The annual Capital Fringe Festival is one of the summer’s highlights in Washington, D.C., tucking countless unconventional theater, music and dance events into venues throughout the city.
Now Washington will be treated to a Fall Fringe Festival, consisting of 30 benefit performances of three different shows, Nov. 11-15 and Nov. 18-22.
“We needed to raise some money before the end of the year in order to help fund the 2010 Festival,” Fringe Festival Executive Director Julianne Brienza said in a recent interview. “I was chatting with Mark Whitney, who did shows in the summer festivals in 2007 and 2008. He generously offered to come from California and do something for us and donate the proceeds to the Fringe.”
Whitney will be performing the mix of humor and political observation that won him the Best Solo Performer award in the 2008 festival, “Fool for a Client.”
After Whitney made a commitment to donate his services, Brienza approached two other past Fringe Festival participants, who also offered to donate time and ticket revenue. “Ed Hamell’s ‘The Terrorism of Everyday Life’ was in this year’s festival,” Brienza said, “and he won our director’s award for it. So, we invited him back from New York to do his show again.” Hamell, who has been described as a “one-man punk band” is the author and performer of this mix of passion and politics.
“Then we’ve included Kelly Bond, who lives in D.C. and was in our festival in 2006,” Brienza said. “She’s doing a performance/dance piece, ‘Splitting the Difference.’ I thought it would be a good balance to the two theater pieces to add some dance.”
Brienza feels that, though the Fall Festival was born out of necessity, it has opened up the possibility of deliberately doing smaller festivals throughout the year. “Putting the whole festival together seems like a great thing,” she explained. “It’s something we’d like to continue to do, to expand the reach we have in the summer and to help independent artists get produced. That’s part of our mission.”
All three offerings are being done at The Shop, 610 L St. NW, an 80-seat theater. Check the Web site for times. Tickets to the Fall Festival are $15-$20. A special pass to all three shows for $30 is also available. Call 866-811-4111 or visit: HYPERLINK “http://www.capfringe.org” capfringe.org.
