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.
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.
*PLEASE NOTE - the June 5th performance of The First Book of: The Bible at 3:00 has been cancelled.
If only church were this much fun.
From: The Biblers
Most Fringy Thing: The eccentric spirit and simplistic spectacle of our show is truly fringe-esque. We also believe that improv is a major aspect of comedy, so our actors are encouraged to create their own entertaining circumstances and references.
Brief Description: What do sex, violence, thunder, lighting, plagues, circumcision, death, and music all have in common? They're all in The First Book of: The Bible! Come see a breath of fresh air breathed into everyone's favorite old standby: Genesis, with all the white hot holy spirit that Jesus surely would have wanted. See Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit! Marvel at Jacob conceiving children beyond belief! Observe the stupidity of humanity! All this and more in the first book of... THE BIBLE.
Artist/Company Biography: Actors- Maddie Burgoon, Natalie Reiger, Tori Nagel, Holly Angel, Eben Coffee, Mitch Hendee, Michael Newberry, Corey Meyer, Hugh Smith, Daniel Westheimer, Richard Lowenberg, and Chris Grosser as God. Written and Directed by Christian Haigis and Wesley Zurick. Stage Manager- Abigail Matey Lighting Designer- Ryan Theirauf Costumes- Jamaica Gilliam Musical accompaniment provided by Christian Haigis, Zacharias Muller, and Wesley Zurick.
From: Cincinnati, OH
Critics' Reviews
Review: CityBeat
by Stacy Sims
"The premiere of The First Book of the Bible was the first sold-out show of the 2011 Fringe. One of three entries in the new FringeNext category (works produced, created and performed by teens), this work by School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) seniors storms out of the gate with all the makings of a successful Fringe show."
Most Fringy Thing: All parts of Opal Opus interact: Writer, Characters and the Play itself. Each longs to BE – to share its own gift. This is especially challenging when none realize their gift, trust the process or one another, and when, like most of us, all are entrenched in doubt, self-sabotage and FEAR.
Brief Description: Opal Opus is a pop’ra, musically navigating the dark, whimsical, romantic, eccentric, creative processes of the soul. The "J" family is stuck in the familiar mire-muck of Disconnect – from their True Selves and one another. Desperate, the family embarks on a journey to find the Opal Opus in the mysterious land of Alakazoo.
Artist/Company Biography: “You’ll never untangle the circumstances that brought you to this moment.” – Leonard Cohen. The Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective grew out of a chance meeting of three passion-driven Cincinnati women. What began as a single, short-term project rapidly developed into a vision of a theatre collective dedicated to creating space for female artists of all ages to share freely what is in their hearts, minds and imaginations. TLTC is committed to creating original, socially conscious work through the exploration of overlapping artistic mediums. TLTC’s sophomore production, Opal Opus: Journey to Alakazoo is a result of the consciously creative collaboration of dynamic duo Serenity Fisher (writer, composer, performer) and Robin O’Neal Kissel (writer, coach). Together, they have navigated the wonky highs and lows of the creative process and lived to tell the tale. They love to collaborate, commiserate, integrate and inundate the planet with silly words and serious songs and help right the world of things-gone-wrong. They first collaborated with director Caitlin Kane on Sophie’s Dream, Cincinnati’s 2010 “Audience Pick of the Fringe.” When not Opal Opus-ing, Serenity Fisher can be found performing and recording her original music while Robin Ok offers soul-nurturing opportunities through her business, Laugh & Dream Creative Coaching.
From:Cincinnati, OH
Critics' Reviews
Review: CityBeat
by Harper Lee
Serenity Fisher, creator of Sophie’s Dream, the 2010 Audience Pick of the Fringe, has again brought her hyper-personal and very sincere brand creativity to a Fringe stage with Opal Opus: Journey to Alakazoo. (It’s being presented at the “Hanke 2” venue, 1128 Main St.) Opal describes itself as a “pop’ra,” best understood as a pop operetta that is sometimes mystical, sometimes messy and always musical. Fisher plays The Writer. Curled up behind her keyboard in her pajamas, she takes the audience deep into her own imagination. We follow her as she creates a family of four (each has a name that starts with the letter J), the sad world they live in and the fairytale journey they embark on to find love and themselves. There are old wise women with magic wands, singing creatures called UgaMugs, a terrifying mountaintop game show with scary-steep stakes, a kazoo, and a much-loved tree frog named Pumpernickel. Opal is a story within a story, The Writer’s creative journey and the family’s journey taking place on top of one another.
Near the beginning of this play within a play pop opea, The Writer hopes the musical she is creating is “43% halfway-decent.” In that regard, the imaginative OPAL OPUS is more than successful.
The Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective gives is "Opal Opus: Journey to Alakazoo" an excellent try-out at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. While the production values are quintessentially fringe-ish, the performances are top-notch in this allegory of a family drama, as if The Writer were dealing with a tragedy in an indirect, imaginative way.
Most Fringy Thing: This is a program of music about time and place and how the media available to us helps to shape our understanding of the times and places in which we live. It is music which must be performed live and often in order to have any meaning at all.
Brief Description: Music for Newspapers and Radios is a concert of musical compositions which make use of either newspapers or radios as the generating source of musical sounds, forms and ideas. The program will include three compositions by CCM doctoral candidate Paul Schuette including: no news is good news, for string quartet, Media Counterpoint, for 2 radios, sine tone generator, piano, electric guitar and suspended cymbals,and Tomorrow?, for 2 male and 2 female actors. The program will also include two piece by John Cage: Radio Music and Water Walk.
Artist/Company Biography: Paul Schuette’s music seeks to expose and explore paradoxes and dualities of all kinds. His recent works have a built in malleability which allows them to function in a variety of artistic contexts. This aspect of his work reflects the unstable realities of artistic expression in the digital age. His works which are featured on this program seek to contradict the idea that art is fixed or permanent in any way, for each piece in its own way necessitates live and repeat performances. Paul’s interest in this line of thought has been fueled by a powerful respect for the idea’s of John Cage. This has lead Paul to open the doors, which Cage left in many of his works, for reinterpretation. Paul’s work in this vein includes a YouTube specific version of Water Walk, which will be performed as a part of the Fringe Festival, a US transcription of 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs, and a world wide version of A Dip in the Lake. The program will be realized by talented musicians from CCM including the newly formed Frequency String Quartet featuring Michael Jorgensen, Joshua Ulrich, Dominic DeStefano, and Amy Gillingham.
From: Cincinnati, OH
Critics' Reviews
Reivew: CityBeat
by Stacey Recht
"Paul Schuette, a grad student in composition at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, assembled a cast of almost two dozen fellow music students to perform Music for Newspapers and Radios (Media Bridges, 100 Race St.), his nonlinear, multimedia program of performance, video, projection, spoken word and broadcast sounds."
UC College-Conservatory of Music doctoral candidate Paul Schuette has assembled this intriguing concert of experimental musical pieces. The compositions include Schuette's own "Media Counterpoint," "... no news is good news," and "Tomorrow?" as well as "Radio Music" and "Water Walk" from famed avant-garde composer John Cage. The sounds in each of these works are made by actors intoning from the day's newspaper, snippets of sounds from live radio broadcasts, as well as traditional instruments (particularly a string quartet) used in nontraditional ways.
One of the best things about attending the Fringe Festival is the opportunity to experience works outside your experience or comfort zone. MUSIC FOR NEWSPAPERS AND RADIOS was my first exposure to experimental music and to be honest, I can’t say that I enjoyed it.
"Believe it or not, "Music for Newspaper and Radios" is exactly what the title proclaims it to be. It's a concept that makes the performance as fresh as the morning newspaper. Indeed, it starts out with an ensemble of actors reading from, well, the morning newspaper, all at the same time, and in motion, not following a narrative specific thematic line."
Hilarious, fast paced mix of stand-up, storytelling and original music
From: Kevin J Thornton
Most Fringy Thing: This is the first time in your life that an hour of dick jokes will make you feel warm and fuzzy and thrilled to be alive. No really.
Brief Description: "I was going through an intense break up in Los Angeles. I moved out of our West Hollywood apartment and came to Indiana to hibernate for the winter and clear my head. Instead, I ended up drinking a lot and writing folk/country songs. I decided to take all this heartbreak and music and smash it together with my stand up." This unique hybrid of styles is displayed in Thornton's hilariously show about a gay man looking back over the greatest loves (and sex) of his life written by and starring Kevin J Thornton. Includes original music from Thornton's 2011 release January Dreams.
Artist/Company Biography: In a way, Kevin J Thornton is a throwback to the golden age of entertainers on the vaudeville circuit-- he sings, he tells jokes, he truly entertains his audiences in clubs and on the underground Fringe Festival circuit. However, Thornton's shows are anything but old fashioned. His stories and songs comment on sexuality, religion and American life in a new century. His performances are a fusion of stand-up comedy, Sandra Bernhard-like storytelling and original music akin to Ryan Adams and Van Morrison. Thornton spent the early 2000s building a reputation as a professional musician in Nashville, TN. His first effort entitled Had A Sword won the Nashville Scene Music Award for Best Experimental Rock. During that time he worked as an actor, ironically, to pay the bills. He appeared in several professional theatre productions, playing John in John and Jenat the historic Tibbit's Opera House in Coldwater, MI. and in a sketch comedy group aboard a luxury ship in South America
From: Los Angeles, CA
Critics' Reviews
Review: The Conveyor
by Brian Griffin
Kevin Thornton's I Love You (We're Fucked) filled the sweaty Artworks space with both eager audience members and wonderfully funny stories and songs. Thornton is an extremely talented performer who has improved on his 2009 CincyFringe show Sex, Dreams & Self-Control with a crisp comedy that was more fast past and improvisational. Kevin knows how to put on a show and knows how to push the crowd over they edge with him.
"What makes revealing personal anecdotes compelling? Perhaps it’s peeling back the layers of detail to get at the heart of emotions — if not situations — we can all identify with, with what’s human. By revealing plenty and walking cheerfully to comfort’s edge with TMI (too much information), the stand-up comedian/storyteller/singer-songwriter Kevin J. Thornton pretty much kept the audience in the palm of his hand during his sold-out opening performance of I Love You (We’re Fucked) on June 3."
Kevin Thornton's I Love You (We're Fucked) filled the sweaty Artworks space with both eager audience members and wonderfully funny stories and songs. Thornton is an extremely talented performer who has improved on his 2009 CincyFringe show Sex, Dreams & Self-Control with a crisp comedy that was more fast past and improvisational. Kevin knows how to put on a show and knows how to push the crowd over they edge with him. The tone of the show takes many more detours. You don't know what he is going to say, but that will not scare the audience if they aren't prudish. The prudes might want to skip this one. Beware of the "Blood stories" as they mix emotional elements that snap back to humor very quickly.
"The tag line for ILY(WF) show reads, “Hilarious, fast paced mix of stand-up, storytelling and original music.” To which I say, “Yes folks, there is still truth in advertising.”" I really enjoyed Kevin’s first Fringe performance two years ago with SEX, DREAMS AND SELF CONTROL and was happy to hear he was returning this year. What was great to see last night’s performance is how much Kevin has matured as a performer. He comes across more confident, more comfortable and more content on stage. But still all Kevin."
Most Fringy Thing: Breaking down cultural stereotypes has never been so fun! The 60-minute show is hilarious, has a solid performance history, and is extremely relatable to anyone who considers themself a "hyphenated American." And, as, Washington DC's CityPaper says: “The future of American-Islamic relations could hinge on this one-woman show.”
Brief Description: This beef ain't halal! Join Zed “The Muslim Weird Al” Headscarf on an irreverent romp through the American Muslim experience. This musically comic solo-show explores religion, growing up in a Pakistani immigrant family, and coming to terms with sex and love—all in one hilarious, energy-packed hour of story and song parody from powerhouse performer Zehra Fazal. Winner of the Best Solo-Performer award at the DC Capital Fringe Festival in 2009, the show went to play to sold out audiences at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2010. “Animated, engaging and likeable.” –The New York Times
Artist/Company Biography: Washington, DC theater credits include Studio Theatre, Synetic Theater, The Kennedy Center, Adventure Theatre, The Bay Theatre, Rorschach Theatre and Landless Theatre. Fazal also works as an actor and model for print and film, with clients including the Defense Intelligence Agency, Customs and Border Patrol, Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, and commercial clients including Marriott, Consumer Electronics Show, and National Geographic. In 2004, Fazal earned a grant from Stanford University to study with the Takarazuka Revue, Japan’s all-female musical theatre company. A graduate of Wellesley College, Fazal graduated with honors for translating and directing the English-language world premiere of The Rose of Versailles from the Takarazuka repertoire.
In following with her passion for Japanese theatre, Fazal has toured her solo-show adaptation of the Yukio Mishima play My Friend Hitler to the DC, Indianapolis and San Francisco Fringe Festivals. Fazal premiered Headscarf and the Angry Bitch at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival, earning the Best Solo Performance Award, as well as the Favorite Solo Performance Award on DC Theatre Scene, and went on to the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival where it played to sold out houses and garnered further acclaim. For more information, please visit www.zehrafazal.com.
From: Washington, D.C.
Critics' Reviews
Review: CityBeat
by Rodger Pille
CRITIC'S PICK
It’s pretty typical for our culture to be afraid of that which we don’t know. We see it every day on TV news and in daily conversations around the water cooler. But what we probably rarely see is the reaction on the other end, how it affects the object of our fear. That’s one of the principle reasons whyHeadscarf and the Angry Bitch is so welcoming and accessible. And frankly, so needed.
Writer-actress Zehra Fazal makes it really easy for us xenophobes. She sets up her one-woman show, a sort of theatrical Muslim for Dummies with autobiographical anecdotes sprinkled in for good measure, as a series of community education sessions taught at the local neighborhood center. She addresses the audience directly, as if we’re a part of the class, which of course we are.
"Headscarf and the Angry Bitch" is an enjoyable comic solo show written and performed by Zehra Fazal that explores a young woman's experiences of growing up Muslim in America.Fazal portrays Zed Headscarf, the self-proclaimed "Muslim Weird Al" who gives us a lecture on various aspects of Muslim culture, often illustrating her points with song parodies she plays on her guitar. We quickly learn primary tenants of the Muslim religion along with proper Muslim attitudes toward foods (beer is bad but Skittles are OK), prayer, family and sex.
The Anger in Zehra Fazal's Headscarf and the Angry Bitch is reserved not for her religion or her family or her ethnicity, but lies with the actions of all of those entities interacting together and making her life full of contradictions and confusion. Fazal's character Zed Headscarf takes you in with her seminar, learning about Islam. Along the way she shares her stories about her upbringing with Pakistani parents and extended family and how sex and it's many variances lack a place in the culture surrounding her religion.
For the full article check it out on theconveyor.com
Review: Behind the Curtain
"Zehra Fazal’s very fun (and educational) show gives audience members an irreverent, personal, view of what it means to be a young, female, Muslim-American."
"Our first sold out Fringe show was "Headscarf and the Angry Bitch" by DC-based artist Zehra Fazal, and it lives up to the buzz.
Fazal plays Zed Headscarf, a young bisexual woman of Pakistani descent who is conducting a series of informative lectures about her faith, though she's not what you'd call observant, at the local Islamic Center. So you not only get a personal look at the life of a modern American Muslim, but also a primer on the lexicon, explanations of concepts like "haraam" and "halal.""
On Saturday, I tried to see “Headscarf and the Angry B*tch,” at Artworks for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which simply describes the play with the phrase, “the Muslim Weird Al.” I dashed through the doors at 6:58pm and flashed my pass. I was turned away. The house was packed, even the standing room, and I was out of luck. On the advice of the staff, I went next door to the Know Theatre and bought a ticket for the next evening.
Show Description: You and your inner light are invited to a very special breakout session at TantraCon 2010: The Largest Alternative Stretching and Sensual Energy Arts Convention & Trade Show in the Miami Valley. From yoga mishaps to show tunes done Bollywood-style to volunteer actors from the audience, this new comedy promises to satisfy. Eventually.
Most Fringy Thing: Free Mood Bindis to everybody who comes!
Artist/Company Bio: Finite Number of Monkeys Productions was founded on the principle that – while we can't guarantee masterpieces of theatre, literature and music – there's at least a pretty good chance that if we all work on it, the results will be not too shabby. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully. FNOM is run by Michael Comstock and George Alexander – writer and/or actor types who, between the two of them, have a fair amount of fancy pants advertising awards under their respective belts. In 2009, they produced The Success Show for the Cincy Fringe Festival, which went on to a sold-out encore run later in the year.
Hails from: Cincinnati, OH
Previous Fringes: 2009 Cincinnati Fringe Festival (The Success Show)
A butt-kicking, heart-breaking, raucous Vaudevillian Cabaret!
From the Bengsons
Show Description: Abigail Nessen Bengson & Shaun McClain Bengson's Ain’t That Good News is a raucous vaudevillian cabaret, full of roaring music and impassioned characters. The Bengson duo evoke the quintessentially American stories of the immigrant and the outcast and play at the heart of the political struggles of our age through a melding of the musical forms of Tin Pan Alley, the Old South, German Weimar and rock and roll. The show is constantly evolving. As the Bengsons travel, they trade songs and drinks for new stories from the personal to the divine, and shift the work to reflect where they've been, and each new community they're in. Directed by David Eppel.
Most Fringy Thing: This funny, sexy, and moving musical adventure follows a young couple as they travel around the world, with stories of the folks they've met from the townships of South Africa to the dumps of Tijuana.
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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.
Hails from: Middlebury, VT / Brooklyn, NY
60 Second Preview:
Praise for the Bengsons:
"Not only a tremendous musical talent, but also a raw honesty and sincere righteousness." THE NEW YORK TIMES "Inspired... worthy of Bob Fosse's Cabaret work, as funny as it is horrifying." EDGE Entertainment
“Friendly, fresh-faced and downright enchanting... audiences are bound to sit up and take notice.” Addison Independent
“Beautiful and artful.” NYTheater.com “A rare and compelling talent.” Rachel Chanoff, Artistic Director of Celebrate Brooklyn and MASS MoCA “Tremendous vocals and a range of stunning and diverse musical stylings... Would bring tears to even Charles Manson's eyes.” Brandon Lucy Campos, My Feet Only Walk Forward
A playful, romantic romp through the dazzling landscape of the imagination.
From Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective
Show Description: Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective invites you on a playfully wild journey through the wilderness of the imagination, where trees dance, the sun is blue, and the sky is yellow.
Imaginative, ethereal and insightful, Sophie’s Dream is about the profound connection between dreaming, waking up, and bringing forth
the soul’s deepest desires. Sophie is a creative soul, striving to build a bridge between her rich inner reality and the exterior world,
yearning to express her passions.
Sophie’s Dream is a love story unfolding. Sophie encounters Gray, a man whose presence is at once disconcerting, comforting, and
exhilarating.
The cast of six characters includes three Tree Muses and The Woman at the Piano – all playful visitors who remind Sophie who she was, who she is and who she is meant to become. This play-with-a-live-soundtrack is chock-full of truth-telling dialogue and lyrics, haunting melody and harmony, shimmering dream-scapes and transformational discovery.
Most Fringy Thing:The Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective is committed to fostering creative freedom, so that imagination can flourish and female artists can explore new creative forms. Sophie’s Dream, their whimsical indie film on stage, was dreamed into existence by first time playwright, Serenity Fisher in collaboration with first time director Caitlin Kane.
Artist/Company Bio:
Serenity Fisher is…
the writer of Sophie’s Dream and composer of all music therein
a singer-songwriter
playwright
actress
tree-hugger
poet with a penchant toward the absurd
an architect of strange creatures made of ink and paper
an ardent malapropisist
currently without bicycle
interested in experimental, relatable art
brimming with innovative, artistic truth.
As a musician, she has performed her original songs all over the country, most notably at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena at a concert featuring female artists.
Her acting credits include My Perfectly Beautiful Life (Mindy) at the Clifton Performance Theatre and Eight Reindeer Monologues (Dancer) and Great Gray Poets (Sugar) with Know Theatre. Her directing credits include Stop Kiss by Diana Son at Kent State University.
Serenity invites you on a playfully wild journey through the wilderness of imagination, where trees dance, the sun is blue, and the sky is yellow.
Previous Fringes: Fringe virgin
Hails from: Cincinnati, OH
Drawing by Serenity Fisher and design by Mallory Matson.
Show Description: The End is Near is one young man's poetic exploration of his culture and his generation. As his journey explores the triumphs and pitfalls of the modern world, he investigates our anxiety with endings; the end of our life, of our culture, and our world. Part spoken word poetry, part one man show, watch one man battle against his words while trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world.
Most Fringy Thing: Rapping, break dancing, and red paint.
Artist/Company Bio: Casey Scott Leach is a recent graduate of CCM Drama and grew up in Columbus, OH. Over three years ago he started the process for what would eventually become The End is Near. Since then, the piece has become the largest creative endeavor he has yet to produce. He debuted The End is Near this summer at the Covington Artisans Enterprise Center with the help of Joshua Steele and the Carniege Visual and Performing Arts Center. In the time that has passed he has reworked the piece and is ready to present it again as apart of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
Hails from: Cincinnati, OH
Previous Fringes: 2007 Cincinnati Fringe Festival (iLove), 2009 Cincinnati Fringe Festival (It Might Be Okay & Guns and Chickens)
