by Jason Walsh
Hundreds of performing artists will be taking over downtown this summer, showcasing the local creative talents of the region. The 2008 Capital Fringe Festival, now in its third year, will see some 700 presentations at more than twenty venues within the city, featuring everything from comedies, dramas, musicals, dance, and more.
"Fringe" takes its roots from Scotland, where in 1947, local performers and artists were excluded from participating in the Edinburgh International Festival, and decided to take it upon themselves to put their work out there for the masses in the outskirts of the prestigious event in makeshift theaters. Thus, in these outlying areas, or "fringes," the concept of an independently-produced community festival was born.
"A journalist wrote in a newspaper that the International Festival was getting 'fringed' by the local people," said Capital Fringe Festival Executive Director Julianne Brienza. "That sort of spirit of local pride in your community kind of spread all over the world."
The Fringe Festival concept made its way to Canada in the 1980s, and the first in the U.S. was in Orlando in 1992. Now, there are 24 Fringe Festivals across the nation and the DC event is the fourth largest in the country. Brienza said the festival is a means for anyone, regardless of status or stature, to share self-expression.
"It's about giving a voice to the common man, y'know, the everyman."
Brienza worked on the Philly Fringe Festival for several years before relocating to the DC area and was amazed to learn there wasn't an event in such a vibrant arts community.
"We didn't really know that there wasn't a fringe festival here," she said. "When we discovered that, it sort of seemed kind of lame. DC is a great city. There's a lot of great stuff here. Fringe is a great economic driver and it also really gives you solid events that is the voice of the people. The artists that live here let that voice sort of speak out in a loud way."
Last year, the event earned $240,000 in ticket revenues, and as a self-producing festival, they gave 70% of the earnings to the groups that performed. Brienza's experience in previous festivals taught her that such events were not only a means of showcasing talent, but a way of rejuvenating the artistic scene.
"Working the Philly Fringe, I learned how the 'fringe' helped the theater community there, helped develop its voice, and helped create new spaces that were then used during the year as performance venues."
For those who may be skeptical of theater, because of high-ticket prices or lengthy performances, the Capital Fringe Festival is an ideal way to be introduced to the art form.
"It's really great entertainment and it's low risk," Brienza said. "Tickets are $15, so it's really a low risk thing for you to do. Shows maximum lengths are like 60 to 70 minutes, so you don't have to commit so much time. These are really done by people, not big companies pumping out stuff."
Steven Mazzola and Annie Houston are just two of the festival's many participants. Mazzola is the director of "Thicker Than Water," a work written by Houston, who also acts in the play. The story is about a woman, who is about to hospitalize her sister in a home for the mentally ill, and is set in the sister's apartment on her way out. This is the first year that either has participated in the festival.
"We saw the first year of the Fringe and we were taken with the variety of the different pieces that were participating," Mazzola said. "This has been a project that Annie had been wanting to work on for some time. This seemed like a great venue to have the play seen in front of an audience, in a very limited way, and participate in all the diverse activities that are going on in the Fringe."
Mazzola feels the festival gives a sense of the ever-changing world of performance art.
"This is two weeks of showing where the arts are going," he said. "It's sort of a forecast of what people are thinking about, how they're working, and what ideas are in the vocabulary of artists and the community in DC."
Sue Jin Song is an actress who grew up in the DC area and recently moved back to be closer to family. She has worked in theater, film, and television in both New York and California and is also a first-time participant in the Capital Fringe Festival. She will be premiering "Children of Medea," a one-woman show she wrote, based on the Greek tragedy by Athenian dramatist Euripides. She is not only excited about being involved in the event but all that is happening in the District as well.
"What I like about DC is it's a great community with a lot of theater going on," she said. "I'm really excited to get to know the local theater scene here. I've been seeing a ton of plays and I've been impressed by the talent. The community here is really, really nice. It's gracious and generous and I'm really excited to be out here."
Song feels the event is a great way to show what's going on in the city.
"I think the idea of a Fringe Festival is fabulous," she said. "Having 120 shows come up is incredibly exciting as well as just seeing all that creativity and energy just sort of exploding in the city."
The 2008 Fringe Festival will be thriving all over the District between July 10-27, and "Ft. Fringe," the festival's headquarters, is at 607 New York Ave. NW. More information, details on festival passes, and schedules can be found there, or by logging on to their website at capfringe.org. Brienza calls the 18-day an unjuried, performance arts festival that can make a difference in the community.
"We're trying to make a festival that people can come and really know that DC is a great place to live and it's a great place to create new, exciting performing arts," Brienza said.
"There's just an energy in the air that's contagious and you want to be a part of it, and it's so accessible that just because you're there, you are a part of it."
