Last of the Fringe

I said good-bye to the 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe festival last week with sadness. I had a wonderful time working on my own show, and although I was quite poor this year and didn't get to see all of the shows I wanted, I still managed to pack my Fringe season with good shows and good fun at the Festival Bar.

(Side note: prices are getting absolutely ridiculous! This is supposed to be a theater festival-- how are artists supposed to see any shows at all if they are priced at $25-$30?!)

Anyway, I digress. Tuesday night was the A.W.A.R.D. Show!

The show pitted 12 Philadelphia dance companies against each other, competing for a $10,000 prize for the best 10 minute presentation of their work. The audience chose their favorites! I went to support my good buddy Jenn Rose and her amazing contemporary tap company, Loose Screws. The concept of a dance popularity contest is a little odd to me, but it was great to see all different types of dance and try to discern what made the choreographer's work unique and challenging. Plus there was free cheese afterwards! Jenn won the preliminary round, and went on to compete in the finals, ultimately losing the big prize to Nicole Canuso. A huge congratulations to Nicole (who's work I didn't see, but I hear she's fabulous) and to Jenn, who presented an absolutely beautiful piece.


Next Melanie and I pedaled our way up the hills of University City to see small metal objects. This show was an Australian import with a fascinating concept. The audience sat on risers facing a busy street. We all got headphones. The actors wore microphones, and at first you couldn't tell who was merely a passing pedestrian and who was a character in this piece. It was amazing to observe the reactions of people on the street not involved in the show-- I'm sure more than one of them wondered why a whole crowd was sitting together, wearing headphones and staring at them!

After the show, Melanie and I made it to Festival Bar for the very last night:

We were soon joined by all of our homies! (l-r: Melanie, Alison, me)

And they were passing out glow-sticks-- how 1996 is THAT?! (Arizona and Alison)

Friends are just the bestest... (Melanie and Amanda)

So happy to be here! (me and Melanie)
We were assured by the bartenders that the party would go all night long, but at about 2am the trailer bathrooms began to leak out of the bottom, letting loose a steady pour of shitty water all over the pavement. The bar was quickly shut down.

A fitting end, perhaps, to a crazybutwonderfulbutmessy festival. And as we hopped on our bikes and headed home in the crisp and cold night, I couldn't help but feel that despite what the calendar says, the end of the Festival was really the end of summer.