Alexa Brown
   Staff Writer

From Jan. 21 to Feb. 8, the Greensboro Fringe Festival invites theater, dance and comedy lovers to come out and enjoy new and original shows constructed by independent theatre producers. The festival gives these independent artists — many of whom don’t have access to venues — a chance to showcase their work and build their fan base. In addition to giving artists exposure, the Greensboro Fringe Festival serves as a tool to bring more business to downtown Greensboro and promote it as an entertainment and culture hub.

In 2003, Todd Fisher — the director of the Greensboro Fringe Festival, Steven Hyers and a group called the American Distractions decided to work together to bring the Fringe, rooted in Edinburg, Scotland, to Greensboro. Their goal in doing this was to introduce theatre fans to new and often local artists and original content while helping independent producers gain exposure by providing them with a larger, shared audience. Fourteen years later, the Greensboro Fringe Festival has expanded greatly, featuring a variety of companies and artists, and giving audiences a chance to watch plays, dances, comedy shows and more all in the same place.

The difference between a fringe festival and film festivals such as Sundance or Cannes is that all works must be original, live productions. People who attend the Greensboro Fringe Festival won’t see any reenactments of contemporary plays or musicals.

“We’re a performance festival, so all of the applications have to be original works to North Carolina,” Fisher explained. “We’ve accepted original music performances in the past as well as theater, dance, and any other forms of performance art. We’ve had hybrids, blends… all types of submissions and performances.”

The festival board typically starts taking submissions to perform in the Greensboro Fringe Festival in September, and for the following three months, based off of the amount of submissions, their schedule and available venues they decide what is feasible as far as shows go. The board then reviews the submissions and decides which ones will be featured in the festival.

“Part of our mission is to not say ‘no’. We try to give as many opportunities as we possibly can,” Fisher said.

Though they prefer to showcase artists who are native to North Carolina, artists from other states are welcome to submit their works as well. Accepting a wide range of performance art from different artists allows Fisher and his team to format the shows in way that will introduce viewers to new artists.

 

“A lot of dance choreographers will submit their pieces, so we get to group different artists together in a dance concert format,” Fisher explained. “We have the benefit of crossing audiences in the stands so they get a chance to see other people’s work.”

The Greensboro Fringe Festival also presents itself as an awesome opportunity for performance art fans to get involved in Greensboro’s entertainment industry. The Greensboro Fringe Festival is a volunteer organization and welcomes anyone who would like to help out by putting up posters, ushering at shows or designing posters.

Attendees can expect to see 32 original pieces this year as well as a new format. The Drama Center of City Arts has moved their New Play Project into the Fringe. Kicking off the festival was “Ghost Notes,” written by Gabrielle Sinclair, the winner of the New Play Project and the Mark Gilbert Award. This was the first full production of her work and, despite the bad weather, it was almost completely sold out.

“It’s great to have that many people come out to support a brand new play that no one’s ever seen before. It’s inspiring and it’s the fuel that keeps us going,” Fisher said.

Fisher is excited that he and his colleagues are able to put on the Fringe Festival again after fourteen years.

“I think Greensboro finally caught up to us,” Todd explained, “people are really enthusiastic about it, and I have a feeling that this year the buzz is going to keep going through the third week and all of the artists will be able to benefit from that.”

Though he’s part of the committee that decides which artists will be showcased during the festival, Fisher is excited to experience pieces that he hasn’t yet seen.

“The cool thing is that people submit to the festival, but we encourage them to continue developing their pieces.” Fisher said. “…especially with dance and choreographers, they’re going to continue to make changes up until opening night, and theater producers are doing the same thing, so that’s exciting for me. I like seeing the audition footage, then coming night of the show I see this fully developed, well thought out idea executed on stage in front of a live audience. That’s a great experience to me!”

All Greensboro Fringe Festival shows are located at the Stephen D. Hyers Studio Theater.