Malini’s Theatre Rite of Passage: FringeNYC 2006! Plus an Invite

So I sat down with the Fringe schedule last week.  Now for those of you not familiar with the New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), here it is in a nutshell

• largest arts festival in North America
• more than 200 shows
• 20 venues
• 16 days

I have two shows in the festival – Naked in Alaska & See Jane Give Up Dick – just in case you didn’t get the memo – in addition to a friends who are in shows. Not that doesn’t include the local theatre being produced. I really should call this Malini & TBB Tour Summer Shows because I’ve already seen two shows – Beckett in Bengali with Horse Trade and Les Mis with Andrew Koslosky’s company in Douglaston. Today is the 5th.

Black Henna was part of the Fringe in 2006. Wow. That was a whirlwind of a year. We produced three show – 2 were in festivals – and I was on a tv show for ITV called The Happyrams. It feels like yesterday. Anyway, I think any artist performing in NYC should do the Fringe if you can. It is truly a rite of passage.

Here’s a quick breakdown: Once you are accepted into the Fringe, you then have to begin the work of gathering your team. And when I say team, I mean a solid production team. If everyone isn’t on the same page…DISASTER. Once that production team is created, the Fringe wants you to have an ACR which is basically the liaison between the Fringe & you. It’s a very important position that should be the only position assigned to that person. Then the usual steps to putting together a show. Now here’s the thing. You usually do not find out where and when you are performing until almost three weeks before the festival opens. So everything has to be minimalist. Especially since once you have your dates and venue, you then have to make sure you stick to the run time of your piece because there’s a show right after you. So you have 15 minutes to 30 minutes to strike and get out of the space. And your times vary throughout the 5 performance run. So you may be performing at 10:30pm on a Tuesday and 1pm on a Sunday and 3:45 on a Saturday. It’s intense. So imagine now trying to be in a show and supporting others. Crazytown.

In retrospect, even though my stage manager sprained her foot (and believe me I still hear about it 7 years later), I had no clue how to produce for the Fringe(that’s a separate post) , Michael Quinones’ Naughty Prep School Stories was one of the best experiences I had in directing. And I am glad I got the opportunity to produce and direct for the Fringe.

I am also glad that I am doing the PR for my two shows. I have created a FB event so if anyone wants to join me and the many shows I am seeing, feel free to join me. The Fringe has a festival pass so you may want to check that out!

Here’s the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/419591234828473/

Anyone link with a name is someone I know and have worked with on a past production.