2013 Vegas Fringe Festival has something for everyone
The world of the Vegas buffet extends far beyond the traditional casino chow-down.
When it comes to theatrical feasts, the 2013 Vegas Fringe Festival lives up to the buffet metaphor with a wide-ranging performance menu, serving up everything from edgy premieres to family-friendly classics, musicals to improv.
Now in its fourth year, the festival — which begins a two-weekend run Friday at Las Vegas Little Theatre — brings a dozen local companies together, highlighting theatrical options for audiences and artists alike.
“To this point, it has been exclusive to Las Vegas theater companies,” says LVLT’s TJ Larsen , who notes its status as “a homegrown event — and that’s something we’re very proud of.”
Five performances each by 12 festival companies add up to 60 performances in LVLT’s Mainstage and Black Box theaters.
Some productions are “a little cutting-edge,” others “a little more family-friendly,” Larsen says.
And “for people who may not be as familiar with live theater, this is a perfect opportunity to jump into the pool,” Larsen says.
With no play longer than 90 minutes — and some much shorter — if you don’t like one, Larsen says, there’s another one coming up immediately afterward.
The fringe fest’s varied lineup has made people aware that there’s plenty of theater going on in Las Vegas, says playwright Ernie Curcio , who has not one but two works premiering this year.
The 40-minute “Moil Beside the Rock,” set in 1861 San Francisco, has been in the works for a while, Curcio says, “but it’s the first time it’s being presented.”
And the 35-minute “Sudoku (The Musical) ” — with music by Angela Chan and lyrics by Jolana Adamson — was written especially for the festival.
As one of Cockroach Theatre’s resident playwrights, “they needed a play from me,” Curcio says. “So I thought, ‘Why don’t we try to write a 35-minute musical?’ ”
Presenting a play at the fringe offers a chance to test shows out, he says.
It’s “a cocoon, a place to develop a new project,” adds Lysander Abadia of Poor Richard’s Players, who already knows that Vegas Fringe Festival audiences love “Dick Johnson.” After all, it won best-of-the-fest honors last year.
Little wonder, then, that this year brings “Dick Johnson 2: Private Eyes,” which follows the further adventures of the title detective (played by Maxim Lardent , who wrote the play with Mark Valentin ) in a 1940s-style radio show — complete with commercials and an onstage sound effects technician. (And if you didn’t see last year’s original, never fear: “There’s a hilarious recap at the top of the show,” Abadia says.)
Last year’s audience “gave us the idea” for the stage sequel, he says, by “asking what’s going to happen next with these characters.”
Overall, the fringe productions range in scope from one- and two-character shows to Endless Productions’ “Alice in Wonderland,” which boasts 18 cast members — “a huge cast for a fringe show,” director Timothy Burris says.
Two years ago, Burris directed another children’s classic: “The Wind in the Willows,” which he discovered at the famed Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“At first glance, fringe conjures the image of edgier-type stuff,” Burris says, but “it’s a buffet of theater in general.” And family-oriented productions such as “Alice” offer families a chance to “share the fringe experience with all audiences.”
With actors working directly from Lewis Carroll’s text, this “Alice,” he notes, focuses on something “you rarely see ... the story of a young child going through a fantastic journey.”
Writer Kris Saknussemm ’s “The Humble Assessment” traveled from Australia to make its U.S. premiere at the Vegas Fringe Festival.
“Highly disturbing, highly entertaining, and extremely well-crafted” was Melbourne Age’s verdict of the 2011 world premiere of the play, about a job interview turned interrogation — and nightmare.
Saknussemm came to Southern Nevada as last year’s Gallagher Fellow at the UNLV-based Black Mountain Institute — and decided to stay. After he met director Jason Defreitas at a local writers’ group, Defreitas suggested “Humble Assessment” as a fringe festival possibility.
Formerly with Cirque du Soleil, Defreitas (who also performs in “The Humble Assessment”) came up with a Cirque-inspired video element: Two of the characters appear not live but on video, suggesting “the surveillance aspect of the play,” Saknussemm says. “It heightens that sense of paranoia.”
In addition to leading local audiences to a variety of theatrical destinations, fringe participants revel in the chance to collaborate, network and otherwise offer mutual support.
There’s a pre-festival barbecue (hosted by Larsen) where “all of us hang out together,” Burris says. “It’s wonderful.”
Even before then, however, companies have been sharing resources and actors, seeking advice and assistance, according to Abadia — who, in addition to directing “Dick Johnson 2,” is running the lights for Happy Hour Improv’s “Your Life, The Improvised Play.”
Overall, he says, the festival is “a good place to start small, with an audience that’s very supportive.”
And although the festival offers playwrights the chance “to see where your caliber of work is” compared with other artists, Curcio says, “everyone’s very supportive. It’s definitely not competition.”
Despite the existence of a best-of award at the festival’s conclusion, “I don’t think any one of us set out to say ‘I’m taking it,’ ” Burris says. “It’s a byproduct — we all celebrate whoever does win.”
The true winners, however, may be Las Vegas audiences who are “aware that there’s plenty of theater going on in Las Vegas,” thanks to the fringe festival spotlight, Curcio says.
In Abadia’s view, “because of the fringe festival, we’re no longer separate companies trying to compete for the Las Vegas audience — we’re working together to create a full year of theater for Las Vegas.”
Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.
