Photo via Facebooik / MKE Fringe Festival
With in-person and virtual performances, the MKE Fringe Fest, a celebration of Milwaukee’s diverse arts community, returns to the city on August 28.
The in-person portion of Fringe Fest will be held outdoors at the at the Marcus Performing Arts Center Peck Pavilion, 929 N. Water Street. The festival will feature performances by artists and performing arts groups, including the Catey Ott Dance Collective, Chad Piechocki, Nineteen Thirteen and Joshua Yang.
The festival will also include visual art displays by John Lewinski and monoprint artist Eugene Zakrzewski, and vendors Blossom Candle Co. and Cocina De Coco Art. In-person performances begin at 2:30 p.m. and the last performance will begin at 7 p.m.
Actor-playwright John Schneider brought together fellow co-founders Katie Rhyme, Karen Raymond, Matt Kemple, Eric Engelbart and Brian Rott to establish Milwaukee’s first fringe festival in 2016. “John felt as though these enthusiastic members of the arts community would be able to work well together and make the Milwaukee Fringe a reality. He was right—we are now headed into the 5th Annual Milwaukee Fringe Festival! John, alongside the other co-founders, was also integral in the planning and execution of the inaugural Fringe,” Rhyme and Raymond answered by email.
Co-founders Schneider, Rhyme and Raymond remain on the production team of this year’s festival.
From Edinburgh to Milwaukee
Inspiration for Fringe Fest and events like it in many places around the world came from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, held since 1947 at the literal “fringe” of Edinburgh’s more conventionally oriented arts festival. “Many local and regional groups said, in effect, ‘hey, we’re here, too,’ and set up performances around the big downtown hall that held the festival proper—that is, on the fringes of the Edinburgh Festival,” Schneider explains.
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“After decades, this remains the case,” he continues. “There’s still an Edinburgh Festival surrounded by—I want to say a couple thousand—so-called fringe performances. Some of them will wind up in important Off-Broadway theatre venues in New York City or similar theaters around the world. Artists make work specifically for the Fringe because it’s such a destination for producers, journalists, and other artists. You could say it’s about what's next.”
MKE Fringe Fest was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Because of the ongoing pandemic, the in-person portion of the 2021 festival has been scaled back to one day and will feature fewer performers. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people are happy that the festival is back,” says Rhyme. “We’re excited about the virtual component as well.” Producer Eric Engelbart adds, “Having only a limited number of slots on stage this year really caused us to hand pick the best of the best.”
The virtual component will feature more than 15 performers, among them Daniel Burkholder and Kimani Fowlin, Tyler Dobies, and Silver Sea Productions. Tickets for virtual shows will be available beginning Aug. 12, and available to view between 3 p.m. Aug. 20 and 1 p.m. Aug. 28.
Wide-Ranging Performances
Says Schneider, “I always say it’s work you won’t see in anyone’s season in town. It’s generally work from Milwaukee’s wide-ranging community of independent artists and groups, some of it made for the fringe festival or at least premiered there. Chad Piechocki always assembles a fantastic group of musician and poets, and often dancers, and makes a one-time only event always terrific. Catey Ott is doing the world premiere of the complete multi-part dance she started making last winter. Nineteen Thirteen is Victor DeLorenzo and Janet Schiff. They’ll do what they do, which is wonderful.
“Joshua Yang is one of, I’d say, the top two hip hop choreographers in town,” he continues. “He also teaches hip hop in the Milwaukee Ballet Academy. Catey teaches modern dance there, too, and at Marquette. And Tyler Anthony is a brilliant, hilarious, I would say activist performance artist from Chicago whose been in the festival every year. That will all be new or newish work.”
In-person Fringe Festival tickets are $25 and include admission to all performances. For a complete Fringe Festival lineup and to purchase tickets to in-person and virtual performances, visit the Fringe Festival website.
Milwaukee Writer’s Work at Edinburgh Fringe
Milwaukee playwright (and Shepherd Express columnist) Gaetano Marangelli was accepted this year by the granddad of all fringe festivals. Marangelli’s one-person play, The Gardens, will be performed at Edinburgh by film and theater actor Valentina Corbella.
The play tells the story of a father who protects his child from the pain and loss of love—until the actor performing the play makes the audience part of the story. The Gardens was seen last year in Milwaukee with APT’s Josh Krause in the actor’s spotlight.
The Edinburgh Fringe performances of The Gardens are scheduled for August 18, 19, 20, and 21 at 2, 2:30, 3, and 3:30 p.m. CST. For tickets, visit the Fringe website.
