Invite Me

Posted July 31st, 2007 by Sean Williams

I am acting in a show in this year’s New York International Fringe Festival and I’ve got some time between opening and the second show.

What show? Oh, sorry, of course, I’m in Hail Satan, being produced by some very attractive people over at Gideon Productions, with whom I’m tangentially connected.

My family’s coming and they’re gonna want to see some more New York Theater while they’re in town, but Broadway is looking more and more ridiculous, especially with the prices, and it occurs to me that they’re gonna be here to see my Fringe show… maybe they can go see other Fringe shows while they’re here!

So, I’m gonna write down a list of things that sound like they might be cool, but if you’re not here, please write to me and tell me to come to your show.

…Double Vision gets points right off for warning about nudity. It also seems to be set on a subway, so I’d love to see how they’re gonna pull off that staging.

7 Stories High has a really cool premise, and it fits nicely into our modern attention span. Does it suck that I’m excited by a 75 minute show? Maybe, but I’ve been swimming through the Fringe for years now, 75 minutes is not too big a commitment.

Ancestral Voices seems to be what the festival should be about. A dance troupe from Ohio telling a personal story, it just feels like this could be a really wonderful piece of theater.

Asking For It is not usually the type of show I do, but DARK, comedy and sex… even a one person show could be great.

Better This Way is another dance piece, but full company and multi-media and Greek Mythology thrown in for good measure.

Bucharest Calling just looks weird, awesome and foreign. Apparently, it’s in English, which is definitely a selling point…

Champ, A Space Opera can’t possible be as cool as it looks. I mean, this looks really friggin’ fun.

Dear Dad, Confessions of a Go Go is a show I want to see for completely wrong reasons. But… I still want to…

The End has a shitty website, but if Austin Pendleton thinks it’s good, then who am I to argue.

Farmer Song is one of those pieces that is doing for the Fringe what it should. some have argued that these shows aren’t being supported by the New York theater community, but it looks like it’s at least being supported by The Fringe this year.

Galatea (no website found) looks really fascinating. I’ve always been a little obsessed with the Pygmalion story, (as a guy who never had a very strong sense of self and who was obsessed with creating stories and characters) and this piece looks really lovely.

I Dig Doug probably doesn’t need my endorsement, but it does look like it could be a fun diversion. I’m beginning to notice that I personally have no need for serious political theater… I guess I feel like there’s no difference any more between political theater and the actual political theater. But it doesn’t mean I’m not interested in funny political satire.

The Jazz Messenger might be the most exciting play going up right now. This sounds just utterly fantastic, and I honestly can’t wait to see this.

Lost In Hollywoodland (etc.) could be terrible, but this is yet another show that looks like they had me in mind when they wrote it. I’m definitely down for this one.

The Mercy Swing seems terrifying and possibly really relevant and moving. I think when you’ve got the Fringe menu out, there are drama/comedies galore and you have to wait to see what resonates with you. This one set me off like a tuning fork.

Notes To The Motherland is yet another one person show that I’m excited about. I usually loathe these things, but the truth is that I’ve done really well going to one person shows in the Fringe, the festival really shines when the technical requirements of a big show are eschewed, and this piece looks marvelous.

Tomorrow, I’ll tackle the last half of the directory and hopefully narrow down the choices to a reasonable list that I can actually go see. In 2004, I saw about thirty Fringe shows, because I was acting and not producing, but the last two years I really screwed myself, only getting to see a handful each year.

I’m hoping that, but staying ahead of the curve, I can spend some days in the city between our opening and our second show, just jumping from venue to venue.