original Fringe Festival began in Edinburgh, Scotland, more than
fifty years ago, and has since become an international phenomenon. Fringe
Festivals currently bring cutting-edge theatre to more than twenty cities
across the U.S. and Canada. San Francisco’s is the largest Fringe
Festival in the U.S. A number of international performers slated for the
2005 San Francisco festival have also appeared at other Fringes, including
Toronto, Edinburgh, and Prague.
- BYOV Performances
- While most performances in the San Francisco Fringe Festival run 60
minutes or less, the Festival makes room for longer shows. To accommodate
these “outside the fringe” performances, S.F. Fringe includes
Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV) sites not far from the standard EXIT Theatreplex
stages (EXIT, EXIT Stage Left, and EXIT on Taylor theatres). For 2005,
the BYOVs are Original Joe’s Restaurant, the Phoenix Theatre, the
Shelton Theater, and the Jon Sims Center
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