KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival To Ring In The New Year With SHOTSPEARE

KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival announces a special New Year's Eve encore performance of the improvised Shakespearean comedy, Shotspeare Presents: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare...sort of on December 31 at 8 pm Eastern.

The livestreamed, interactive comedy returns following a successful run at this year's Virtual Fringe. In-person Shotspeare performances have been sell-out hits during prior years at the Rochester and Adelaide Fringes, as well as in New York City, St. Louis, and Las Vegas. The show was created and directed by Matt Morgan, director and co-host of the Fringe's hit Cirque du Fringe shows.

Tickets are now on sale at rochesterfringe.com for this one-night-only, virtual performance. Two ticket levels exist: $25 (covers an entire household on one streaming device) or $75 (covers an entire household on one streaming device plus a batch of Hot Sonnet* cocktails created by nationally known mixologist Donny Clutterbuck at Cure. Serves six. Cocktail option must be booked by 12/28).

"We are very excited to offer this wonderful way to stay safe this New Year's Eve while having a ton of fun at home," says Festival Producer Erica Fee. "Shakespeare fans especially will enjoy this irreverent romp through all 38 of the Bard's Comedies, Histories, Tragedies and Romances, with help from the infamous Wheel of Soliloquy."

Morgan - along with his spouse and comedy partner Heidi Brucker Morgan -- will host the 90-minute performance and interact live from Las Vegas with the entire audience on Zoom. The show also features pre-recorded performances by off-site cast members including Jason Nious and Molodi: Extreme Body Percussion.

"We can't wait to give 2020 a swift kick in arse and ring in the new year Shotspeare style," say the Morgans. "Cheers!"

The Fringe previously announced another virtual holiday show, Bushwhacked British Bake Off: Holiday Edition, which will run on December 26 and 30. That run has now fully sold out.

The 12-day, 2020 Virtual Fringe included approximately 170 online productions - both live-streamed and on-demand - more than 70 of which were free of charge. They covered all the festival's usual wide range of genres: Comedy, Dance, Kids Fringe, Multidisciplinary, Music, Spoken Word, Theatre, and Visual Arts & Film. 2019's KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival featured more than 650 performances and events - over 200 of them free - and broke all previous attendance records with more than 100,000 visitors. From its five-day debut in 2012, the has become one of the fastest-growing and most-attended fringe festivals in the U.S. It is also the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival in New York State. As a bifurcated festival, it allows for a combination of headline entertainment curated by the non-profit Rochester Fringe Festival as well as an open-access portion.

Rochester Fringe Festival connects and empowers artists, audiences, venues, educational institutions, and the community to celebrate, explore, and inspire creativity via an annual, multi-genre arts festival. It was pioneered by several of Rochester's esteemed cultural institutions including Geva Theatre Center, the George Eastman Museum and Garth Fagan Dance; up-and-coming arts groups like PUSH Physical Theatre and Method Machine; and higher-education partners such as the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. The organization's overarching mission is to provide a platform for artists to share their ideas and develop their skills, while being as diverse and inclusive as possible.

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