PHILLY FRINGE ARTIST PRESS RELEASES also available online www

2004 PHILLY FRINGE ARTIST PRESS RELEASES also available online www.pafringe.org/2004/press or call Megan Wendell Dance The Bald Mermaids & Mark O'Maley Multi-family Garage Sale You've seen their work separately...now experience it together in one fascinating collaboration. Choreographer/dancer Rebecca Sloan of The Bald Mermaids and designer Mark O'Maley create visually motivated movement – to explore performer-manipulated light and shadow, and the blurred lines of designer, performer, and choreographer. Burnidge Clark Dance Project - Columbus, OH body-subject body-object Elisha Clark and Anne Burnidge manipulate the gaze by playing with who is watching whom – audience or performer. The dancers seek to engage the audience as participants, not passive bystanders, while confronting their own issues about being gazed upon and the implications of placing themselves in an “object” position. Milsy Davis, Ashley Suttlar, Victoria Leigh Rothstein Triumvirate Experience exciting new choreography by three unique artists: a premiere by Milsy M. Davis, hailed as "artistically mature and flawless" by the Las Vegas Sun., and new works by Victoria L. Rothstein, co-founder of MobuisBLUE dance collective, and Ashley L. Suttlar, praised for her "bold, vivid and seamless" choreography by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Green Chair Dance Group Escape! Imprisoned by Swarthmore College's mantra of liberal eclecticism, four emergents explore the meaning of freedom in a euphoric rejection of their schooled selves. Through high-velocity lifting, lunging, and leaping, these Swatties dance to get away from it all – if only to discover that one's strongest shackles are held by oneself. Curt Haworth - New York, NY Amnesia Take a visceral ride into a world where the dancers throw themselves with controlled abandon and magic lies in the sinews. Curt Haworth, a long-time member of David Dorfman Dance and a UARTS Faculty member, presents two distinct Philadelphia premieres, with music by Jonathan Segel, a member of Camper Van Beethoven. Jannetti & Dancers - New York, NY Mother May I Mostly Solos and Duets New York-based choreographer, Andrew Jannetti (originally form South Philly), and his partner, Lauren Naslund, present an evening of critically acclaimed dance solos and duets guaranteed to be “sculptures of emotional experience.” “Neo-romantic,” “dramatically persuasive,” and “inspirational,” says The New York Times. Come prepared to be moved. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 2- Dance (continued) Koresh Dance Collective Fables, Morals and #@%! like that Spawns of Koresh Dance Company present an evening of new works that will take a contemporary look at the fables we grew up with and the lessons they taught us…or not. Works by Sarah Perrier, Melissa Rector, Sammy Reyes, Dougie Styles, Travis Mesman, Cheryl Carson, and guest artist Erin Fletcher Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Co. Three Ladies in Waiting Known for “visually arresting” creations (Philadelphia Inquirer), this favorite Festival company returns with its newest tongue-in-cheek dance theater work. Three women dressed in white wigs prance, dance, and wait, sharing whims and fantasies as they ponder meaning, beauty, and identity in a Beckett-like landscape. This site-specific performance is meant for all ages. Music & Motion Dance Productions Illuminescence Light is the foundational element from which sculpture and movement arise and coalesce. A collaboration with sculptor Robert Woodward, a.k.a., Peanutbutter, this original dance performance is a fusion of colors, emerging to create an array of visual illusions. Separate vignettes by photo-humorist Flash Rosenberg in collaboration with music-extruder/brother Ken Rosenberg complete the program. P3: People Percussion Project The body is an instrument, when this energetic ensemble creates orchestrations with hands, feet, and voices. P3’s eclectic repertoire includes pure percussive dance, the rhythms of the heart, and humorous theatrical explorations of the sounds of everyday life. Innovative and fun, P3 inspires sold-out audiences to stamp and clap along! Phillyspace Dance Company 4x4: New Dances in a Synchronous Place-Time Melding individual creative processes and movement traditions, these contemporary dance works draw on inspiration from Beethoven's last piano sonata to the movement language latent in memory and dream. Look for some daily dancing in the streets leading up to the main performance! The Planet Project - Lititz, PA We're Soaking In It This first concert-length program for the Planet Project consists of three modern dance pieces conceived by Adele Ulrich. The program includes “Transcending Madge,” “One In Eight,” and “Swimming a Tsunami.” 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 3- Dance (continued) Scrap Performance Group 3 on Top Three acclaimed choreographers share their stories. Sylvania Cardell presents two tales from her Argentinian homeland: Evita & Peron Dancing At Ezzizo Public Swimming Pools and Borges, The Garden Of The Forking Paths. Katherine Livingston performs an electro-sensual-shock solo in Open Circuit. Myra Bazell’s cast of powerful women create the kinetically charged field between the inquisitive and rooted self in Bloodline. SEROS - New York, NY SexistenceS Melding circus strength, super-human power, and classical ballet, SEROS creates intense, joyous works that eclipse the boundaries of sensuality. Dancers offend gravity, wrestle space, and fool time through obsessive technique, harmonic partnering, and rippling physicality. Master storytellers, SEROS revisits the tales of childhood through the passions, pains, and pleasures of adulthood. Trapezius Aerial Dance No Standing Room Philly's only flying dance company presents another airbourne evening of tricks and treats in their home/studio. Come see both new and favorite dances on trapeze, rope, fabric, bungee that soar through the air between the kitchen and the bedroom. Get tickets early! We’ll buzz you in… Yu Wei Burst of Pure Dream A celebrated dancer in China, Yu Wei integrates traditional, folk, ballet, and modern dance with short films and live Chinese music. Her dances include “Lotus, Mountain, Water, Bird, Smoke, Tears and Happiness.” Yu Wei was honored by the Longwood Gardens as "An audience favorite." Visit: www.yuweidance.org Happening or Busker The Day Circle Project Duality Dollshop The Day Circle Project presents it third audience participation painting and music happening — this time at the Duality Dollhouse. Artist Joan Menapace presents rag dolls with two faces — made from her trademark Tyvek coveralls — to be decorated by passersby. Musician / composer Robert Berry creates original music in response to each doll's dual persona. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 4- Happening or Busker (continued) Delaware Valley Pagan Network Pagan Pride Day: Ritual Performances The old gods live! Their worshipers are everywhere among us. On Pagan Pride Day they come out and share their magick with the public for education, activism, charity, and community. Please join us for ritual performance, symbolic toasting, music, food, and fellowship. Food donations support Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives. HingeOnline Artist Trading Cards Create your own trading cards and trade them for the cards on display. A world-wide phenom, ATC started in Zurich, was picked up in Canada, and now comes to Philadelphia. Everyone is an artist deep inside, and this is a great way to collect art — without the fee. Details: www.HingeOnline.com. The Hydrogen Jukebox ART CARNIVOLUTION What is an Art Carnivolution? According to ringmaster/leader T.H. Boxx, it’s a celebration of all the performance traditions. A simultaneous, multidisciplinary, shockingly gaudy, all collaborative, jamtastic assault on the senses, guaranteed to open your six eyes wide. InterAct Theatre Company/1812 Productions No Pity in Old City Heads, eyes, and kickballs will roll at Palumbo Field as the InterAct Theatre Company Kickball Team takes to the field to defend their undisputed title as Philadelphia's champion of the red rubber ball. You've never seen grownups look this weird! Interdisciplinary Apparatus Collective Apparatus Collective premieres seven duo aerial dance and circus apparatus works choreographed by Janette Hough-Fertig and Valentine Aprile. See great new dance trapeze tricks, plus Grannie's Wig Blowin' in the Wind, Blue Light Special Lady, and Dare You Not to Barf. Also, join Janette and Valentine for an afternoon of dance trapeze workshops. Boom60 - Newark, DE A Diva and her Dad! A spellbinding mystery? Nah! A gripping drama? Uh, no! A scintillating dance performance? Afraid not! A sidesplitting, knee-slapping funfest? Okay, maybe. No, make that, yes! That’s it! Funny. Very funny. Indeed. All proceeds donated to the Cab Calloway School for the Performing Arts! 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 5- Interdisciplinary (continued) City of Horns vs. Mouth of Flowers The Shed Rick Henderson and D.S. Nicholas (the creators of last year’s Festival hit Book of Privileges) team up for another site-specific installation. This time, they cram high-intensity ambient soundscapes and dazzling visuals into the 80square-foot confines of an outdoor garden tool shed. Detailed info: www.schwa-disk.com. Direct from NYC Performance Series Mike Albo A sold-out sensation at the Festival in years past, Albo returns with his signature blend of rapid-fire monologues and ironic dance breaks. A humorist and social satirist, Albo's perspectives on contemporary culture are incisive, biting, and hysterically funny. He has performed three solo shows to critical acclaim across the United States and Europe. Direct from NYC Performance Series Kate Rigg - "Slanty Eyed Mama" A trip-hop exploration of contemporary Asian-American identity, with fierce rapping by Rigg and musical enigmas by supersonic violinic diva Lyris Hung. The project was conceived so that the funky urban asian woman could represent in the language of hip-hop and contemporary rap. The Julliard -trained duo is featured in the PBS documentary Race is the Place. Direct from NYC Performance Series Vanessa Hidary - "Culture Bandit" Through monologues, poetry and hip-hop, follow the Hebrew Mamita, a native New Yorker, and her unique, hilarious and sometimes explosive relationships with the diverse cultures that make up New York City. Hidary has been featured on two seasons of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.” Samantha Barrow opens the program. Film at International House The Text of Light Group See two extraordinary nights of film and live music. In the first program, Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, and William Hooker present a live improvised soundtrack to Stan Brakhage’s Ellipses (1998) and Star Garden (1974) and a curated program of short experimental films by Ira Cohen, Bruce Connors, Phil Niblock, and Malcolm Le Grice with soundtracks by The Sun Ra Arkestra, Brian Eno, Terry Riley, and Angus Maclise. In the second evening, guitarist Loren Connors will play his new score for a screening of Carl Dreyer’s silent masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 6- Interdisciplinary (continued) Foil Dance Altered Perceptions Look beyond the box and question your own perspectives. Join Foil Dance for a night of video montage, interpretive dance, and mixed media as we explore American culture in contrast with a global community in turmoil. Come for the excitement, humor, anger, and wonder. Leave with a more open mind and plenty of food for thought. Fringe Comics of the Laff House Standup on the Fringe HBO Comedy Hour, Comedy Central featured acts, BET's Comic View: the fringes of standup comedy have spawned these acts. You've seen us at open mic nights and water coolers, now come to the Laff House, Philadelphia's premiere Comedy Club, for some real fun and a few drinks! Andrea Gordon - Brooklyn, NY Hairbody Painted white and printed with hair, the artist/performer’s body moves inside a psychologically charged space. Inspired by butoh, black and white photography, and surrealism, Hairbody resides in the boundary between visual art and dance, abstraction and figuration, and internal and external experiences of what it means to inhabit a body. Greenline Project Anna Bella Eema I want to tell you the story of my girl, and the time she made her own girl out of the plain mud right here in this trailer park. The Headline Theater The Revolution Will Not Be Plagerized A musical dramady about the meeting of historically significant African American revolutionaries in heaven and their comments on the state of Blacks in America today. This spectacular evening of drama, comedy, dance, and live music will make you think, laugh, and cry out loud. JAM Productions Heretic Love Three ne’er-do-wells are charged with a divine task. If they can unscramble the drunken ramblings of the Archangel Bubba, they might throw caution to the wind along with their Redbulls and vodka and accept their true calling. Heaven help them. Heaven help us all. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 7- Interdisciplinary (continued) Asher Kahn Band - Lambertville, NJ EyesListening What would happen if you created offspring from the DNA of Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, U2, and Ben Harper – and they decided to put on a multi-media rock show in a black box theater on Walnut Street? Let your “eyes listen” for the answer. Televisions, computer screens, and pure, unadulterated Asher Kahn Band. More info: www.asherkahnband.com. Mary Pat Kane - Brooklyn, NY The Night I Spoke to Judy Garland --- well, sort of; and Winter Depression Mary Pat Kane's first performance in the Philadelphia area in 10 years takes us on a rollicking journey. Don't worry, "Winter Depression" is far from sad. Kane's ebullient stories speak to those of us who constantly strive to make life work and to the pitfalls and foibles of that process. Craig Liggeons Craig's Variety Hour Craig Liggeons, formerly of Polywumpus Improv Comedy, brings back the variety show! The hour includes comedic monologues, sketches, music, celebrity interviews, and even commercials made up on the spot! It's like The Carol Burnett Show – if Carol were a skinny black man with a smaller chest. Shawn McConneloug Stand on Your Man The Painted Bride saddles-up to revolutionize vaudeville with Minneapolis choreographer Shawn McConneloug’s campy jamboree of country dancing, singing, roping, yodeling, and vintage film clips. Picture the Wild West as an alternate universe where "cowboygirls" with attitude lasso to the ground conventions about strong silent men, loyal yielding women, and bucking broncos. Plasma Dance Theater - Voorhees, NJ Follow My Lead Old world dance and percussion meet contemporary improvisation. Start with rock, funk, soul, gospel, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin music; add modern, hip-hop, ballet, and Afro-Cuban dance. Each piece grows before your eyes, as Plasma mixes and matches disciplines through improvisation, instrument switching, and style swapping. Never, ever the same show twice. Royal Jelly Collective - North Chelmsford, MA ElectroVideoMove ElectroVideoMove presents a program of improvised electronic music, video, and dance interpreting Club Culture. Sets feature a different musician and video artists with the dancers. The setlist is randomized for each performance. EVM is produced by 911 Gallery, Royal Jelly Collective, and Voidstar Productions. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 8- Interdisciplinary (continued) Sidetracked Waylaid by Pirates! Good and evil living together! Villains going on strike! Audience participation! Experience this and much more in Waylaid by Pirates! Given a thumbs-up by Captain Blackbeard, the show combines video, sketch comedy and improvisation to bring you an eclectic evening of good, evil and, of course, pirates. Solaris Dance Theatre The Way of the Warrior Theater and martial arts meet in a dynamic search for a new stage combat vocabulary. The experimental text, by renowned choreographer / sensei Henry Smith (Lakota Dance Theatre) and playwright Ed Shockley (Bobos), uses Samurai and Lakota aphorisms to examine the spirit that transforms movement into gesture. Tribe of Fools Echo In the classic Greek myth, Echo, the most beautiful of all nymphs, interferes in the workings of the gods to save Narcissus, the most radiant of all mortals. Echo's act unleashes a tragic and unforeseen chain of events, leading them both to their ultimate fates. University of the Poor - School of Arts & Culture Untold Stories: Fighting Poverty in a Land of Plenty Local artists use performance, poetry, video, and visual arts to tell untold stories – not only of the conditions of poverty that exist in this country, but also the movement led by poor people to end these conditions. More information at: www.kwru.org. Music 2BIZARRE - Limerick, PA Carried Away with the Wicked It’s a Sci-Fi Party Rock with a Touch of Goth, as 2Bizarre performs songs with a light and video show. Witness the premiere of our mini Rock Opera Wicked and discover why our songwriting and innovation always leaves the audience wanting more. TheBobDixShow An Ego Trip and Fall It's Elvis Costello meets Monty Python in this musical maniacal maelstrom about “Selling Out, Loading Down, and Cashing In.” Plenty of sarcastic and politically incorrect songs about food and ex-lovers – mixed with odes to franchising and websites – prove that, sometimes, you sing better with tongue in cheek. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 9- Music (continued) Rebecca Broberg Father, Have You Cursed Me? Siegfried Wagner was Richard Wagner’s only son and Franz Liszt’s grandson. Rebecca Broberg portrays Siegfried as mirrored in the figures of his mother Cosima, his older sisters, his wife, and the nurse at his deathbed. Excerpts from his works will be heard for the first time in the United States. More information: www.siegfried-wagner.org. Callaghan Dance The Torch and Flame This cabaret act includes fanciful schtick and hot and steamy singing, combined with flamboyantly chichi footwork to depict the greatest love affair of our time, as demonstrated by a woman – the torch – and her husband – the flame. Their garish love pageant is politically incorrect and guaranteed to offend the senses. Footfalls Separation Songs & Etc. The words of three of Paula Diehl’s Separation Songs convey set ideas that her musical settings support or oppose. In the fourth song, Pencil, new forces are at work: the words support or oppose each other, while the music creates its own path – and countertenor Augustine Mercante interprets these shifting moods with ease. Grupo Amigos New Music for Good People Carl Barone’s New Music for Good People is a hot-handed expression of the combinations made possible through experimentations in world music. With influences from Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and North America, this show of deep rhythms and sailing melodies will delight your mind and move your body. Just Plain Folks and Xtreme Folk Scene Philly Song Shuffle Thinking CD shuffle? Three hours of fast, dirty fun involving four-minute sets, four-second set changes, 50 artists on one stage, and a Philly -sized dose of complete mayhem. Philadelphia City Paper described the 2003 debut as “an excellent idea that should become a regular event.” We won't argue. James Klueh Band Chase Music Chase Love The James Klueh Band gives you full throttle rock’n roll, with songs of sex, seduction, fire, and fantasy. Then, when passions cool, this singer-songwriter ponders rejection and loneliness. The 12-song rock ride goes to extremes, adding poetry, humor, and reflection to tell that universal tale of broken and reemerging relationships. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 10 - Music (continued) Latin Fiesta, Inc. Latin Fiesta in Concert Virtuoso instrumentalists, vocalists, and a Spanish/Latin dancer combine for a journey from Spanish classical music to the scintillating rhythms of merengue, samba, salsa, flamenco, and more. The program premieres Richard Belcastro's humorous arrangement of El Manicero, Rebeca Maureon's nostalgic El Guitarista, and works by Philly composer Kile Smith. neithermusic - New York, NY Mostly Scelsi Giacinto Scelsi was a unique and eccentric composer and writer in the 20th century. The program consists of pieces by Scelsi alongside world premieres inspired by his poetry. Neithermusic is a New York-based sextet dedicated to the creation and performance of contemporary music. Super Ed Super Ed's SurReal GongMusic Super Ed plays a 12-string , acoustic guitar (Zen style) , while singing, speaking words, and moving around in a 10foot by 10-foot area. Super Ed wears self-made surreal-looking costumes. Super Ed is original, imaginative, funny, thought-provoking!!?? Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaa R-R-R-R-R-R-R-RR-RRR …. Out into the realm of creativity. Super Ed is real. Voices of Africa Choral Ensemble Live @ The Fringe This joyful ensemble engage their audiences with incredible energy, blending beautiful acappella harmonies with resounding African poly-rhythms – and playing traditional West African instruments such as sekere, agogo (bell), sakara, and samba dru ms. Their material spans the Diaspora, from both African and African-American sources. Puppetry Yellow #5 Wally Joyner Was Not My Monkey Through the magic of low-budget puppetry, watch Courtney Love fall in and out of love with former California Angels first baseman Wally Joyner in this colorful and fictional Punch & Judy-esque puppet show. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 11 - Spoken Word The Absinthe Drinkers The Red Handed Muse Throughout history, poets’ responses to war have ranged from glorious battle songs to horrific accounts of carnage. In this performance, original music, visuals, and movement dramatize ancient and modern works of war poetry – from Homer to Jarrell – and present a complex range of responses to war as opposed to simplistic bumper sticker sloganeering or political sound-bites. Everyday Places - Ann Arbor, MI Presto's Travelling Lecture Series Public lectures (accurate and otherwise) and monologues (agile and amusing) – all illuminated by lantern slides – encourage you to query the prestidigitator: the one, the only, Presto. Topics rotate nightly and include offerings from “Magnetism” to “Renting a Dog.” Kafka Restoration Society Tippacanoe & Tyler Too In this special Election Year spoken word event, poets, writers, comics, singers, and other pundits are invited to spout their views on politics or any other subject, with a special election held to elect Grand Poobah of the KRS. All attendees get to vote and express their beliefs. Philadelphia Stories Found Philadelphia Philadelphia Stories, a new literary magazine, hosts this "exhibit.” It begins with a brief description about a Philadelphia experience that will be displayed publicly. Throughout the day, exhibit visitors can add their experiences to this original sentence. An actor will perform the resulting story at the end of the day. Sound of Emotion in a Broken Mirror Incensed! An irreverent poetic poke at religious faith presented by three lapsed Catholics. Voices from each corner of the church and all parts of the congregation. Laugh. Cry. Sit. Stand. Kneel. Tacky You Are Not Prepared . . . Because You Do Not Care The least important spoken word artist in Philadelphia, and one-third of Sound of Emotion in a Broken Mirror, presents a short set of his solo work. Spend 40 minutes alone with Tacky as he delivers his high-energy spoken word, complete with absurd behavior and some harmless projectiles. See it, dammit! 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 12 - Theatre Action Arts Theater Company Astrology of Booze Ever wonder what some people are thinking? Wonder no more. Astrology takes a look at the inner workings of the bar patron. Discover why that big, burly man drinks pink squirrels, and why a good glass of whiskey has such a poignant allure. Come and raise a pint with us. Araby Productions Evening Sighs A calm celebration between friends becomes an explosive examination of the impact of relationships, as eight characters struggle to understand their simultaneous desires for freedom and companionship. Evening Sighs is a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic alternative paean to love. ArcheDream The Shamyn's Breath This new work by the neo-tribal style dance theatre explores ancient rituals using various movement forms, pantomime, and hand-painted black light masks and costumes with original music. The Shamyn’s Breath reflects the rites of passage women must endure, and the journey that re-connects them to the healer within. Bacchus Entertainment - Audubon, PA The Ladies Room A short play about a surreptitious romance, presented in a bathroom. Produced by Bacchus Entertainment, this work attempts to challenge traditionally accepted venues by immersing audiences in an actual setting. Bad Hair BAD HAIR'S Fringetastic Sketchtacular Ever wonder what’s under the caps of those ComedySportz players? For some of them, it’s Bad Hair, a stream-ofconsciousness series of sketches with varying lengths and props. Some live, some videotaped, all in English. Legal restrictions prohibit us from revealing more information, but we can promise no one will get hurt this time! Big Game Theater - Pottstown, PA Descartes' Blues A drama of desire, heightened by music and movement, explodes against the backdrop of The Thirty Years War. Descartes’ obsession started with a revelation and a famous saying, "I think, therefore, I am!" Now, Renés in love with three women, at war with his heart, and on trial for heresy. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 13 - Theatre (continued) Bipolar Theatre Company & Blame Jamie Productions SKITSoid There's a new disorder in town and its diagnosis is contagious. Whether it's your raging need to force-feed pudding or your awkward Eskimo fetish, SKITSoid: Sketch Gone Mental is there for all your dysfunctional short-short theater needs. SKITSoid is not responsible for oily discharge or other laughter-related issues. Jennifer Blaine White Flight: A Love Letter to My Neighborhood Set in the early 1970s, White Flight is about that time when cities became donuts – white suburbs with miniority centers. Through multiple characters, Jennifer explores what it was like to grow up in that center and thrive. Vis it a time and place where people of all classes, countries, races, and ethnicities basically got along. BlueSelkie presents a Funkopolis production - Allentown, PA Pressing the Flesh In the spirit of Anna Deveare-Smith and Tectonic Theatre Project, Funkopolis aims its unique style of physical theatre at the political arena – and no one is safe! What makes a “career politician” and why do we love to hate them? “It doesn't represent American values.” – Donald Rumsfeld. We'll see.... Brahmin Industries Gianni Schicci Meet an unscrupulous con-man and the malicious family he swindles in a new version of Puccini’s comedic masterpiece. Featuring a cast of talented rising stars, theunforgettable score, and a biting new English libretto saturated with greed, botox, and rigor mortis, this is a production of music and mischief for purists and punks alike. Bravo! & Co. The Dock Brief Award-winning performances mark this excellent English comedy! Find non-stop laughter in this riotous one-act by John Mortimer of Rumpole fame!! Discover how a meek little bird-fancier can murder his wife and be unsuccessfully defended by a bumbling Barrister – yet still end up on High Street!!! Tina Brock Tales of a White Hoe: A Secret Garden Unearthed A cornucopia of characters sprout forth from the ill-tended Community Garden of writer/performer Tina Brock's mind, sharing the confusion and absurdity of the American experience: infertility clinics, homeland security, Asperger's Syndrome, panic attacks at the altar, and the dismal state of art education in the elementary schools. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 14 - Theatre (continued) The Cabal If You're Reading ThisThen It Works! A hilarious, unpredictable tour through a weird world and its absurd inhabitants. The Cabal takes a single suggestion for each show and improvises an hour-long piece of twisted fun. Whether portraying savage children who devour their kittens or rapping Nebraska legislators, the result is tight, fast-moving, ensemble comedy. Cardboard Box Collaborative Profiling Lured to the computer screen by the promise of “connection,” how much will one woman sacrifice to find consolation in the face of loss? Excerpts from actual online profiles and chat text trace Helena’s descent into the “virtual world,” as she grasps for what she cannot find in her own reality. The Comedy Revue The Comedy Revue The Comedy Revue is “a delicious blend of different types of humor mixing equal parts sketches, one-liners, satire, and a little music to add some spice. It’s a lot of fun and a lot of laughs, where no one and nothing is sacred!” Louisville Times Coquelicot Sans Title Parsley's Aram Aghazarian debuts his private label performance company with an original theatrical production. This daring new show seeks an elitist audience of non-clappers to take part in a conspiracy of silence – at full volume! All else is folly. Deep Sea Theatre Cold Feet What makes a modern woman marry? Based on hoards of interviews with actual women, this performance piece is a collage of bride-to-be characters struggling with the mutating face of matrimony, the death of singledom, renegade bridesmaids, the deconstruction/re-construction of their relationships, and the great garter belt debate. Delaware Valley Pagan Network Presents B. Someday Productions The Midlife Crisis of Dionysus After thousands of years of wine, orgies, and great parties, Dionysus is faced with what every mortal man must face: the mid-life crisis. What do you say to a god who has just turned 50? Discover Garrison Keillor’s answer in this oneact comedy. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 15 - Theatre (continued) Demo Theater Jimmy the D In this dark and fast-moving comedy, there's a wedding, flirting, accounting, innuendo, and food. It’s a frantic and farcical look at our obsession with consuming and being consumed. Doomefishe Theatre Companie Rosa and Nini (a torture play) Twin sisters drift inside of their tapestried dream world, their hands absent-mindedly gripping a newly sharpened knife. Dinner guests are on the way! Mother and Father are nowhere to be found... one unlucky guest will stay a little too long and discover why the windows are curtained in black. Elaschtick Elaschtick ELASCHTICK stretches to any length to make up funny stuff for our beloved audience. You'll be dazzled by the array of short form improvisation games and original music. A spin of the Mighty Improv Wheel lets you determine the course of the show! The Fabulous Theater Company The Age of Consent, A garden Of Earthly Delights Theatrical workshop performances written by Rusty Dersch. A John Hughes -esque tale of gay youth. A series of epic one act comedies featuring a gay porn star teaching rich New York Jews to talk dirty, learning tolerance for republicans, and the difficulties in applying for a gay card. Fat Hat Productions Talk Show Satiric TV talk show co-hosts Andy and Candy talk to: a famous movie star, the author of the bestselling Power of the Penis, and an unusual mystic who channels the past and future. Cash prizes with audience trivia contests. Visit: www.talkshowtheplay.com. Fetch Theater Co. The Rest The Rest traces the liminal afterlife of Ophelia and Hamlet as reified through contemporary consciousness. A sensual journey through deconstructed text by Rilke, Beckett, Stein, and Muller. Directed by Michelle Shafer. Designed by Miriam Jones. Featuring Edward Snyder (“Philadelphia's most electrifyingly bizarre performer” -Philadelphia City Paper) and Barrymore-nominated Amanda Schoonover. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 16 - Theatre (continued) FETCH Theater Co. 'Til the Cows Come Home Til the Cows Come Home, created by Miriam Jones and Edward Snyder. This American Life meets Nouveau Vaudeville in Four Acts. Tonight's theme: Waiting. Act I: If every night were prom night... Act II: The Ineluctable Tap Number Act III: Perfection as Disintegration; a filmic koan about that hole in your pants Act IV: Fishing for meaning with SOAKING WET COWGIRLS!!! firstime productions Beloved Prophet Based on the actual correspondence between poet Kahlil Gibran and May Ziadah, Beloved Prophet traces their 20year relationship from intellectual admiration to declaration of love. The play explores their negotiation between Eastern and Western worlds and the impact they had on each other’s lives, though they never met in person. Giant Ape Theatre Co. RGDG? Two pairs of weary travelers meet on the road. They are oddly familiar to each other – and to us. Will they reach an understanding or remain lost? With respect to Messrs. Beckett and Stoppard, the author of last year’s The Shoes and Giant Ape Theatre present this long-fabled comedic meeting. Written by Jared Michael Delaney. Directed by Karen DiLossi. The Global Players love by David Gutnik Ezra Gray is a struggling photographer-poet with a portapotty in his apartment. Thirteen years ago his mother killed herself, and young Ezra sought temporary solace in the arms of a prostitute. Today, in this raucous, hallucinatory, poetry slam of a play, he finally confronts his ghosts face to face. Richard Grunn Father Joiner's Purgative Poetry Project In this one-man-show, Richard Grunn play Father Joiner, poet laureate of magnetic refrigerator poetry. And at a reading, he must engage and advise with a group of unlikely personalities – from outspoken deli owner, Leo Capelli, who has recently discovered the exciting world of similes – to a nervous accountant, Frank Adamouski, who is fearfully trying to profess his love to his secretary. Hedgerow Theatre with The University of The Arts - Media, PA The Lives of Bosie by John Wolfson Austin Pendleton and Tobias Segal spar over Oscar Wilde in Hedgerow's August world premiere, directed by William Roudebush and transferred to the Arts Bank in association with the UArts School of Theater Arts. The project is supported by the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by Drexel University. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 17 - Theatre (continued) Infinite Monkey & Lantern Theater Un-American Under the gaze of a chorus of television sets, Un-American presents the 1950s, as told through the McCarthy hearings and as seen on television. Culling material from actual HUAC hearing transcripts, Un-American takes a devastatingly comic look at a nation both optimistic and paranoid, watching itself on TV. Inis Nua Theatre Company A Play on Two Chairs by Michael West Two actors. Two chairs. Two sexes. Irish playwright Michael West explores the passive, aggressive, primal, and cerebral impulses of man and woman. A stylized blend of movement and lucid stage visuals, this provocative, funny, disturbing play from the Dublin theater scene stars Erin Reilly and Pat Doran. Tom Reing directs. Iron Age Theatre Marx in Soho (Philly) What if Marx came to visit Philadelphia as the Iraq War raged and gas prices skyrocketed? Iron Age channels Marx to the Fringe – with Howard Zinn’s help – to examine his powerful and challenging reflections on Modern America and misconceptions about the Manifesto. Come visit with the father of communism. Iron Age Theatre / The Centre Theatre The Interrogation of Nathan Hale Iron Age Theatre recreates their production of Nathan Hale’s interrogation by John Montresor. The men match wits about war, what it means to be a soldier, and why Hale would die for his country. Ray Saraceni plays Montresor: “…hungry, blindingly articulate and manipulatively honest, he gives a spectacular performance.” – Philadelphia City Paper Lars Jan - Marshfield, MA/ Philadelphia -based [PSYCHO][COSMO][NAUTICS] In this image-opera set in an aquarium shop, Japanese subway car, and very deep space, a canine cosmonaut coaxes an everyday commuter into a project of grand proportions: evolution itself. The work features a solo actor, original rock music, and a triptych of video monitors. Robert Kangas Courtship Proper etiquette makes strange bedfellows with raunchy personal ads. The result is sexy, smart, funny, site-specific theater. Attraction is a four-handed game of spontaneous human combustion. It’s a fig leaf, slip of the tongue, leather, lace, and lacerating bouquet. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 18 - Theatre (continued) Brett Keyser Horridus! Horridus! Name-Calling in the Wilderness Professor Adam Wallker Schell – part scientist, part snake-oil salesman – delivers a cure-all for what ails you. Accompanied by wheezing accordion, odd wit, and cabinets full of glowing 19th century specimens, this magnificent mock-lecture on the beguiling power of names in natural history promises food for the hungry mind. Melissa Kolczynski Round Midnight A sensational mystery like Bogart never knew. One actress, nine characters, song, dance, and a modern-day twist that will keep you laughing. This world premiere puts our hero Jack Midnight – a two-bit, shit-faced gumshoe – into a world of the queer, exotic and bizarre. John Lumia Anti-Matter Writer / Performer John Lumia and sound wizard Bill Reim ( Spin Cycle, Amputation Nation, Cryptome) team up with video artist Mike Brand for a hallucinogenic "channel surfing" expedition through the shadow side of network programming. Anti-Matter dismantles the military-industrial media machine with a cathartic sledgehammer. Seating is limited. www.cryptome43.com Luna Theater Company Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman What is justice? Fifteen years after a woman is raped and tortured in a military prison, she believes she has encountered her mysterious attacker. Or has she? Inspired by real events, Death and the Maiden is a rich hypnotic thriller. How do we forgive, and yet never forget? More information: www.LunaTheater.org Luna Theater Company Legend of Sleepy Hollow Neill Hartley is Ichabod Crane in a one-man adaptation of the classic ghost story. See Ichabod interact with students, dance with his girl, and battle his arch-enemy, Brom Bones. Follow him on his fateful journey home as he encounters the Headless Horseman and disappears from the Hollow forever! For all ages. More information: www.LunaTheater.org Lunatics, Lovers and Poets - West Point, PA City of Champions: A Philadelphia Football Fantasia Kensington: the real fringe. Escape Old City. Come to Eagles country, where we cheer on the Birds stripped naked, painted green, a beer in one hand, and a ho in the other. Philadelphia football fans reveal their hearts and other private parts. A truly offensive theatrical experience. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 19 - Theatre (continued) Lunch Money Mixed Veggies Grease your pans and get ready for Super Magic Nigga theater at Lunch Money prices. Mixed Vegetables is a Rawkus – and often psychedelic– trip through the minds of Michael Smith and Tshombe Jabari. Sketches, songs, and stories from the heterosexual darlings of the Philly cabaret scene. Lunchlady Doris Lunchlady Doris Oh, yeah, LunchLady Doris. I hear they're amazing. They do completely improvised shows that are really smart and funny and weird.....but in a good way. They've done the Fringe for, like, seven years now.” Reviewers call Doris: “Fascinating,” “Impressive,” and “Hilarious.” Fans just call them: “Wow. Let's get tix before they sell out! Madcap Theatre Madcap Pirates Join the fearless crew of the Saucey Vixen in a dynamic event where anything can happen. These blade-wielding vaudevillians combine precise swordplay and outrageous comedy in a madcap search for a bloodthirsty crew. Not for the faint of humor – pirate attire and preshow libations are suggested. Madhouse Theater Company Saturday Night Special The Madhouse Theater Company presents its late night variety show. Part theater, part night-club, part vaudeville, featuring work from writers around the country and live local music. It's what to do when other shows close! Teresa Mastrobuono - Lititz, PA Andata e Ritorno Inspired by commedia master Antonio Fava's course, this performer-created solo work plumbs the depths of reconciling with one's cultural ties. Two stories – Zanni's comic pursuit of Columbina, and the odyssey of a hyphenated American trying to merge worlds – are interwoven in monologue, music, mask, and lottsa lazzi. Masturborical Mask Puzzle The Delaware County-based Masturborical Mask Theatre Company presents Michael Thurstlic's new play. Three “friends” attempt to save their suicidal buddy, Tom, from the black hole that has become his life – but only in the way they best see fit. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 20 - Theatre (continued) Maria Möller How Do I Disappear? Described as "immersive…a reverie in gilded prose" by the Philadelphia City Paper, Maria Möller's monologues explore the intersection between the foreign and the familiar. In this new work, the stories of two women named Maria intertwine across continents to push the edge of the envelope of identity. Multi Cultural Youth Exchange Neighbors, YPHILLY mural Two Israeli neighbors from the Galilee – Arab musician Waseem Bishara and Jewish actor Pablo Ariel – hold a dialogue through music and “object theater” that explores human similarities without words. Co-presented by the Consulate General of Israel in Philadelphia, the American-Israeli Partnership for the Arts, and International House. More information: www.myxworld.org. Jay Nachman SWM, 45 SWM, 45 seeks audience for show about one man's life as a single, white male, 45. If you've been looking for a show that looks good whether you’re wearing an evening gown or jeans, this one will steal your heart. Make a date with SWM, 45. The Omega Sessions A True Son of Virginia Khadija Porter is a college student reasessing her life. Her boyfriend is content working at a minimum wage video store, and her brother, after listening to the punk band Bad Brains, changes his name to Positive Mental Attitude. Experience the play that defined the aesthetic for “Black Rock Theater.” One Woman Sho Sex Acts This first-place winner of the 2000 Georgia Theater Conference is an Everywoman’s rambunctious journey through the looking glass in search of the answers to why men and women mate. Directed by Carol Mitchell-Leon, this mosaic of vignettes explores the joys of connection and the paradox of intimacy. Pequod Industrial Theatre Obedience In a claustrophobic church basement, two Christians test the limits of their faith in battle for the soul of a gay friend. The sensitive Christian man just might be the future of America: come meet him in this darkly comic tale of faith and fear – a journey into evangelical America. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 21 - Theatre (continued) Audrey Pernell - State College, PA Hang Tough, Martina A light-skinned African-American woman explores the multifaceted nature of her racial identity. Through storytelling, song, and movement rooted in both European and African performance traditions, this griot-opera-diva celebrates her experiences as a racially ambiguous woman of color, effectively moving beyond the "tragic mulatto". Philadelphia Dramatists Center Ripped! (from local headlines) Six playwrights from the Philadelphia Dramatists Center collaborate with journalists from the Philadelphia City Paper to create a groundbreaking production of short plays. What made can’t-put-it-down news in 2004? What multi-media, experimental or just downright hilarious spin have these writers spun? This potpourri of playwriting styles will be intense. See it before the ink dries. Poison Pixie / Tennessee Project - Staten Island, NY Ashira69 (Episode #1: Cult to the Chase!) The all-female superhero show: inspired physical comedy, lightning-paced script, over-the-top characters, tightly choreographed stage combat, and itty-bitty costumes. Fuck yeah! “Really funny!" – Village Voice Jessie Preisendorfer - Clifton Heights, PA To Kate Jackson, With Love These autobiographical comedic monologues are about my life before, after, and during, my experience coming out. Though gay-themed, the emotions of the pieces – anxiety, being different, feeling alone, finding peace within – are universal. I re-experience my own coming out and then revisit experiences farther back in my youth with 20/20 homo -comic hindsight. The Process Players - Stevenson, MD Sidney Eller: God's Gift to Madison Avenue This original musical comedy is a modern re -telling of the Cinderella fable, with a spiritual twist. Can a downtrodden songwriter triumph over his bullying bosses and win the big contract? With the help of a leather-clad fairy godmother, he rediscovers his creativity and transforms his life. For all ages. Push Productions - New York, NY It's Not Even Past "The past is never dead. It's not even past." -William Faulkner The stories of three men, rooted in Philadelphia, unravel in intertwining monologues. As the three alternately cope with growing up, change, loss, and taking responsibility for their lives, they find that moving on means first dealing with the past. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 22 - Theatre (continued) Random Acts of Theater Chekhov-mania Finale The final installment of Triangle Theater's wildly successful 2003 Chekhov-Mania is Arje Shaw's Swan Dive, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's one-act play Swan Song. You will laugh your head off – plus there will be one Chekhov surprise. Come and see what it is! Random Acts of Theater at the Triangle Theater Skewed Shakespeare The Bard's works come back to where they began... the common man: • No tights • No fancy shirts • No bad English dialects Fresh, modern, and provocative spins on the same old Hamlet, MacBeth, King Lear, Othello, and Richard III tell what the stories are really about. Rosenbach Museum & Library Rosenbach Company: A Tragicomedy For its 50th anniversary, the Rosenbach Museum & Library has commissioned cartoonist Ben Katchor and composer Mark Mulcahy to interpret the eccentric and passionate lives of Abraham and Philip Rosenbach, brothers, business partners, and bibliomaniacs. This rousing take on the Rosenbach’s founders incorporates projected animation and live music. The Royal Fakespeare Players Be All My Sins Remembered In a re -imagining of the immortal tale, Hamlet confronts Himself and those his actions have harmed in a battle of wordplay and swordplay, revealing the consequences of betrayal, recklessness, and war. Blankets and snacks are welcome at this outdoor production of a timeless classic. Presented in conjunction with the Cardboard Box Collaborative and The Riverside Players Brian Rudnick The Pocket Fool The Pocket Fool picks from his pockets full of artifacts, gizmos and specimens, fungibles, edibles, and legibles. At Fringe 2002, he was a fool for books in Book Show, a show-and-tell for booklovers. Arik Smith Life, Love and Other Tragedies This belly-splitting satire takes snapshots from self-help lectures, the lounge in a slave ship, and subconscious thoughts about God and sex. The writing of George C. Wolfe (The Colored Museum) Christopher Durang (Laughing Wild) blend with the autobiography of Arik Smith. To quote Wolfe: “Although I can’t live inside yesterday’s pain I can’t live without it...” 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 23 - Snowday Productions Etiquette & Vitriol: Capturing Nicky Silver Ét-i-quette n, The practices and forms prescribed by social convention or by authority. Vít-ri-ol n, Bitterly abusive feeling or expression. Níck-y Síl-ver n, Playwright: Philadelphia born, jewish, queer, hilarious. A collage of monologues from the plays of Nicky Silver that tell a story of love, loss, religion, and family. The Stolen Chair Theatre Company - New York, NY Sister Carrie: A Spectacle of Warm Blooded Humanity Fringe veterans Stolen Chair present a work-in-progress adapted from Theodore Dreiser's once-banned turn-of-thecentury American novel. Carrie boards a train to Chicago and, seduced by the bustle and brilliance of the city, refashions her identity from small-town ingenue to stage starlet. Talkbacks follow performances. Straw Flower Productions Who Turned Off the Lights? People ride down the road to enlightenment blindfolded in this new comedy by Jackie Ruggiero. Marsha Farley, self-help guru, offers relief to the weary at a great price. Watch three actresses play multiple characters searching for truth, as they dig themselves deeper into denial and farther from the light. The Surface Tension Project - Plainsboro, NJ Mounted and Framed With an office located on the corner of Dilbert and WKRP, White Collar Crime, Inc explores the insidious beast known as corporate America with six in-your-face shorts. We’re sure to overcharge your ticket and then outsource the show to foreign actors. Condescending HR consultations available upon request. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 24 - Theatre (continued) Theater Catalyst's In Other Words Project Love Letters to Stalin Anthony and Elisabeth Hostetter present the English-language premiere of Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga's darkly funny, politically charged work. In this expressionistic drama based on actual letters, Mikhail Bulgakov pleads with Stalin for artistic freedom. Ignored, Bulgakov is driven to a dangerous obsession that spirals out of control. The Theater Cooperative Lysistrata 2004 A hilarious sex farce and a blistering antiwar satire all in one! It's hot and getting hotter, as dynamic Greek actress Lili Bita stars and directs a brilliant cast of warriors and the women who won't love them – unless they come home for good. Absolutely adults only. Uncut Pages Theater Company Production Values An all-female cast examines the collision of creative visions in modern theater when two Shakespeare productions attempt to coexist on the same stage – literally. Through frenetic action, angry words, and unanticipated understandings, this exhilarating new play asks the question: to whom does theater belong? Uncut Productions Eye of the Tiger "Thrill of the Fight" Seven strangers rise up to the challenge of their rival in this reality-based death match on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Will they vote each other off the sidewalk or will they fight to the death in a Fringe Festival bloodbath? Find out with a different surprise ending every night. The Valerie Solanas Players Telepathic Alcoholic Teenage Punk Rock Psycho Sluts What if two sisters possessed extraordinary telepathic abilities? And what if they despised each other so much that they created a deadly contest to see who's more powerful? And what if dueling Irish hit-men, a Nazi punk singer, and some guy who saw the Loch Ness monster got involved? Curious, eh? Valley Forge Children's Theatre The Commedia Princess and the Pea Take one lonely prince, one delicate princess, one devious queen, and one tiny pea, and you have one fabulous fairy tale. With four actors playing all the parts, Valley Forge Children’s Theater’s production of The Commedia Princess and the Pea is a highly physical romp in the Commedia dell’Arte style. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 25 - Theatre (continued) The Waitstaff The Waitstaff's Sloppy Seconds Just like refried beans, laughter is better the second time around. Philadelphia's premiere sketch comedy troupe performs favorite sketches from past shows in a classical, no-holds-barred, summer blockbuster of comedy. Edgy, smart, hilarious. See why this platter of local actors has sold out every show for two years. Wandering Rom Players Amadeus No war is so desperate as man's war against God – except for man's war against himself. Come to the watercolor world of memories as a dying man confesses to the murder of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Feel the pains of genius and the tragedy of your own mediocrity. Weak Chin Productions Little / Yma A New York speakeasy. A Greenwich Village apartment. A quiet drink. A glittering cocktail party. Disaster. Charlie DelMarcelle and Leonard Kelly direct adaptations of Dorothy Parker's Just a Little One and Thomas Meehan's Yma Dream, featuring local favorites, with special appearances by Ava Gardner, Uta Hagen, Ugo Betti – and more! West Chester University Theatre Psycho Beach Party Sad to see summer slipping away? Come to WCU's performance of Charles Busch's Psycho Beach Party and catch a few final waves. See Psycho meet Sandra Dee on Malibu Beach, 1962. Sunshine and sexual deviance dominate the stage! Surf's up! Jesse Wilson Triumph of Summer Three unique stages of adolescence chart the autobiographical story of a boy who discovers his own language at summer camp. Visual projections by painter Anthony DeMelas create the backdrop for Wilson's unforgettable oneman performance, recalling the images of pure summer, romance, and personal freedom. Yellow Taxi Productions - Manchester, NH Her Father's House Ford Foundation Award-winning playwright makes his Philadelphia debut with this play about a woman's descent into the sex trade in the big city and her return to the province to gain redemption. A story of acceptance that joins native song and dance from the Philippines with bold language and visuals. Directed by Suzanne Delle featuring Catholic University of America MFA students and other DC actors. Yes And Robot Factory Danger Always Strikes When Everything Seems Fine Chicago, LA, NYC – that's where you have to go to see quality longform improv, right? Wrong. Watch the freshest faces in Philadelphia turn your suggestion into a montage of hilarious scenes that connect in the most surprising ways. Starring Rare Bird Show and The Gramercy Riffs. New York quality; Philadelphia price. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 26 - Visual The BathHouse Gr oup This group of PAFA graduates have collaborated through work, exhibition, and discourse for more than four years. Employing two- and three-dimensional practice, Ben Volta, Hisako Inoue, Michael Tarbi, Tom McClosky, Alicia Keller, and Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala collectively reassess the nature of group exhibition. Commissure Films Verbena Verbena simultaneously interconnects the frenetic logic of shapes and calculations, the sun-crazed and oceanic dream-like nature, and the mundanely habitual actions of the human brain. This interconnection is not only visual but also metaphorical, as the filmed reality outside the brain visually mimics the corpus callosum connecting the left and right brain hemispheres. Faceitdadpictures Face James Weiss returns with a new video installation entitled Face. Big projected heads tell stories about love. Remember his peephole installation/performance Camera Obscura (Fringe 2002). “Weiss’ dispassionate look at rampant burning desire succeeds because he includes just enough.” – The New York Times InLiquid InLiquid.com presents an online series of New Media projects, showcasing new and exploratory developments in the field. Curated by Ian Cross, Ebon Fisher, Glen Muschio, and Emily Zimmerman, New Media installations will then be on view at InLiquid’s annual fundraiser in October. To view the online projects and obtain October’s schedule, visit www.inliquid.com Kathryn Pannepacker Ignight our Hearts for Peace: A Community Weaving and Vigil for Peace Kathryn Pannepacker's project this year is a community weaving and a peace vigil gathering. The image of a peace sign and a heart will be woven out of wooden match sticks and other materials less flammable throughout the Festival. The images then will be “ignited” at the concluding peace vigil gathering. Community participation encouraged. Visual (continued) Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial Museum Artists Against the End of the World One hundred distinguished contemporary artists bring voice to the hopes and fears of humanity and question the present state of affairs in the world today in this bold visual art coup d'état. Each creative mind exercises freedom of speech by punching holes in the darkness that threatens to envelope us all. 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival – Fringe Artists Note: Artist with no location indicated are Philadelphia -based artists - 27 -