The 2018 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival Announces 500+ Shows

Organizers of the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival (Wednesday, September 12 - Saturday, September 22, 2018) announced the seventh annual festival's entire lineup and invited Rochester to "Join the pARTy" at their BIG REVEAL press conference yesterday. For the first time, Rochester's Fringe will span 11 days, up from 10 for the past five years.

One of the top U.S. fringe festivals and now the largest multi-genre arts festival in New York State as well, the 2018 Rochester Fringe will offer more than 500 performances and events again this year - over 150 of which are free of charge - in 30+ venues in downtown Rochester.

Among the free events will be Fringe's annual, giant, outdoor, spectacle performances at Friday & Saturday on the Fringe, September 14 & 15. Last year's U.S. debut of French street theatre company Plasticiens Volants' indescribable BIG BANG show drew more than 20,000 attendees to an empty, downtown lot called Parcel 5. This year, Parcel 5 will once again host an incredible, interactive experience making its North American debut: Massaoke.

What started in a London basement in 2011 has exploded into a global phenomenon. Massaoke is a live band that plays the best-loved "hairbrush" anthems (i.e. the ones you sing into your hairbrush) from the 60's to today while the crowd sings along, guided by big-screen lyrics. There's no dreaded karaoke spotlight - just a euphoric celebration in which everyone sings and dances their hearts out in a communal experience that sells out at the Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringes, England's Glastonbury Festival, the Rugby World Cup, and more. Massaoke is currently playing the major U.K. festival circuit.

"Part of our mission is to bring exciting, different, renowned outdoor experiences to Rochester, and we think Massaoke is exactly that," explains Fringe Producer Erica Fee. "We're expecting Parcel 5 to feel like one last, great, summer party!"

One of today's top comedians, Eddie Izzard will bring his Believe Me show for one night only to Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre on Friday, September 21 at 7 p.m. Over the course of a thirty-year career, Izzard has proved himself to be a creative chameleon, inhabiting stage, film, television screen, and the New York Times Best Seller list with equal fervor. With his brand of keenly intelligent, stream-of-consciousness humor that ranges from world history to historical politics, sexual politics, mad ancient kings, and chickens with guns, he has built an extraordinary fan base that transcends age, gender, and race. Izzard broke a mold performing in makeup and heels, and has become as famous for his "total clothing" rights as he has for his art.

The Cristal Palace Speigeltent will reappear at One Fringe Place (corner of Gibbs and Main Streets) along with a new, world-premiere Cirque du Fringe production created and hosted once again by Las Vegas duo, Matt Morgan and Heidi Brucker Morgan. This year's Cirque du Fringe: SideShow is a fascinating blend of curiosities and feats of human performance inspired by the golden age of American circus, mixed the couple's signature comedic shenanigans. It features a variety of thrilling performances by world-renowned acts, including: hair-hang aerialist Samantha Pitard, cyr wheel performer Yasu Yoshikawa, and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founder Keith Nelson. Live music is provided by Sxip Shirey, a NYC musician/composer known for working with found objects and computer-modified instruments.

In the adjacent Spiegelgarden, Fringe favs Pedestrian Drive-In (free big-screen films using Silent Disco headphones), Dashboard Dramas (rotating plays in parked cars), and the Immersive Igloo (a sound and light experience inside a giant, glowing igloo) return. NEW this year: an actual backyard attached to Abby DeVuyst and Kerry Young's Bushwhacked tent show that creates five, new, interactive Bushwhacked Backyard events. Rotating nightly will be: Bushwhacked Backyard BONFIRE (improvised firepit comedy), Bushwhacked Backyard BBQ (improvised cook-out comedy), Bushwacked Backyard BATHTUB (improvised hot-tub comedy), Bushwhacked Backyard BURIAL (improvised, comedic wake), and Bushwhacked Backyard BETROTHAL (improvised but legal wedding or vow renewal and reception comedy. Couples may apply at rochesterfringe.com.)

Late-night in the Spiegeltent on weekend #1: Other People's Shows, a crowd-pleasing comedy that features Rochester's Unleashed! Improv's on-the-spot interpretations of other productions based on their Fringe Guide descriptions, plus wacky contests and other comic antics. For weekend #2, Fringe imports Shotspeare, a raucous adaptation of the Bard's Romeo and Juliet that's equal parts classical theatre and drinking game. With the tagline, "We Put the Lit in Literature," Shotspeare has been a smash hit in New York City, Las Vegas, and the Adelaide Fringe.

A total sellout for six years running, Silent Disco returns for late-late night fun in the Spiegeltent. Dayside in the Spiegeltent: the return of 2017's sold-out Afternoon Tea and Disco Kids. Gospel Sunday, a free event featuring some of the best Rochester gospel artists hosted by Reverend Rickey Harvey, returns for its sixth, standing-room-only year at Kilbourn Hall on the Fringe's only Sunday: September 16th.

The second weekend of Fringe (Friday and Saturday, Sept. 21 & 22) offers free entertainment on Gibbs Street, including more than a dozen bands, and the third annual Fringe Street Beat. This hugely entertaining hip-hop and all-styles dance battle attracts crews from all over the Northeast to compete for a $1,500 prize (teams may sign up at rochesterfringe.com). Fun for the whole family, it's also part of Kids Day on Saturday, Sept. 22 - the final day of Fringe - which includes Chalk Art, Disco Kids, a Cirque du Fringe matinee, and Pumpkin-Painting. Also on the 22nd, ArtAwake - an annual student-run, art-and-music festival from the University of Rochester - joins Fringe this year and showcases hundreds of works of art and continuous live music in the former, iconic Changing Scene restaurant on the top floor of the First Federal Plaza.

The vast majority of Fringe productions, performances, and events are booked by Fringe venues themselves from applications submitted to them by artists in April. This year's venues (including site-specific spaces) are: The Avyarium in Village Gate, Blackfriars Theatre, Central Library (3 spaces), Eastman School of Music (3 spaces), First Federal Plaza, Garth Fagan Dance Studio, Geva Theatre Center's Fielding Stage, Java's Café, The Little (3 spaces), Lyric Theatre (3 spaces), Memorial Art Gallery, MuCCC, RIT City Space (250 E. Main St.), School of the Arts (5 spaces), Village Gate, and Writers & Books. The Fringe itself adds: Gibbs Street, Gibbs St. Main Stage, Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Parcel 5, the Speigeltent, and the Spiegelgarden. Genres are: comedy, dance, kids' fringe, multidisciplinary, music, spoken word, theatre, and visual art & film.

"The 2018 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival will no DOUBT be bigger and better than ever," says James Barger, KeyBank Rochester Market President. "This will be our second year as title sponsor and we are so proud to help support this unique celebration of art and culture in our city. We urge everyone to come downtown in September and Join the pARTy!"

Tickets for all shows are now on sale at rochesterfringe.com, along with a searchable (by venue, date, and genre) schedule and full descriptions. The Fringe app will be available later this week, and the printed Guide will be distributed in August.

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 performing arts festival. The not-for-profit, 501©(3) corporation was pioneered by several of Rochester's esteemed cultural institutions including Geva Theatre Center, the George Eastman House 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. From its five-day debut in 2012 to its 10-days in 2017 that attracted more than 78,000 attendees, the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the fastest-growing and most-attended fringe festivals in the U.S. More than a third of the Fringe's 500 performances in 25+ downtown Rochester venues are free and were attended by 49,000 people last year. Renowned among the world's 200+ fringe festivals for its large-scale, outdoor, free-to-the-public performances - including the U.S. premieres of France's Plasticiens Volants and Canada's Circus Orange - Rochester's Fringe was also the first fringe festival in NORTH AMERICA to feature a Spiegeltent, which is now an annual attraction. From comedy to theatre, from music to dance, from visual art and film to spoken word, and from children's entertainment to multi-disciplinary collaborations, the festival's diversity also extends to venues that span the gamut from parked cars to grand theatres. Fringe's overarching mission is to make arts readily accessible to audiences, as well as to provide a platform for artists to share their ideas and develop their skills, while stimulating downtown Rochester both culturally and economically.

About KeyCorp: KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $137.0 billion at March 31, 2018. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,200 branches and more than 1,500 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated CORPORATE and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.

2018 Fringe sponsors include: KeyBank; University of Rochester; RIT; Rochester Area Community Foundation; Waldron RISE Foundation; Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; City of Rochester; Monroe County; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; Nocon & Associates; Mary Mulligan Trust; Konar Properties; Richard U. & Elaine P. Wilson Foundation; Ron Fielding; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; SUNY Geneso; Hyatt Regency Rochester; The Pike Company; Bond, Schoeneck & King LLP; Boylan Code LLP; Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co. LLP; 13WHAM TV; CITY Newspaper, D&C Digital; Broccolo Tree & Lawncare; McCarthy Tents & Events; Hamilton A/V; Nazareth College; St. John Fisher College; The College at Brockport; East Avenue Inn & Suites; Kozel Family Foundation; The Rubens Family Foundation; Genesee Beer; Wegmans; Gouvernet Arts Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation; Louis S. & Molly B. Wolk Foundation; Visit Rochester; Wilson Foundation; Rochester Regional Health; Scott Miller; House of Guitars, Inc.; City Blue; Yelp!; WXXI; KidsOutandAbout.com; Midtown Athletic Club; Mary Cariola Children's Center; The Glazer Family; ESL Charitable Foundation; YMCA of Greater Rochester; BOLD Technologies; Java's; and North Eastern Pool & Spa.

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