Miracle on Fourth Street: The 2019 FRIGID Festival Survives Disaster

The building that houses Under St. Marks, beloved Lower East Side venue and bastion of grunge theater, was hit by some long-term, unforseen construction this past week, putting the yearly FRIGID Festival in jeopardy. It looked like the only option was to split the festival into several theaters across the city, in an effort to avoid cancelling performances. Many FRIGID artists come to New York City from other states, and several shows have travelled internationally.

In the midst of an outpouring of love and support from the indie theater community, FRIGID's Under St. Marks faction found refuge. Tuesday night, after a long day of searching, Artistic Director Erez Ziv entered a pre-festival event with his arms in the air to announce that Teatro IATI was available to take the Under St. Marks dates on, unaltered. The new theater, conveniently, is just across the street from their home space, the Kraine Theater.

This year's festival will officially run from February 20th to March 10th at the Kraine Theater and Teatro IATI. Tickets can be found at frigidnewyork.info.

The FRIGID Festival is celebrating its 13th year, and is the only New York City Fringe Fest that returns 100% of the door to its artists. FRIGID prides itself on keeping the fest accessible, and provides marketing, box office staff, ticketing software, tech, production schedules, and general support to participating artists. Mid-festival events like the Oscars Party and the "Hangover Show" are held to build a community and promote networking. In a theatrical landscape that is becoming less and less accessible by the year, FRIGID is keeping indie theater in the hands of artists. The survival of this festival is a huge win for the theater, and the indie community at large.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group. www.FRIGIDnewyork.info

Photo credit: Tyrant Rex