Interview: Artist Profiles of HARRISBURG FRINGE FESTIVAL at Various Harrisburg Venues

The exciting, inspiring, unjuried, uncensored, inclusive Harrisburg Fringe Festival is just a week away! You do not want to miss out on this event featuring a wide variety of performances and visual arts and taking place at several Harrisburg venues. The event runs July 6-9, and additional information can be found at www.hbgfringe.com. To give audiences an idea of what they may experience at Fringe, you can check out last week’s artist profiles here. Keep reading for additional artist profiles—you’ll be amazed at the scope and creativity on display!

McKinley Foster (he/him), Harrison Foster (he/him), and Alyssa Resh (they/she) present “Core Memory/Align”, a live electronic music show with adaptive visuals at Open Stage on Friday, July 7th at 8:30pm and Saturday, July 8th at 11pm.

Core Memory is a multimedia project. Drawing on the influences of electronic musicians such as Four Tet and Caribou, NYC based McKinley Foster writes instrumental music that combines elements of lofi, synths, and advanced guitar work. His brother, Harrison Foster, based in LA, uses his background in lighting design to create adaptive visuals to McKinley’s music for live performances. “Align,” Core Memory’s debut album, explores what it means to find balance and stay grounded in difficult times. Using spoken word, audio-responsive visual technology, and a variety of instrumental techniques, their live show takes the audience on a journey and poses the question, “What memories made you who you are?” This multimedia experience features recorded spoken work from local artist Tori Sexsmith, and live percussion from Alyssa Resh.

McKinley explains, “this music’s never been performed live, so I’m looking forward to finding creative solutions for the challenges involved.” These artists, who are originally from the Harrisburg area, are excited “to return to our roots and put on a show that utilizes the skills we’ve learned since going elsewhere. It’s an opportunity to perform for the community that made us the artists we are today and show how this city shaped our creative process.”

Sydney Crutcher (she/her) presents “Paranoia”, an original musical produced by Clothespin Ensemble, whose mission is to create theatrical works that lead us toward a more diverse, inclusive, reflective, and inspiring theatrical canon. This musical experience will take place at Open Stage Saturday, July 8th at 9:20pm and Sunday, July 9th at 5:20pm.

Paranoia was created by Sydney Crutcher, Jimmy Kohlmann, and Jeremy Berdin. For Fringe, audiences will see a staged-singing of songs from the show featuring Maggie Haynes, Adria McGarry, Brittany Grove, Sydney Crutcher, Jeremy Berdin, and Jimmy Kohlmann.  Overwhelmed and dealing with looming college applications, heartbreak, and low-self esteem, the seniors of North Pond High enroll in a game of Assassins as a chance to cut loose and forget their daily stressors. This light-hearted family-friendly musical includes an array of characters: a brainy girl, a loner, a theatre kid, an athletic guy, and more! Come join us to find out what happens when these angsty teens all throw their hats in the ring.

Crutcher encourages everyone to attend Fringe because so often “we are pretty far removed from the art we consume: TV shows or movies produced in different cities, plays or musicals written decades ago, commercialized music, etc… But this Festival is the opportunity to see works written NOW by many people who have a direct connection to Harrisburg. You might see the debut of something or someone with a big future ahead of them, and your ticket, support, and participation in the Festival will contribute to uplifting the artists in this community which in turn uplifts us all!”

Alexandra Johnson (she/her), the Artistic Director of Cool it Cowboy Production Co, brings to Harrisburg “Nobody Likes You When You’re 23 (or 24): A Neofuturist Play”. Audiences can catch this performance at Gamut Theatre Thursday, July 6th at 10:40pm, Saturday, July 8th at 5pm, and Sunday, July 9th at 12:40pm.

This abstract autobiographical and experimental piece is all about growing pains. Ever relate to those memes about “just being a teenage girl in her twenties”? Ever say you didn’t care and then wrote a poem about the experience? Ever cried in the mirror and suddenly threw up a peace sign? Ever had garlic bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? EVER WONDER WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE OR WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE??? “Nobody Likes You When You’re 23 (or 24): A Neofuturist Play” features a menu of over a dozen plays chosen in random order by the audience! This performance explores themes guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, roll your eyes, cry some more.

Johnson shares that she is “obsessed with the idea of Fringe. I am all about the abstract and the experimental (I mean that’s what neofuturism is all about) and I just think that this is a really amazing opportunity for both local and out of state theatre professionals to really put Harrisburg on the map and show what our community has to offer.”

Tyler Chick (she/her or they/them) performs “Same Each”, a variety show, at Narçisse Theatre on Thursday, July 6th at 7:25pm, Saturday, July 8th at 6:20pm, an Sunday, July 9th at 2:35pm.

“Same Each” features music, comedy, improv, and more! It’s a one-person show that explores the artistic process as it relates to love, identity, and healing.

Chick is “beyond excited to see so much new work in one place and to feel the buzz of creative energy. Harrisburg has a constant undercurrent of incredible creators making moves and inventing something from nothing through human connection and collaboration. Just being a part of that scene on any level is an enormous honor, and it means so much to be part of a group of folks that bring the undercurrent to the surface for a whole new audience to witness. Come to Fringe expecting to be surprised and inspired!”

Ridiculous Nicholas (He/Him) presents Ridiculous Nicholas, a comedy/variety show, at Midtown Cinema on Thursday, July 6th at 8pm, Saturday, July 8th at 3:15pm, and Sunday, July 9th at 7pm

Ridiculous Nicholas performs various types of juggling, contortion, unique circus stunts/inventions, magic, dance, and more with a special twist of comedy that appeals to the whole family!

Ridiculous Nicholas comments, “This is a really important way to show support to the arts, especially street theatre. During 2020 and 2021, street theatre and live entertainment were gone, and I think some people have realized what a special privilege it is to be able to watch live shows like these. And it’s especially important that YOU go, because we need YOU. You are the audience, and without an audience, it’s just an awkward rehearsal.”

Michael Fisher (He/Him), Michael Martone (He/Him), and Chandler D. Harris (He/Him) bring their film “Spit and Spat’s This or That” at Midtown Cinema on Thursday, July 6th at 6:20pm and Saturday, July 8th at 9:35 pm.

When a burnt-out warlock and a pair of transdimensional helper imps are sent to teach their sleep deprived target about the ABCs of Conscious Living, realities become corrupted. Out of pocket antics and head popping visuals make this 2 Day Rental a must see!

When asked about what Fringe means to them, Fisher explained, “several months ago we finished the year-long production of this incredibly strange and charming film, but we ran into a patch of limbo when it came to premiering it. We didn’t want to just dump it on-line…then the Fringe Festival surfaced—the Do Something Weird crew! Here they are, lifting up art to a wider audience. An absolutely perfect party to build artistic momentum with. The timing, concept, and mission felt cosmically aligned, and we dig that.”

Tony Wayne (He/Him) brings The Masque of the Red Death, an instrumental telling of Poe’s story enhanced by narration and video, to Harrisburg at Open Stage on Friday, July 7th at 9:55pm and Saturday, July 8th at 6:10pm.

“The ‘Red Death’ had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Join us for a gothic musical experience! Tony Wayne’s haunting and electrifying score to Edgar Allan Poe’s horror classic will thrill you! Part concert and part concept album, in this piece, a plague known as the “Red Death”, which causes its victims to die quickly and gruesomely, is spreading rampantly through the country, so Prince Prospero invites his friends to his castle. The prince locks the gates to fend off the plague and throws a masquerade ball, colorfully decorating rooms of his castle. At midnight, a mysterious guest arrives, wearing a mask like a corpse…

Tony Wayne commented, “contributing to the Fringe Festival is a great honor! “The Masque of the Red Death” is not your standard theatre experience, so to be able to join in and play is awesome!”

Tyler Joseph Rossi (He/Him) presents Pyre, a one-act horror play, at Gamut Theatre Thursday, July 6th at 8:20pm, Saturday, July 8th at 2:00pm, and Sunday, July 9th at 11:am.

Pyre takes place in Scotland, 1614. A bloody omen. A missed warning. A knock at the door. A dark and stormy night brings a priest to the Fenton's door. It may already be too late- some darkness took root there long before.

“I, along with the rest of The Orpheus Theatre Company, are buzzing with excitement about being part of the first Harrisburg Fringe,” Rossi states. “There’s something magical about being a part of a whole. This will be our first Fringe Festival ever, and I couldn’t think of a better place to be. There’s such a wide breadth of artistic mediums to see. There’s something for everyone.”

Stay tuned for our article on How to Fringe, coming soon! To get your tickets now, visit https://www.hbgfringe.com/tickets.

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