Theater Bay Area Magazine
Expect the Unexpected at the SF Fringe
September 2006
Amber Adrian
Theater artists sick of rehearsing for eight weeks, performing for four,
and netting a grand total of a hundred dollars (before travel costs)
should consider the Fringe. Christina Augello dubs it "Christmas in
the theater," in part because you can walk out with a pocketful of
cash. "I think that validates you as a professional performer," says
Augello. The Fringe is supported by the Exit Theater - where Augello
is artistic director - but is not curated by Augello or anyone else. The
exit offers tech, publicity, box office, admin. support and an
audience, but no agenda is imposed on the artists. "It opens the
doors to thinking outside the box," says Augello. Artists show up for
the opportunity to be innovative and take risks. "Quite frankly,"
Augello says," the kind of work we're nurturing would not wind up on
Broadway. Yet the theater needs variety of material to exist and have
a future. We can't keep re-inventing musicals."

Edgy, creative and sometimes dark work blooms at the Fringe. It also
has a reputation for being patchy. "Curation does not dictate
quality," asserts Augello. "It's hit and miss wherever you go." The
Fringe is condensed so it seems like more, but if you extend it out
over an eight month season somewhere, there's the same average of
excellent, good, average and ew." Some of the Bay Areas most
respected companies - including Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire,
Lunatique Fantastique, Cutting Ball and Killing My Lobster -
appeared at the Fringe before going on to become important parts of
the Bay area ecology. Augello also notes that Fringe regular Banana
Bag and Bodice was currently hailed in Time Out New York, "The
Fringe had something to do with that."
The Fringe is prime opportunity for new artists to dip in their toes and
decide is theater is something they want to do. It's also a shot for
working performers to polish new work or tackle subjects that wouldn't
sell elsewhere, Augello says. "They'll be bad because they're
allowed. It's uncensored theater."

The Fringe can also  serve as a stepping stone for enterprising artists
on the great publicity mission - an essential part of getting you work
sen and making a living in the theater. Slash Coleman, performer
and playwright of The Neon Man and Me, aims to have his show
booked Off-Broadway by the fall of 2007. From Richmond, Virginia,
Coleman will be crashing on a friends couch during the San
Francisco Fringe Festival, which he's using to gear up for the
Edinburgh Fringe next year.

The exit support the risk taking by writing grants and raising money.
"We rely on the kindness of friends and strangers," says Augello," and
word of mouth. It's really grassroots driven. But the Exit is a solid
investment for funders and performers (who contribute a performance
fee that makes up a third of the budget. "People respect us. People
see us as a place where dangerous, edgy stuff happens. The Fringe
is right up our alley." Augello notes that the Fringe is here to support
the artist. "Not because we're do-gooders but because we love what
we do. We love the work, we love the excitement of seeing new work.
Of watching artists grow and develop.

The Fringe open up the local community and morphs it into a
national and international community for a 12 day period. Local
artists mingle with artists from as far away as Singapore and form
connections that help keep the art scene fresh and vibrant. "As
theater artists, we are about community," says Augello. "It's a
communal sport" Networking is done, new projects are envisioned,
new companies formed. Everyone learns from everyone else work. It's
important to me to keep those doors and windows open, she says.
Slash Coleman
will perform a run
of eight shows at
the San Fran
Fringe Festival in
September.
(Photo: Mike
Coleman)
© Slash Coleman 2008