Fringe Festival returns to KCMO
Kansas City’s Fringe Festival, an eleven-day performing arts festival hosted by non-profit group The Fringe, is anything but “fringe” art. The mood of the event is inspired by the artists who contribute; the festival is eclectic, strongly independent and experimental.
The diversity of the festival extends to the art and the artists. Fringe spotlights performing arts dance, theater, singing and spoken word; along with visual arts like sculpture and photography. Beginning July 21 and running through July 31, the eleven-day art event draws over 20 thousand people to a total of 18 venues and 475 performances.
The Fringe makes a conscious effort to include and encourage diversity within the Festival. This is the third festival in which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) artists have been identified for attendees - to highlight productions that might, without the festival, remain unseen.
Kevin King, LGBT marketing liaison for the event, says, “Fringe Festivals are great - shows start out in a raw incarnation and [through the festival] get developed into full productions or movies - far removed from the original incarnation.”
Fringe Festivals began in Edinburgh in the 1940s and take place in many major cities across the US and globe. The name comes from “fringe” theater - put on by small troupes of performers and much like off-Broadway shows today. Kansas City’s Fringe provides its artists with an excellent opportunity to present work that has not been workshopped or polished like traditional theater.
King says, “It’s really great to be able to get your work in front of people. As a playwright, that is the height of your craft; your goal is to always have people see or hear plays rather than just read them. The Fringe audiences are great - they are devoted to the festival and are expecting things to be raw or unfinished, however, every year with Fringe the quality of the shows I’ve seen throughout the whole festival have been increasing.”
Erika Lynnette Baker and Kevin King, “Badder Auditions,” 2015. Photo by Whim Productions.
Fringe Festival extends the opportunity to produce art for the stage on a first-come first-serve basis; applicants must simply pay an entry fee and sign up before the list is full. Unlike some Fringe Fests that rely on a juried model to choose participants, Kansas City’s open sign ups provide artists without connections to the performing arts scene with a level playing field.
According to King, this philosophy is the heart of Fringe. “We have people who come up with an idea and they feel like it has legs and want to get it out there - and it may the only time they do theater - students will get together to do a show, and in addition, you have the organized theater companies who also have performances in the festival.”
The festival is held at venues across Kansas City’s Crossroads and Midtown districts. For admission to the Fringe, attendees can purchase a five dollar Fringe Button. With the button, each performance is only ten dollars.
The beauty of the festival for audiences is its ability to provide them with access to more theater than they regularly have access to at a low price. Fringe Festival is a symbiotic relationship between artists and audiences; both gain from the experience.
King says, “[Fringe is] important because it supports the talent that we have in Kansas City. Speaking as a playwright, I am always impressed with the amount of talent in Kansas City. Fringe is a fantastic vehicle to get plays on the stage, because they are meant to live and breathe - it is a wonderful way to make that happen.”
Fringe Festival runs July 21-31 in Kansas City, Missouri. More information is available at www.kcfringe.org.
by Lauren Dow
Journalism Intern
The Gayly - 7/9/2016 @ 9:20 a.m. CDT.