CITY NEWSPAPER'S REVIEW OF THE 2013 ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL
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BEST OF THE
FEST
(SO FAR )
AWARDS | BY CITY NEWSPAPER FEATURES STAFF
The City Newspaper cultural critics saw more than 40 shows at the 2013 Rochester Fringe during the course of its first weekend. Of those shows, we’ve selected a few performers or aspects that we found truly superlative. Here is a purely objective list of what we found to be the stand-out moments of the 2013 Rochester Fringe Festival thus far. For more on each of these selections, see the full reviews on rochestercitynewspaper.com. Best Supporting Actor
Best Slapstick Singing
Jeff Siuda in “The Author’s Voice” (Out of Pocket Productions, at Geva Theatre Nextstage, through Thursday, September 26)
The cast of “Old Maid and the Thief ” (Empire State Lyric Opera, at RAPA’s East End Theatre) Best Tearjerker-to-Triumph
Best Old-School Acting
The Geriactors (Presenting Rochester Playwrights at Writers & Books, through Saturday, September 28) Best Up-and-Coming Performer
Elyssa Ramirez in “Starting Here, Starting Now” (SUNY Geneseo Theater Department, at Blackfriars Theatre, through Saturday, September 28)
“Hawa” by Arzouma Kompaore (Part of RIT Film & Animation Honors Show) Best Community Exchange
“Rochester Stories: A Neighborhood Project” (At RAPA’s East End Theatre) Best Musical Discovery
The Lonely Ones (At Writers & Books, through Saturday, September 28)
Best Broadway Belting
Best Bizarre Theatrical Barrage
Janine Mercandetti and Robyn Fazio in “Waiting at the Crossroads Café” (At Blackfriars Theatre, through Thursday, September 26)
“All Your Questions Answered” (Geva Theatre Conservatory, at Geva Nextstage, through October 13) Best Spectacular Spectacle
Best Inventive Use of a Venue
“Anomaly” by BIODANCE, Sound ExChange, and M.W. Harris (At RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium, through Saturday, September 28) Best Adult-Oriented Sketches
Canary in a Coal Mine (Solo at The Space, through Saturday, September 28; part of the Big Vaudeville Hook Comedy Hour Friday, September 27, at TheaterROCS Stage at Xerox)
Cirque du Fringe (At the Spiegeltent, through Saturday, September 28) Best Partnering
Guy Thorne and N’Jelle Gage (FuturPointe Dance’s “PsychoPomp & Pageantry,” at Geva Theatre Nextstage) Best Humorous Dance
“Parenthood” by PUSH Physical Theatre (At Kilbourn Hall, through Saturday, September 28)
Best Touring Production
Best Dance Newcomer
“Ole!” (Theater in Asylum, at Blackfriars)
Red Dirt Dance (“The Goldilocks Score and Other Dances,” at Geva Theatre Nextstage)
Best After-Hours Entertainment
Silent Disco (At the Spiegeltent, through Saturday, September 28)
6 F CITY ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL 2013
REVIEWS
a Man.” Schantz has a pleasant voice, but the songs seemed out of place amongst the original CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4F poetry that made up the heavy inspiration from “Alien” and other majority of the program. deep-space films. The highlight of the afternoon was Colleen Science-fiction and its reliance on Powderly’s reading of her poem “Twice,” a special effects is not an easy genre for a local bittersweet ode to the loves of her life. Maybe performing group. Some of the best scenes that was Just Poets real strategy: the addition of were when the group used this limitation to its extraneous elements highlighted the fact that advantage for comedic effect (the space flying the poetry was the real star of the show. sequences, doors opening and closing, and the “Not Wallace Stevens” also takes place Friday, miniature astronauts landing on the asteroid September 27, 6 p.m. at Writers & Books. sequences, for instance). But, the limitations Tickets cost $7. — BY ADAM LUBITOW of a live stage, even with the impressive sound effects, worked against them in the horror area as well. Despite considering myself someone SPECIAL EVENT with a low scare threshold (I’m still terrified by “The Ring”) the scary elements, perhaps because the rest of the play didn’t take itself Last on the docket Saturday was the Silent seriously, never really amounted to anything. Disco, which meant I finally got to visit the Zero Gravity, Zero Hope: An Alien Horror much-hyped Spiegeltent that has become Show repeats Friday, September 27, and the focal point for Fringe this year. It’s a Saturday, September 28, at 10:30 p.m. at beautiful venue, and it’s great to see Fringe Geva Nextstage. Tickets cost $16. — BY WILLIE CLARK garner a much-needed center attraction for the duration of the festival. But, on to the disco. The idea of a Silent SPOKEN WORD Disco is really neat, even if it feels somewhat silly at first. Instead of your typical ear-splitting dance party, everyone in the tent had a pair of headphones. You could control your own volume (though I wish they went a little According to Just Poets member Roy Bent, louder) and pick between two live DJ sets. the group titled its Fringe Festival program Take the headphones off and you could carry of original poetry “Not Wallace Stevens” on conservations with the rest of your group. It because while Stevens is undeniably a great solved a lot of problems about the traditional poet, he’s one who’s “good on the page, but not on the stage.” It’s a characteristic endemic to poetry as a whole, and the Just Poets group hopes to change that by taking a hint from other art forms that have evolved over the years through the use of technology in order to become more enticing to modern audiences. I’m not sure the show Saturday at Writers & club experience (saving my hearing being one Books was entirely successful in that regard of them), and it also gave you two different sets — it very much resembled a traditional from which you could switch back and forth. poetry reading — but there were some good The one problem it could lead to poems to be heard nonetheless. is a somewhat more awkward dancing The group’s plan for spicing up the experience, since everybody isn’t on the same poetry consisted of a projected slideshow of page musically. I was a little nervous that stock images (one image to represent each would be what the event might turn into, poem) and live music provided by guitarists but fear not: as more and more people filled Bob Vosteen and Melvin Henderson. The in the tent and started dancing, the party slideshow didn’t add much, as I mostly found took right off with it. Needless to say, I’ll myself watching the readers and ignoring the be back to check it out again next weekend images entirely. While I expected Vosteen and when I’m off the clock and off the wagon. Henderson to play along with the readings, Silent Disco repeats Friday, September 27, and instead they only provided accompaniment Saturday, September 28, 10 p.m.-midnight at the as reader Celeste Schantz sang bluesy covers Spiegeltent. Tickets cost $5-$7. — BY WILLIE CLARK of “Summer Wind” and “Love Me Like
Silent Disco
“Not Wallace Stevens”