Denison University’s Fringe Festival, modeled after Edinburgh’s legendary festival, takes place from April 11 to May 5, 2019, with a series of diverse original performances by students and faculty, guests, and student organizations in locations across the campus.
“The Fringe will reflect the focus on theatre-making in our curricular program and the exciting creative performance work the Denison community has come to expect from its students,” said Mark Evans Bryan, associate director and chair of the theatre department at Denison.
The Denison Fringe Festival celebrates the theatre-making of Denisonians and along with five individual productions, this year’s Festival includes an evening of readings, a student-created dance piece, and one faculty project.
These performances are free and open to the public. For more information, contact:
About the play: Baby Steps follows 2 high school seniors, Katie and Jacob, as they pretend to be in a relationship in a small, rural town, despite the fact that they’re both gay.
Mae West: After Dark
When: April 13 at 8:30 p.m. and April 14 at 8:30 p.m.
About the play: The legendary actress…The playwright…The Diamond, herself. Mae West was known for her wit and glittering persona, whether working the extravagance of a Vaudeville stage or playing out dreams on the silver screen of Hollywood. But, this broad of a woman was more than just blonde hair and innuendo. Paving the way through her groundbreaking plays and writings, she established herself as one of the nation’s most influential playwrights and activists. This play pays tribute to the genius stylings of Solo Performance of Denison University’s past (à la Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain: Tonight!) and let’s audience get to know the real “Queen of Sex” in all her glory. Whether you know a lot about the blonde bombshell herself or want to get to know who Mae West is for sure… Why don’tcha come up sometime, and see her… in Mae West: After Dark.
Black Plastic created and performed by Aidan Iannarino ’20
Black Plastic is a magical-realist, historical fiction play in two parts and follows the American Johnny and German Johann and their involvement in the black market music trade of East Berlin in 1979 and 1989. They are visited by death, who foretells their doom if they continue to stay in Berlin and a break in their friendship begins.
I Dress in Black to Match My Life created by Kara Jackson ’19
The story we know and love with an in-depth portrayal of the inner oppression that the toll of life takes on our souls and the detrimental effect it can have on our mental health and well-being. In this adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s, The Seagull, three women aspire to be an actress, a writer, and a singer, but are continuously met with crippling rejection and heartbreak.
The General at Dinner created and performed by Adam Venrick ’21
In the near future a journalist with a troubled past is sent on a last chance assignment to an unnamed country to interview its authoritarian leader known simply as “The General,” but once inside the dictator’s inner circle, it is quickly revealed that no one is who or what they seem. Told in vibrant, comical and strange narration, The General at Dinner is a sometimes funny, sometimes thrilling account of a turbulent twenty-four hour period in an authoritarian regime and a look at what really goes on behind the scenes of political power.
Dance Piece—Vaval Victor ’20, performer, and Computer Science Project by Caileigh Marshall ’19
A modern dance performance that incorporates handmade, wearable technology into a story. The innovative combination of computer science and dance presents a unique experience for the viewer.
The Winter’s Tale
When: April 20 at 7:00 p.m. and April 21 at 2:00 p.m.
About the play: A video-narrative piece depicting the duality of racism in the United States and Peru. This piece serves to explore the subtle and not so subtle ways in which discrimination and racism is further emphasized by the representation, or lack thereof, in entertainment. It demonstrates how two women from completely different places and backgrounds can have similar experiences in their homes. Due to the nature of this piece and its underlying message, it will be performed solely in Spanish and Quechua.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
When: May 4 and May 5 at 3 p.m.
Location: Denison Bio Reserve
Note: This is an immersive hike in the woods. Please be prepared for rocky trails and mud.
Adapted from Shakespeare by Sarah Wilson ’20, Diego Rubey ’19, and Evan Joslyn ’19
Sophia Menconi ’20, stage manager
About the play: An immersive production of Shakespeare’s classic love story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set in Denison’s Bio Reserve. This shortened version will invite the audience to escape from our world with the lovers and enter into the fairies’ world of the forest, which is heavily influenced by the themes and peaceful importance of the 1960s “summer of love.”
About the play: Marriage (a work in progress) is a completely improvised exploration of the ultimate Western commitment between two people. Staged so that players explicitly share and struggle for agency and spectatorial attention with (and as) the married characters they create, the pacts of theatre and marriage begin to mimic and reveal each other.
