Fringe & Live Arts Festival - P.A.W. Print

Do you sometimes feel like you are lost in the muck of mainstream art forms, floundering to satisfy your hunger for experimentation? Are you an artist in desperate need for the affirmation of the disposition that taking chances can actually pay off? Well, lucky you. The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe Festival are on their way. The two festivals, originally founded as the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, have taken place annually since 1997. This year, the festivals will be presented September 3 to September 18. "[It's] one fun and outrageous time of year," said the festival's co-founder and Producing Director Nick Stuccio. "Philadelphia, for more than two weeks," continued Stuccio, "becomes a mecca for the performing arts."

The festivals aim to bring together the widely dispersed and commonly disaffected members of the local art scene. "Our audiences are people who are looking for new ways to do things, new things to try. They are adventurous and committed to Philadelphia's performing arts Renaissance," continued Stuccio. The box office opened on August 23 and is located at 620 Chestnut Street.

Stuccio added, "By virtue of its unique format, [each] festival also provides a high concentration of people normally dispersed in smaller venues at various times of the year." So go find your people. You might finally see them in the daylight, away from the dark, smoky corners of the dingy bars you've patronized together, suddenly watching the Leah Stein Dance Company performing Cornerstone at the Christ Church Burial Ground on Arch Street on September 4 at 6pm. Or they might have departed the basement galleries on First Friday in order to catch Ed Schmidt's play The Last Supper in the black box on the 3rd floor of 723 Sansom Street at 7pm. Perhaps you will see them becoming enraptured and stimulated by an international act, such as Akira Kasai, who will perform Japanese butoh on September 9 at the Painted Bride Art Center at 230 Vine Street at 8pm. This year, 150 shows will occupy performance spaces all over Philadelphia. Each show is self-produced.

The Live Arts Festival features cutting-edge performing arts events, mostly comprised of dance groups and bands, while the Philly Fringe is an all-inclusive event that enables various kinds of visual artists and filmmakers to self-produce their work. Sixty-eight artists will be featured in the Live Arts Festival, and 149 artists will exhibit as part of Philly Fringe. Because the Fringe Festival does not subject participants to a selection process, the artists involved truly represent the marginalized populations of both regional and international artists (in other words those at "the fringe"). The venues range from theaters, nightclubs, and galleries to alleyways, abandoned buildings, and hotel rooms. The Headlong Dance Theatre, a local group, will perform their piece Hotel Pool in the pool at the Society Hill Sheraton Hotel. Richard Maxwell and the New York City Players will present the play Showcase in a room at the Holiday Inn.

Because the festivals are open to new and developing talent, Stuccio said, "[Artists] feel comfortable and inspired to push boundaries and experiment." The Fringe Festival in particular, he continues, represents a "strong, effective platform for [the] emergence" of artists and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally.

Program Director Deborah Block called the Fringe "unfiltered" and "all-inclusive." "[The shows] represent every voice in the world of performance you could possibly imagine," added Stuccio, who explained that the Live Arts Festival is geared toward conventional expectations. "It is challenging to place contemporary performance art in the typical categories of dance, music and theater," Stuccio continued. "The boundaries in the work are wonderfully impossible to find." The Live Arts Festival coordinators have avoided using traditional modes of classification by grouping the shows into four loosely defined "sets of experiences" based on the artists' intentions or feelings. Other Places includes works inspired by a place. On Stages groups theater pieces that contain a central text or narrative. Bodies in Motion consists of pieces that focus on the physicality of the body. Performance Installations includes work based in visual or conceptual art practices. The Live Arts Festival also offers live discussions and workshops that allow audience members to interact with the artists. This is called Festival Plus. Kasai, after his September 10 performance, for instance, will host a talk.

Audiences will be the first to see developing works at Live Arts. Mum Puppet Theatre will present Foocy Djanni by Ugly Stepsister on September 6, a play written by and featuring Philadelphia-based actor Tony Lawton. This new work is part of Live Art's "In Progress" agenda. "In Rehearsal" is a bill with the same theme, characterized by PhilaDanceTokyo.Net, a workshop piece by the Group Motion Dance Company with Leni-Basso, which will be presented at Painted Bride, September 13. Stuccio said, "'Live' is that moment during a performance when you experience something new, fresh, different, and exciting. It is the moment when we recognize that we are in a new territory."

Last year, the festivals drew tens of thousands of audience members. This year, organizers hope for even more involvement from Philadelphians and out-of-towners alike. So next month, get out there and support all those starving artists who, in many cities, don't stand a chance of exhibiting their work. Show some Philly pride, because here, we're willing to take risks. For more information, call (215) 413-1318 or visit the festivals' website at www.livearts-fringe.org.

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