Published: February 08, 2009 10:19 pm      

Edgy performances

Local theater group plans fringe festival

ASHLAND — A local theater group will bring Ashland a first: a fringe festival.

The Red Lion Theater Company has organized a fringe festival for Feb. 11 through 14 at the Gukundi Multiplex, the corner of 8th Street and Carter Avenue, in Ashland.



A fringe festival is a celebration of a variety of performing arts, especially theater but sometimes extending to dance, puppetry, storytelling and performance art, that includes a variety of shows presented at many venues. The word “fringe” is used as a description because many shows aren’t considered to have mainstream potential.

Kory Helmick, executive artist in residence for The Red Lion Theatre Company, said the idea for the fringe festival here is based on the festival in New York, which lasts about two weeks and involves many acting groups and theaters.

“It’s massive,” Helmick said. “They have theaters lined up throughout the city and different shows, originals, short plays, new musicals — everything that could ever be under the sun for theater and performance art.” Schedules are made and performances are judged, with prizes awarded to some.

“Eventually, depending on how well you do in the festival, they can be picked up and taken to mainstream theaters on Broadway,” he said.

Shows done in Ashland obviously won’t have the exposure needed to win the opportunity to make it to Broadway, but the style will reflect the festival in New York.

Helmick said his theater company invited individuals, community organizations, companies, colleges and high schools to participate by submitting a short, one-act play, 10-minute play or sketch to be presented during the festival. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winner and runner-up of each category, as well as to the over-all winner and runner-up.

“Our company sees this as a wonderful and significant opportunity to bridge the gap between the separate performing arts groups in the Tri-State in a manner that highlights and showcases the art form we all care so deeply about,” Helmick said.

The festival will last four days and The Red Lion Theatre Company will stage its works with fringe material surrounding it, he said.

“Red Lion is doing a very strong material show called “Sophistry” on Thursday and Friday,” Helmick said. “There’s also a world premiere of a one-woman show on Saturday night by Dinah Houston, an educator at Summit.”

The show, called “Anna Alone,” is written by Houston and is about the wife of German composer J.S. Bach. It will be presented at 8 p.m. Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Gukundi Multiplex. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors.

Houston, a national board certified teacher for gifted and talented at Summit Elementary, said she has always been fascinated with Anna Magdelana Bach.

“Women in the 1700s in Germany were seen and not heard; they were not educated. Yet, Anna was taught to read and to read music by her father, a court trumpeter,” Houston said, adding she was hired as a court musician and paid her own way in life.

“Then, she met Bach, and the rest is history, but it’s history that many people don’t know about.”

Houston said she combines facts and speculation about Anna Magdelana Bach with musical performances to illustrate her life.

“I hope that people see the show and come away with an understanding of her resilience and take a look at their own lives, to appreciate and provide for their families,” she said.

Helmick said he thought this was the time for a fringe festival in Ashland.

“I thought it would be nice with all the financial hardships we’ve been facing in the community,” he said, adding having a world premiere at the festival is a bonus. “We’ve only been ru nning eight or nine months so we’re really excited to be taking on a world premiere.”

Helmick said group members don’t know what to expect in terms of response, but the festival will run from 6 to 9 or 10 p.m. nightly. Tickets per night will be $7 but tickets are available for all four nights at $20. Those tickets will be sold by performers as fundraisers; $5 of each $20 will be kept by the performer and the rest will go to cover rent at the theater.

The Red Lion Theatre Company has presented a few shows in the area during its short live, including “Bye Bye, Birdie” and “The Whole Town’s Talking” at the Greenbo Lake State Resort Park Amphitheatre and “MacBeth” this summer, as well as some variety shows, the series of which is called “Egos Out of Control;” each of those shows carry a subtitle.

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.