Lauren Letellier's THE VILLAGE CIDIOT to be Presented at 2024 Rochester Fringe Festival 

The Village Cidiot, written and performed by Lauren Letellier, will come to the 2024 Rochester Fringe Festival in three performances at Roc Cinema Theater Sept.10 at 6:45pm, Sept. 12 at 7:30pm, and Sept. 14 at 2:30pm. Roc Cinema Theater is located at 957 S Clinton Ave, Rochester, NY.

Tickets are $15 and on sale now at rochesterfringe.com, via phone, in person at the venue, and in person at Fringe Central, One Fringe Place, corner of Main and Gibbs.

Summary: A dyed-in-the-wool Manhattanite loses her big corporate job and moves, reluctantly, to a tiny Hudson Valley town where her city skills are no match for rural reality. As tensions rise between long-time residents and the “Cidiots” (a word combining "city" and "idiot" coined by locals to describe NYC-ers flocking to rural communities, especially after COVID), Letellier takes us on a hilarious and moving journey about navigating life's disruptions with humor, compassion, and tick repellant. The show premiered to critical and audience acclaim at the 2023 Bridge St. Theater's SoloFest (Catskill) following a developmental reading at NYC's Emerging Artists Theater. It has been produced at Ancram Center for the Arts, Spencertown Academy Arts Center, and The Stissing Center for Arts & Culture, and received critical raves: “Uproarious & poignant!” “An entrancing piece of theater!” “Five Stars!” 

“In one fell swoop, I lost my job, my urban identity, and my youngest brother to cancer,” says Letellier, a Hudson Valley-based playwright, performer, and town historian. “The question then became, how do I prepare for a life I never asked for? Anyone who's ever been beaned by one of life's curveballs can relate to this story about reinvention and renewal.” 

Letellier's earlier solo show, “The Fiery Sword of Justice” chronicled the similarities between dysfunctional families and dysfunction in corporate America. It was a hit at the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival, where critics called it “bold, funny, wise and brave” and “not to be missed!” When it debuted at the 2015 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival, arts critic Ralph Meranto, writing for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, called it “an intimate rant on workplace dysfunction that is universal” and named it one of his “Fringe Festival Favorites.”

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