RAT Fringe Festivals - or the travelling summer circus...

[Thsimple@aol.com]

Hey Mara (and everybody else)

Well, here's a topic I can speak endlessly too. theater simple has been
successfully touring the Canadian fringes since 1991, have performed in
Orlando twice, Seattle 3 or four times, took the grand Prize at the '96
Adelaide Fringe (we didn't know they had one until the newspaper rep handed us
a check and a plaque), curated an extremely successful venue at the '98
Fringe, and will be touring Canada this summer. Again.

Definitions:
success - the show paying for itself, and for you to be on the road - staying
with billets, and tirelessly working to get those butts in the seats. Roving
exchanges of ideas with other performers, also from around the
world/country/block.

Canadian-style Fringe - as Tim(?) said, you pay an app fee, first-come, first-
served, roll with the punches in regards to what venue they put you in , and
the schedule you get(and most of the Canadian fringes do try their best to
spread them out fairly), then you get 100% of your box office, - GST, or box
office fees if any.
The festivals last between 9-11 days, except for 3 or 4 who only last five
days, like Calgary, Cowichan, and I think one in the Maritimes.


Edinburgh Fringe
non-juried, but you pay for EVERYTHING - self-producing at every step of the
way. You pay for the venue, by the quarter-hour, generally, the tech, the box
office, and there are SOOOOOO many shows - I understand the average house last
year(from someone who was there) was 7. The granddaddy of them all. I
understand there are a few other British fringes popping up, to take advantage
of performers pre-and post- Edinburgh. After all your fees, then you get your
box office.

Adelaide Fringe
Set up similarly to the Edinburgh, in that you pay for everything. Lat year we
curated and set up a venue, and folks paid us to outfit the vvenue, and make
the programme and posters, etc. It worked well, the consortium attack, but we
undervalued our time and costs, so while it was more affordable for all the
other  North American, it was hell on our company, and I would restructure it
slightly differntly next time. BUT, of the 8 shows in our venue, all 8 were
highly reccommended, and the venue swept the weekly Best Play Awards.
Again, 100% of the box office, but it is almost prohibitively expensive to go.

I love the Fringe. I have been involved with both hits and misses, and have
nothing but the utmost respect the Darwinian crucible that emerges in the
midst of all the art available. The shows and groups that I have seen do the
best are those that keep examining the piece, themselves, never content with
the reviews or the crowds - this energy of the constant search is what keeps
me here. Communities that are sometimes physically as well as culturally cut
off for 6-8 months show up eager to be challenged and entertained. But it is a
LOT of work.
And when you are involved in a hit, it's delirious - people stand in line for
hours to buy your tickets and see your show - near misses are heartbreaking -
some people see it, hate it leave, others will stand up at the end, applauding
madly, tears streaming down their face. You can't predict it. and since it is
such a compressed atmosphere, time is of the essence. For the performer and
the audience, it seems to me.

I love Winnipeg and Edmonton for the high caliber performances I've always
gotten to see there. I love Saskatoon, because the best thing about the city
are the river flats just outside town, where all the aritists hang out and
swim and get to know each other outside of load-in/load-out, flyering lineups
or the beer tents. Vancouver is a challenge[since there is always something
going on], but I love it because that was the first fringe we ever did, and
since we've been performing there for 9 years, it feels like home. 

Fringe audiences are smart, and will stop you on the street to talk about
motive, design, philosophy, argue reviews, stop total strangers in the street
to insist they go see a certain performance. 

BUT, you gotta have your chops up, the piece polished and your armor on. It is
a daily battle to flyer/poster/perform.  But its my grug of choice. Totally
intoxicated with it. I'm such an idiot.

The fringe also insists you be a good business person. Press kits, letters,
faxes, followups. Know where the money is going, and don't forget there is a
killer 30% difference between what you earn, and what you get to take back to
the states.

I've loved the connections I've made - I have friends and contacts in
Australia, Scotland, London, Paris, Montreal, SF, Tennessee and Florida. We
just got an inquiry last week from someone with a touring venue who wanted to
know our touring availability in 2000. We had been recommended by someone who
had first seen our work in Edmonton, and someone who had first met us in
Victoria, then later worked for us in Oz.  And many of these same connections
know, that should they come to Seattle, I would try to move the moon and the
stars to get them an audience. I tend to think of the fringe circuit as the
Mongol Horde of RATS, changing things gramatically(no pun intended) and moving
on.

Our style -
Set up/load in of show shouldn't take more than 20 minutes, strike less than
10.  We try to use light, but also have been burned by having a venue that had
the sound and the light booth 20 feet apart, and they only had 1 tech. (We
ususally dont travel with a stage manager.)
Here's some of what we've done on the fringe(including cast size)
Alan Bowne's BEIRUT - 3 in cast, + 4 atmosphere
original adaptation of Dostoevsky's NOTE FROM UNDERGROUND
 1 in cast, + 1 sm
HOW I GOT THAT STORY  2 in cast, 1 SM
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night Dream and Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE
   collaborated with One World Theatre(Seattle) shared cast of 7 for both
shows
Wally Shawn's THE FEVER  1 performer  
Kate Schlemmer's JUSTICE  3 performers
original adaptation of Bulgakov's THE MASTER & MARGARITA- 5 performers
Dawson Nichols ESCHER'S HANDS 4 performers

and now we're looking to collaborate with a group out of Santa Cruz on
Melville's Moby Dick and Dicken's Hard Times...


Ok - enough for now - ask more questions - I might have answers to match.

Llysa
theater simpleton

PS SPEAKING of touring - we'll be in Charleston for Piccolo Spoleto in June.
Anyone in the neighborhood?