A special Fringe workshop performance from The Bengsons.

NYC-based husband-wife duo, The Bengsons, are proud to be sharing this performance of choral music from their new mixed-media folk opera, The Proof. The Proof is the story of a young couple who face the sudden diagnosis of a terminal illness. With only a year to spend together, they decide to live 12 months as though they were the 60 years they feel they were owed, creating a world of rapidly changing seasons and tiny moments of stillness. This special Fringe performance will feature a selection of The Bengsons celebrated compositions and will feature THE FRINGE CHOIR, a collection of the finest singing talent of the Fringe and SW Ohio.

Catch another special performance from The Bengsons at the CityBeat Fringe Kick-Off Party on May 31st!

Visit The Bengsons website

Artist/Company Bio: The Bengsons are the best in vaudevillian indie folk and rising stars in the NYC experimental music and theater community. They have performed their original shows, performances pieces and original musicals, Ain't That Good News and The Magic Show: The Story of the Barefoot Angels, across the country and around the world. They have appeared to acclaim at such venues as Culture Project’s Women Center Stage (NYC), MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA), terraNOVA Collective’s soloNOVA Arts Festival at The Daryl Roth Theater (NYC), La MaMa E.T.C. (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), BRIClab (Brooklyn, NY), The Flynn (Burlington, VT), Town Hall Theater (Middlebury, VT), The Thacher School (Ojai, CA), the Tijuana Christian Orphanage (Tijuana, Mexico) and the Market Theater (Johannesburg, South Africa). The Bengsons are also activists and teachers, who have taught students in NYC's public schools and Cambodian immigrants in Massachusetts, as well as internationally, including at the Market Theater Lab of Johannesburg, ZA, the Tijuana Christian Orphanage of Tijuana, Mexico, and ASAPROSA, in Santa Ana, El Salvador.

Part of FringeDevelopment

Come join us for an evening of True Theatre...where time slows down and we can listen.

From: True Theatre

Brief Description: True Theatre is one of Cincinnati’s hottest new tickets, selling out shows advertising only “true stories told by real people.”  Their themed shows (trueFEAR, trueBEGINNINGS, and trueFOOLISHNESS) have drawn storytellers from all walks of life.  Their next scheduled show is in July, but they’re adding an evening just for the Fringe Festival! trueFRINGE, like every True Theatre show, features 5 storytellers (all artists in this year’s fringe festival) sharing true, personal stories—this time, about life in-and-around the theatre.  Don’t miss the chance to make your Fringe experience complete with this ONE NIGHT ONLY show!

Artist/Company Biography: The mission of True Theatre is to bring together a wide variety of people to share stories in an effort to create community, encourage discussion, and remind everyone that ALL of us have stories to tell with unique insights and broad appeal. Though storytelling can take on many forms, True Theatre realizes that what great stories have in common are their power to hold attention, slow time, and capture the imagination. They may redden cheeks, make eyes water, and elicit eruptions of laughter. They take you somewhere. Although great storytelling is not limited to true, personal stories, True Theatre believes that these real moments of our lives, from the mundane to the extraordinary, give both the speaker AND the listener the ultimate sense of being part of a larger community than they were aware.

Visit True Theatre's website for more information

Acclaim Recommended

Three ring excitement from a mustachioed lady and her innocent zombie!

From: Karim Muasher and Carrie Brown

Most Fringy Thing: Old and forgotten gloves, suitcases, noise makers, roller skates, and much more are cleverly used to both recreate and reinvigorate classic circus acts. The joy and nostalgia of the circus is brought to the stage by two skilled performers trained in European clowning.

Brief Description: Professor VindleVoss and her adopted son Edvard the Zombie invite you to the rebirth of their once towering family circus! With only a few dusty artifacts and their quick wits, they make the magic of the big top live again!  Come eat the free popcorn, feel your belly rumble with laughter, and watch with amazement the death-defying thrills for children of all ages!

circusvindlevoss.com

Artist/Company Biography: Karim Muasher and Carrie Brown paint imaginative worlds with the brightest brushes they can find. Trained at the prestigious London International School of Performing Arts, they've developed a distinctive style that blends the humanity of clowning, timing of vaudeville, and visual inventiveness of the absurd. Their performances have been seen at festivals and cabarets from the dance halls of London to the black box theatres of New York City. The VindleVoss Family Circus Spectacular! is their first full length play, and is now touring the country.

circusvindlevoss.com

From: New York, NY

Critics' Reviews

Man, even once, is twice.

From: Powerhouse Productions

Most Fringy Thing: The Masculinity Index is a patchwork of theatre, spoken word poetry, narrative, movement and music, both instrumental and vocal. It's a story that everyone may find familiar with the visceral feel and rough edges that make it real. This is our story. It could be your story.

Brief Description: What makes a man? The answer to this question is ever elusive, but John Ware and William Brown delve fearlessly into their own hearts, minds, and guts, popular culture and conventional wisdom to uncover the truth. The Masculinity Index is the journey of one young man to attain a sense of having grown up and to cross the mythical barrier between boyhood and manhood. His path is littered with all the trials young men must conquer before they can rightfully call themselves men. Through soliloquy and encounters with the outside world, our young hero learns what is truly important.

Artist/Company Biography: The journey of The Masculinity Index began humbly, with just a few scattered notes jotted down in a notebook belonging to cast member and writer John Ware. He had hatched an idea for a show that was visceral, interdisciplinary and expressed what he had wanted to say through years of growing up, admittedly still in the process. He wanted to tell the story of someone like himself, but who was also an archetypal hero who could express the anger, the frustration, and the triumph of an entire generation: Young Joe. As time wore on, John realized he would not be able to do it alone. One night, William Brown made an offhand remark to John about the responsibility of a man, to which John replied: "Exactly. Listen William, I have this show I'm working on, and I need help..." And the rest is history. Powerhouse Productions is a brand-new company of two artists whose powers of expression balance each other perfectly. They are logic and soul, staccato and flow, aggressive and pensive, guitar and drums. Together they have one mission: to tell a story so seldom told truthfully in the modern world, the story of manhood.

Previous Fringes: 2008 Cincy Fringe (It Might Be Ok)

From: Cincinnati, OH

Critics' Reviews

The play Anton Chekhov couldn’t write - about his own true love.

From: Dawn Arnold - The Moving Dock Theatre Company

Most Fringy Thing: The Lydia Etudes shoots from the heart. A revelation from the woman who kept her secret. Suspend your disbelief about Anton Chekhov and see the play he couldn’t write - the one about his own true love. A class act for the classical music and theatre loving crowd.

Brief Description: Earthquakes happen when no one is looking. The controversial love between Anton Chekhov and a woman named Lydia comes alive on stage in The Lydia Etudes. An intimate look at the master storyteller, Anton Chekhov, told through the eyes of the woman who might have been his one true love. Be transported into the world of Chekhov as Dawn Arnold portrays Lydia and Anton, and a host of other characters, in her original adaptation of Lydia Avilova's memoir and Chekhov's letters to Lydia. "A dynamic, compelling glimpse of a fascinating woman writer by an equally mesmerizing theatre artist." 

Artist/Company Biography: The Moving Dock Theatre Company is a Chicago based company creating original work through the art of the actor. Theatre artist, Dawn Arnold, has created and directed many of The Moving Dock's ensemble-created productions including Celestial Mechanics-or the Questionable Attraction of Entities, Savage/Love, and Where our Imaginations May Lead Us, and co-directed/adapted Galway Bay, The Quiltmaker's Gift, Ocean Sea, which the Chicago Sun-Times found "...so ambitious, so fearless, so compelling, so enigmatic and so physically beautiful" and Einstein's Dreams, one of PerformInk's "Go See" Productions "...a spare, eloquent and imaginative rumination on time." Dawn Arnold's inventive work has intersected with literary giants Edith Wharton in Undercurrents and Anton Chekhov in The Lydia Etudes, and ventured out into the cosmos with the story of America's first women astronomers in Unsung Stars, which performed at Chicago's Adler Planetarium. Recently she created and performed the Spirit of the Dance with Chicago's Boitsov Ballet. A Master Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique, Dawn appears in the documentary, Master Classes in the Michael Chekhov Technique. She teaches the Chekhov Technique around the country in guest workshops and performs The Lydia Etudes, for colleges, high schools, theatre companies, and festivals.

From: Chicago, IL

Critics' Reviews

FringeNext

Seeing the world through a blind boy's song

From: The Players of The Imaginarium

Most Fringy Thing: This play is historical, with a world outlook and remarkable characters that will capture anyone’s interest. The creative combination of art and alluring music promotes passion and collaboration of art forms perfect for Cincinnati’s artsy community. Audiences will be touched by the sweet melodies and uplifting outlook on their world.

Brief Description: Raphael, a young blind boy in 1800’s Northern France, finds solace in the memory of his deceased mother and the colors taught him to sing. Raphael strives to protect his younger sister, Annalise, against their father’s drunken abuse. Raphael and an elderly painter uncover a beautiful combination of music and art leads them to discover that they are much more connected than by their love for color alone. Raphael searches for answers about his mothers death and a crucial moment leads him to decide whether he will continue succumbing to his father’s cruelty or fight for what his family deserves.

Artist/Company Biography: The Directors: Aly and Carly are high school senior drama majors from the School for the Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA) who have always had an interest in directing, both stage and screen. Both intend on pursuing their acting careers after graduation. Aly plans to get her BFA in Acting at Wright State and Carly will get her AFA in Acting for Film at New York Film Academy, Universal Studios. They both jumped at the opportunity to direct such a moving show, written by a close friend of theirs, Emilie, a senior creative writing major. The Writer: Emilie revamped this play from the winning short story she wrote last year for the school's Corbett-Mayerson competition. Emilie loves to explore the unwinding of plot and character both in fiction and reality, and she plans to pursue a career in creative writing and journalism. Through this play Emilie hoped to speak to the importance of the welfare of children while their undying bravery is a testimony to the overcoming of hardships. The cast ranges from grades 5th through 12th. They were auditioned and selected by Aly, Carly and Emilie, and are made up of a wide range of SCPA majors including a visual artist, vocalists, pianists, as well as actors.

From: Cincinnati, OH

Critics' Reviews

Part of FringeDevelopment

Chaucer gone wild.

A New Adaptation by Matthew Lewis Johnson

From: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

Most Fringy Thing: Seeing multiple theatrical styles converging to tell 5 tales that are part of one classic. Letting Chaucer be bawdy, religious, funny, touching and everything else the tales were originally intended to be.

Brief Description: Geoffrey Chaucer’s established literary classic “The Canterbury Tales” comes to life in an exciting new adaptation presented by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.   It is an unfinished epic poem that depicts a storytelling competition within a diverse group of pilgrims as they attempt to entertain each other on the road to Canterbury.  The stories range from tales of courtly love to bawdy farce.   Cincinnati Shakespeare Company will present five of the tales, staged by five of CSC’s resident artists, utilizing five unique theatrical disciplines.  This world premiere adaptation promises to reintroduce a new audience to just how exciting and vivid Chaucer’s original masterpiece was intended to be.

Artist/Company Biography: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is a professional theater company in the heart of downtown Cincinnati's Backstage district. The Company produces classics, the great works, and the works you rarely get a chance to see. These plays are the ones that have stood the test of time. The staging of these plays is thoughtfully crafted to create an engaging experience that will resonate with you, inspire your thoughts, and start conversations.

But plays are only texts without talented theater professionals to reignite them, to invigorate them. Company members include the artistic director, Brian Isaac Phillips, who is responsible for guiding the artistic vision of the theater. Unique to the Cincinnati performing-arts community, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company employs a resident ensemble. Ensemble members are devoted to working with the artistic director to "crack the nut" of each play and reveal the human elements.

For more information, please see www.cincyshakes.com

From: Cincinnati, OH

Little liars need to change their ways.

From: East Tennessee State University Patchwork Players

Most Fringy Thing: Memoir of a Mythomaniac: the True Story of a Compulsive Liar (or Tallulah Dies) is fringe; it is about life on the periphery. 

Brief Description: What is the better choice: living in a world of your own creation or the real world? Through a fusion of spoken word and dance, Tallulah Dies tells the story of a delusional but bewitching heroine. And after being fired from yet another job, her father has convinced her to see a therapist so she can get back to work and out of his basement.

Check out our trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75yvr4T5riM

And check us out on facebook to see how rehearsals are going: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=57509290&ref=profile#!/pages/Tallulah-Dies/218764354807084

Artist/Company Biography: Cara Harker is an assistant professor of dance at East Tennessee State University. Cara graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University with an MFA in theatre performance in 2003. Since that time, she has been working in dance and theatre as an instructor, choreographer, and director in Chicago, Cincinnati, and East Tennessee. Credits include directing and choreographing Quilters and Girl’s Eye View, a play which she co-wrote, choreographed, and performed in at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Most recently, Cara directed and choreographed The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Virginia’s longest running outdoor drama. Cara serves on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Association of Dance and oversees the dance minor program at ETSU. She is thrilled to be working on Tallulah Dies with Patchwork Players, ETSU's student run theatre group.

From: Jonesborough, TN

Critics' Reviews

Acclaim Nominations: Writer (Austin Bunn), Non-Equity ensemble (Martin Andrews, Kristy Hartsgrove, and Sean Lewis), Direction (Martin Andrews, Kristy Hartsgrove, Sean Lewis, and Austin Bunn).

Who Owns the Story of Survival?

From: Working Group Theatre

Most Fringy Thing: Multiple character transformations, a cave, a mystery, an award winning company making their Cincinnati debut.

Brief Description: Who owns the story of survival? One summer, three childhood friends attempt to summit Mt. McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park — and only two come back. Denali, by Austin Bunn, explores the line between fact and fiction, and the tests of friendship on the world’s coldest mountain. Imagine Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Airwith a James Frey scandal of legitimacy and you have the newest work from Pushcart Prize winning author Austin Bunn. "Denali is the best kind of story, where the situations and characters are complex amalgamations of these, and the audience leaves with sympathy and contempt for everyone."- The Rapidian

Artist/Company Biography: Working Group Theatre has developed and toured the shows Goat Show by Jennifer Fawcett (Adirondack Theatre Festival, Summerworks, Riverside Theatre, Blyth Festival, and more), Handgrenade Holly(ArtSpark Festival) and Killadelphia(Baltimore Centerstage, Interact Theatre, Available Light, and more). Their work has garnered the Kennedy Center's National Science Writing Award, the Barrymore Award, Central Ohio Critic's Circle Citation and more.

From: Iowa City, IA

Critics' Reviews

Acclaim Recommended, Acclaim Nominated: Non-Equity acting ensemble (Michael Call, Mindy Heithaus, Jeffrey K Miller)

Light bulb factory love story: old bulbs are easily replaced.

From: New Edgecliff Theatre

Most Fringy Thing: One of the most absurd love stories ever told, but a love story none the less.

Brief Description: In search of a job, Max finds himself the new kid at the Industri-Light Bulb Factory. But his surroundings are all too familiar… and he’s certain he has seen his boss somewhere before. Is he losing his mind, or is this the start of a very sick- and ultimately deadly- game? Max must uncover the truth, or accept a fate that will keep his life in a mind-numbing limbo.

Company Biography

Established in 1998, New Edgecliff Theatre was built on the idea of locally produced professional theatre. The mission of New Edgecliff Theatre is to create a powerful artistic experience utilizing local professionals and stressing the fundamental communion between actor and audience.  Recent work includes productions of [title of show], The Night of the Iguana, Equus, and our every-popular holiday production of The Santaland Diaries.

 

From: Cincinnati, OH

About the Playwright

NET's Playwright-in-Residence Catie O’Keefe Catie O'Keefe holds a BA in Theatre from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon USA and a Masters in Playwriting from Royal Holloway University of London. Her work has been performed at the Jerwood Centre, Southwark Theatre, Henley Fringe Festival, The Royal Court Upstairs, Theatre 503 and the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Space Between My Head and My Body premiered at London's Theatre 503 and then transferred to the Underbelly Baby Belly 3 in Edinburgh. Her Play Deception, Illusion and Nate has been performed in the US and as part of the Dyssing Monday's Dyslexic festival in October 2008 and again in the Henley Fringe Festival in July 2009 in the UK. Her Play An Apartment with Grace was one of six winners to be produced for The Louisiana State University Outworks Festival in April 2010. Her writing is best described as "dark, imaginative and witty". 

About the Director

Illana Stein is thrilled to be back in Cincinnati and working with NET for the 2011 Fringe Festival.  She first got involved with NET when she directed Burying Barbie for their second Director's Competition.  She is a freelance director originally from Fort Worth, TX but considers Cincinnati an artistic home as she spent 3 years as Assistant to the Artistic Director at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC).  While at CSC, she directed their 2008 summer tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream, eductional tour In Love with Shakespeare, and served as assistant director and dramaturg on the majority of productions.  Other directing credits include Home Free! (Midnight Project at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Woolgatherer, Autobahn, As You Like It, and Opehlia's Story (a conceptualized play).  As an assistant director and dramaturg she has worked at a wide range of regional theatres including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Victoria Musica!), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Well, and The Merchant of Venice) Yale Repertory Theatre (Romeo and Juliet), and Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Twelfth Night).  Ms. Stein has a BFA in Drama from the University of Oklahoma where she also co-founded and served as Artistic Director for ORASI Productions, a student-led theatre production company.

About the Cast

Michael Carr is a recent graduate of CCM Drama. He is a Cincinnati native. Roles performed include:(CCM) Andrey- Three Sisters (Acclaim Winner), The Man- On the Verge (Acclaim), Barnett Lloyd - Crimes of the Heart. (Carnegie Performing Arts Center) Pvt Schelling -Bury the Dead (Acclaim Winner), Pap/The Duke - Big River. He could not have gotten to where he is without the support of his family and close friends.

Mindy Heithaus is very excited  to be working with New Edgecliff again on this Fringe endeavor. She previously was on Night Of The Iguana last fall. She is a graduate of NKU's theatre department. Past roles include Lina Lamont in Singin' In The Rain (Covedale), Shelby in Steel Magnolias (LaComedia), Meg in Crimes Of The Heart (Showboat), Placard Girl in Reefer Madness The Musical (The Know),  Bridget in Nana's Naughty Knickers (LaComedia), and Diana in Lend Me A Tenor (Drama Workshop). She would like to thank her family and friends for all their love and support. She also wants to the thank the cast and crew for this fun, exciting, and sometimes confusing journey. 

Jeffrey K. Miller is thrilled to join the cast of Darker for his second go-round in the Cincy Fringe. Using his theatre degree from NKU, Jeffrey has worked with theatre companies all over Cincinnati and the region including New Edgecliff Theatre, Middletown Lyric Theatre, Cincinnati Landmark Productions, Mad Anthony Theatre/Fitton Center, Wyoming Players, Two seasons at Pioneer Playhouse, NKU, ArtReach: Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Madcap Puppet Theatre at Cincinnati Zoo, and Cincinnati Museum Center.

Critics' Reviews