Fringe Festival

Fringe Fest Recap: #Mephistophilis, Add Your Comment Below & More

During opening weekend of the 2016 Rochester Fringe Festival, I helped write, produce and act in an evening of all-new, original, one-act plays titled, “We Wrote One Acts About the Internet, and You Won’t BELIEVE What Happened Next (WOW!).”

As is obvious by the title, all one-acts were written within the theme of the internet (an idea sparked from long-distance texting with friends Leah Stacy and Pete Wayner, who helped write, produce and act). #MEPHISTOPHILIS was the first to be written, earlier this year over a random weekend in February when I was brave enough to finally turn off Netflix. The story follows Mephistophilis (Meph) — a demon borrowed from Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. When the value of souls drastically deflate (due to humanity’s obsession with technology), Meph gets fired from Hell and gets a new job at a women’s shoe store in NYC.

The evening consisted of four plays total:

  • PRODUCT NAME BY PRODUCT COMPANY, written by Kevin Carr
  • #MEPHISTOPHILIS, written by Kevin Carr
  • TERMS & CONDITIONS, concept by Leah Stacy, Kevin Carr
  • ADD YOUR COMMENT BELOW, written by Leah Stacy, Pete Wayner

While it’s always an honor to have your work performed (or, say, even looked at), it’s even better when you produce the performances and both shows sell out. I’d say we were lucky with a good venue. Writers & Books is a small community theater and book store in the heart of Rochester’s arts district. The venue size was perfect — small but not too small, intimate but not awkward.

Due to some last minute snafus we weren’t able to fully stage my longest play, #MEPHISTOPHILIS. This was a bummer. Instead, we opted for a staged reading. This means the cast does their best with my script while sitting in chairs. It’s frightening, really — how transparent a staged reading can be. There is no set design to distract, no lighting, no costume change. (more…)

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Thursday Night FRINGE: “The Importance of Being Earnest” and Local Band, The Lonely Ones

Thursday night’s local music and live theatre double header at Writers & Books was among my favorite evenings at the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival. Local folk-indie-awesome band, The Lonely Ones, performed a diverse and wonderful set of original compositions, followed by the excellent, MUST SEE University of Rochester TOOP production of Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, “The Importance of Being Earnest” which, literally, brought the lattice down.

Let’s start with Earnest.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” @ Writers and Books

Photography by Todd Kelmar

Photography by Todd Kelmar

To be clear, I will pledge my support to student productions until the day my proverbial curtains close. That said, they are usually a mixed bag of quality, plagued with director inexperience, bland overstatement, and poor (pick of the crop) acting.

I’m happy to announce that University of Rochester TOOP’s (The Opposite of People) production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” rivals some of the best theatre I’ve seen at the Fringe this year. Ian Van Fange, only a sophomore at UR, directs Oscar Wilde’s extravagantly clever script into a tight, well performed play that had the nearly sold-out audience invested from start to finish, crying with laughter. When I spoke with Van Fange, congratulating him on the wonderful production, he gave all the credit to his actors. And I can see why. His cast was certainly amazing.

Daniel Mensel (as Algernon Moncrieff) and Michael Tamburrino (as John Worthing, J.P.) are impeccable together, eliciting a contagious chemistry that never quits. These two young actors jump into Wilde’s shoes brilliantly. Were they born to play these roles? Maybe. All we know is what we can assume: Mensel and Tamburrino were born to play many more roles after this.

Photography by Todd Kelmar

Photography by Todd Kelmar

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FRINGE Days 3 & 4: Jay Pharaoh, “Intrepid,” and a Laptop Orchestra

The First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival continues its Tricycle tromping path throughout the city of Rochester. I’ve come to terms: as a Fringe audience member, I’m never quite sure what I’m going to see. This weekend my limits were stretched. I was witness to SNL stand up, a laptop orchestra, an hour long, prop-free, one-man show and more.

A Little Business at the Big Top

guide_photoA Little Business at the Big Top is a one man show, currently playing at the Geva Theatre and features accomplished performance actor David Gaines. He is a Fringe veteran who travels the world performing solo shows. Sans stage props, David Gaines prompts imagination. The man is pure electricity, the mime child of Steve Martin and Charlie Chaplin.

While at first, for me, the lack of dialogue and set design was a hard pill to swallow, but a few minutes into the show my brain filled in the details (like the food fight scene on Hook!), and all of a sudden the scene flooded in. I saw the circus tent, the animals, the tight rope. My imagination hasn’t seen this much action in ages. Thanks, David. It was truly magical!

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Rochester Laptop Orchestra

On the total opposite end of the technology performance spectrum was the Rochester Laptop Orchestra, hosted by Eastman and University of Rochester students. What is a laptop orchestra exactly? I’m still trying to figure that out. To the show’s detriment, composition explanations were riddled with enigmatic jargon that left me scratching my head. All this to say, I still had a really great time (even if I wasn’t always aware of what was going on).

The hosts incorporated ballerina dancing, drum circles, facial mapping, and more. Here’s a video of the orchestra creating music through genetic mapping. What were they mapping? A disease. Pretty cool stuff.

My favorite part of the performance was the facial mapping sequence: depending how the users would move their faces, piano notes would play. (more…)

FRINGE Day 2: After Hours A Cappella and Tricycle Madness in Manhattan Square

After a dreamlike introduction, a diffident storyline, and a long journey through the crowds of Manhattan Square, Fringe Festival’s Friday night headliner, Tricycle by Circus Orange, awoke its impatient and testy audience with a spectacle filled finale, leaving them speechless and in awe.

For instance, this happened:

Courtesy of the Rochester Fringe Festival

Courtesy of the Rochester Fringe Festival

Wait. Wait. Let’s back up. There’s more to tell. Much more. Let’s start earlier in the day, shall we?

DAY 2

After Hours A Cappella at Bernunzio Uptown Music

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After Hours always puts on a great show. I’ve never been clear, however, if their sound and style can sustain audiences beyond the academic, rarefied walls of the University of Rochester.

The first thing I noticed was that the show was almost sold out. So that is good. The second thing? These undergrads are amazing. Top notch voices, diverse song selections, innovative compositions.

From “Stand by Me,” to Little Mermaid‘s “Kiss the Girl,” to “Teenage Dream,” After Hours commandingly covered a range of popular genres, feeding their captivated audience with an overflowing trick-or-treat bag of ear candy.

After the gig, I met the crew and asked the gentlemen “Why a cappella?” (more…)

Rochester Fringe Week on The Number Kevin!

The most wonderful time of the year (for Rochester) is here: the 3rd annual Rochester Fringe Festival. Ahh, I’m so excited.

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Spiegeltent, Cirque Du Fringe, Circus Orange, Jay Pharaoh, local theater, local music–over 300 performances!

The best part is that I get to go to all of it. I’m pleased to announce that, this year, The Number Kevin is one of the official bloggers for the Fringe! Yes, I just referred to myself in the third person. Things are going to get weird. Trust me.

So stay tuned! All this week, and a few days more, I’ll be posting everything Fringe. Where to go, what to do, who stole what show, what events are happening from the University of Rochester as well as other colleges, and, finally, who has the best beer.

Quick Snaps for Last Night

Fringe officially kicked off last night with the Mardi Gras themed, wow-inducing Cique Du Fringe at the amazing Spiegeltent. (Excuse the grainy pics, my phone can not give the Spiegeltent justice. See it for yourself. It is a one of a kind atmosphere).

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After the Spiegeltent show, some friends and I happened upon Eastman students playing jazz at Press Coffee. I don’t know who these hep cats we’re, but they were slaying it. (more…)