MORE FROM THE FRINGE - 24 HOUR PLAYS

The set-up: a group of actors get together with some rough ideas, some props and maybe bits of costume. They have 24 hours to turn this into three 20 minute plays, write it, memorize it, rehearse it and go. The first, shown here, was called Waiting For Bingo(t), Horrible, horrible pun, as will become clear. 

Four bored characters sit at an achingly slow bingo game, while the one in the middle calls numbers at an irregular pace. It becomes apparent that this is purgatory, where the inhabitants have nothing to do but play bingo for years, centuries or even millennia. The only way out is to complete their card and win. It doesn't happen often. Near the end, we learn that the man second from left is Adam. 

Samples of the second two parts tomorrow.            

MORE FROM THE FRINGE - STOREYVILLE BURLESQUE

This town has a burlesque scene. There is a nightclub and bar dedicated to the genre. Two of the shows at the Fringe were burlesques. The festival has a no censorship policy but I couldn't help but wonder how a lot of women react to it - objectivization, male gaze and all that.  I shot both of these shows and the audience was about equally men and women. And the ladies were having just as good a time.

 

The woman who performs as Lola van Ella, in the green dress, had been putting on these shows and running a school in St. Louis for a long time. A couple of years ago she moved to New Orleans where the market for this sort of thing was better. Van Ella produced a two hour show with music and comedy, all pretty racy, and the usual gradual display of bodies. The conceit was that it was set many years ago in Storeyville, an area of New Orleans where any of your vices could be satisfied. The crowd loved it.

 

It should be no surprise that there were a lot of photos from this show that it would by unwise for me to post online.        

MORE FROM THE FRINGE - SCORPIO SEASON

Disclaimer: I know little about dance. I have a decent sense of rhythm but it's in my ears and brain, not in my body. I am physically graceless.

So a performance like Scorpio Season baffles me a little. I do better making images of it than appreciating the art itself. The group is called The Collected Few Project but I have no further information. If someone can give me more details I'll update this.          

MORE FROM THE FRINGE - FIRE IN THE METH LAB

Yesterday was the very rare day with no post. I've been working hard as the St. Louis Fringe's photographer. I've lost track of how many shows I shot this week but I think my right index finger needs a splint.

One of the best shows I've seen working with the Fringe is Jon Bennett's Fire In The Meth Lab. Bennett is an Australian storyteller, actor and comedian, and winner of many awards. This show is about his relationship with his brother Tim, two years older and with serious emotional problems. He tormented Jon when they were children. As they grew older on their family's rural farm, Tim got hooked on alcohol, then marijuana, then psychedelics and finally methamphetamine. He set up a lab in Adelaide to supply a biker gang with dividends for himself. One day the lab literally exploded, leaving Tim with life-threatening burns. He survived.

The story is much more complicated than that. The version produced here was shortened. You can--and should--see the full version at https://www.jonbennettcomedy.com/fire-in-the-meth-lab/           

MORE FROM THE FRINGE - THE OREO COMPLEX

An oreo is more than a cookie. Most Americans will recognize it as a racial term for someone who is black on the outside and white on the inside. Lillian Brown gave the most stunning performance I've seen so far, riffing on the pressures and pains of Black people in a White-dominated society. You can learn more about her and her work at www.lilliancbrown.com .        

FROM THE FRINGE - SONGS OF A MOVEMENT

Songs Of A Movement was Toni Schneider Finch's review of feminist anthems from the 19th Century suffragettes to modern popular music. It included Loretta Lynn's The Pill, Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me and, of course, Helen Reddy's I Am Woman. There was lots more. Schneider Finch was accompanied by violin, cello and electric keyboard. The show ended with a sing along. 

I may have trouble keeping up with daily posts for a bit. I'm The Fringe's house photographer. If I shot a full schedule tonight I'd go from 6 to midnight, and tomorrow from 11:30 AM to 11:30 PM, all without a meal break. I'm too old for that but I'll get as many shows as I can and edit the pix, um, in my spare time.            

WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE FRINGE - ZAFIRA QUARTET

Still a light schedule last night with just two performances. Holly Huelskamp, Sarah Browdy, Amy Greenhalgh and Ranya Iqbal are the Zefira Quartet, St. Louis' only electric string quartet. The sound colors they produced were not what you would hear down the street at the symphony hall. I was impressed. They played a variety of music, classical, tango, Lizzo, Russian folk song (hey, I had to play that one, Dark Eyes, during my years as a failed kid violin student) and waltz. Click the link to hear them on Spotify or Apply Music. Hope I run into them again.