2010 Cincinnati Fringe Festival Announces Line-Up

Know Theatre of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Fringe Festival is proud to announce the performance fringe line-up for the 2010 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. The festival is scheduled to kick-off June 1st with CityBeat's official Fringe Kick-off Party. The festival will continue through June 12th with 32 productions and more than 150 artists.

This year we had a record number of applications beating our previous record by 1. Also, 55% of all applications were from out of town while 13% alone were from Minneapolis. Of accepted applications 30% are local and 70% are out of town. Of the accepted applications, 40% are returning and 60% are new

What Fringe festival would be complete without the visual and film Fringe? Matt Steffen returns for a third year as the Chair of the Visual Fringe Selection Committee. He is a graduate from NKU, and is now a freelance photographer and graphic designer living in Newport, KY. Applications are now being accepted for the Visual and Film Fringe categories. The visual fringe will be presented in galleries at the Art Academy of Cincinnati with an opening reception on June 1st at 6pm. The deadline is March 26th for all visual and film fringe applications. Applications can be found at cincyfringe.com.

Chris Strobel, a professor in NKU's Department of Informatics, returns for his third year as Chair of the Selection Committee for the Film Fringe. He has worked on or with numerous local film festivals including Underneath Cincinnati, The 48 Hour Film Project, and serves on the board of the Southern Ohio Filmmakers Association.

All individual tickets to Fringe Festival shows will continue to be $12 this season. Full Frontal Fringe passes are currently being offered for an early bird special price of $175 and six show passes are on sale for $60 or the price of five. For more information or to purchase passes, check out www.cincyfringe.com or call 513.300.KNOW (5669).

Below is a list of proposed projects from accepted applications with some titles subject to change. 

Name of Proposed Project: Safety In Numbers

Genre: Dance

Brief Description: Safety in Numbers is a full-length dance work dedicated to exploring company members' individual ties to the Chicagoland area. As the company identified the differences between members as newcomers or natives to Chicago, they noticed a common desire for comfort and familiarity, whether through the anonymity of a large city or proximity to home. Safety in Numbers became a reflection of these findings. Safety in Numbers premiered in July 2009 in Chicago in its original form, as individual works of company members. After a sold-out, two-week run, the group elected to re-examine Safety in Numbers and tour the revised work locally and regionally. Each moment of the original piece was explored, edited, and recreated by all company members sharing in the choreographic decision-making process. The result is a cohesive intersection of ideas shared and supported by all company members.

Artist/Company Biography: The Space/Movement Project (TS/MP) is a Chicago-based modern dance collective beginning its sixth season. An organization built upon collaboration, the group operates without a single artistic director, but several members who share the post. The company provides a community for artists to create, perform, and further their development while sharing creative and financial resources. Committed to artistic partnership,TS/MP continuously works with visual artists, musicians, actors, and videographers to find exciting, inventive ways to create dance.

Primary Contact Name: Allyson Esposito

From: Chicago, IL

Group Name (if applicable): Twilight Productions

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Nevermore

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: "Nevermore" begins in the last conscious moments of Edgar Allan Poe as his tortured soul laments to his "still-alive corpse" about the "fever called living that burned in his brain." Fast forward 160 years when a suicidal writer finds herself in the presence of The Raven, who offers insight on writing and madness and how the two are related. This fantasy/drama depicts the troubled rock-star life of America's original literary gem, while examining the terrifying grip that depression held on him and many other fallen American writers.

Artist/Company Biography: Indianapolis-based Twilight Productions is a "hasn't made a profit yet" company. It was founded in 2008 by Amy Pettinella for actors and writers, who are tired of lame mainstream plays and plays that feature women in insipid and vapid roles. Amy has written and produced several plays for Twilight Productions, including Stripped, Con Art, Home, Winter Solstice, Nevermore, and the upcoming Veg-All: A Sort of $@*%ed-Up Brady Bunch. Twilight Productions: Passion. Substance.

Primary Contact Name: Amy Pettinella

From: Indianapolis, IN

Group Name (if applicable): Hunger Warrior Theatre

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Of People and Not Things

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: What if there were an intimate apocalypse? No flesh eating undead or Mayan prophecies. Just a soft goodbye. Like a missed connection with fleeting eye contact and the thought of what might have been. What would you do? Maybe you'd walk through that door. Maybe you'd take a seat in the audience. We think you should. Come be a part of the world that's left.

Artist/Company Biography: Hunger Warrior Theatre was founded in 2005 by two design graduate students at UC CCM. It was founded because they wanted to go to the Edinburgh Fringe. And then they did. And then they decided to maybe keep this theatre going for a while. Since its inception, HWT has performed twice at both the Edinburgh Fringe and CincyFringe. In 2009 we produced a reading series in the short-lived PermaFringe space on Main Street in OtR. We're dedicated to doing new writing. We're always looking for theatrical surprises in unexpected places. We've performed in a stairwell, in a closet, in a fire damaged basement, and in a bar. We've also made fools of ourselves in any number of other locations in the name of marketing. We do theatre that strives to engage the audience that sits with us in these small dark rooms. We hope you'll join us.

Primary Contact Name: Andrew Hungerford

From: Agoura, CA

Group Name (if applicable): Artemis Exchange

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Aberrant Reflections on the Barbarism of You & I

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: Artemis Exchange found themselves in the middle of a Buick-sized pickle (so to speak) when their head writer, Christopher Karr, suddenly claimed to have contracted an acute illness, the dreaded 'Exhaustum Fever,' that prevented him from, among other things, writing a play. After countless discussions, what eventually spewed forth from his creative consciousness over a dark and dreary autumn and winter was a massive piece of postmodern text, a manuscript, a bible of Artemis Exchange's collective thoughts and feelings on humanity and its eventual downfall. After reading each and every syllable of this behemoth, we used a process of improvisational adaptation to forge a theatrical production that aims to explore the darkness that has shadowed mankind since creation and will continue to do so until our bitter end - all while trying to make you laugh enough to forget how fucked we really are.

Artist/Company Biography: Artemis Exchange was founded in 2008 by Christopher Karr and Chris Wesselman through a shared interest to pursue independent theatrical endeavors. With cohorts and confidants in the wings for support, they are always eager to experiment within a Theatre of Poverty, which demands a fully realized production through aesthetic invention that rejects the notion that dollars and cents will produce effective theatre. Artemis Exchange is proud to return to the Cincy Fringe, where they can experiment to their heart's delight. Last year's entry, 'A Perfectly Wonderful Evening' by playwright-in-residence Christopher Karr, earned critical praise and garnered two Cincinnati Entertainment Award nominations, with a win for Best Alternative Production. In this, their newest work, Artemis Exchange has ventured from their usual process by taking a large, original text by Mr. Karr and adapting it for the stage with a group of actors, directed by Chris Wesselman, using improvisation and workshopping.

Primary Contact Name: Chris Wesselman

From: Highland Heights, KY

Group Name (if applicable): De Blenniss

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Just Say Know

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: "Just Say Know" is a stand up comedy presentation about the War on Drugs. Accompanied by his computer program ROBERT De Blenniss talks about the history of drugs and their impact on the United States.

Artist/Company Biography: De Blenniss is a comedian with a background in improv and sketch comedy. He has been performing since the age of sixteen. HIs work has lead him across the country including a brief collaboration with the LA sketch comedy group SPF as well as his own side project "Centurion Films". He currently lives in Louisville, KY.

Primary Contact Name: De Blenniss

From: Louisville, KY

Group Name (if applicable): Annoyance Theater

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Salem! The Musical

Genre: Theatre, Musical

Brief Description: A campy, streamlined and musicalized retelling of a grisly part of history. Written and performed by an all female cast of five this show is, in fact, a riot. Paranoia, intolerance and male empowerment are played to the hilt here, with the idea that women doing math or reading equals witchcraft. Featuring such hilarious songs as Do the Pee Cake! and Life Sucks performed by a tap-dancing skeleton.

Artist/Company Biography: The Annoyance has created over 100 shows, comprised of improvisation, sketch, full-length plays, cabaret, and full-length musicals. Hundreds of people have performed in Annoyance shows, and you see many of them today on stage, in films, and on television. Salem! The Musical was created through a period of nine months. It began with a lot of research of the time and the people, followed by months of improvising, writing, and re-writing. In the mean time musical director Dan Wessels took what the cast wrote and turned it into comedy musicAl Gold. The cast was kept deliberately small and only women. This allowed the cast to really delve into the characters they were creating while exploring much of the atmosphere. No one was allowed to read The Crucible since this was not supposed to be a re-telling of that story. This was our own story inspired by the true events of the past with our own hilarious interpretations.

Primary Contact Name: Elise Dubois

From: Chicago, IL

Group Name (if applicable): Driscoll Street Salon Theatre

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: The Comfort of Anger

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: Dalia Rios, a successful Latina novelist, finds herself engulfed by the ghosts of an old trauma, a violent rape that she thought she had shelved years ago. The memories haunt her dreams, which are visited by two mysterious young men who know her sins. The past threatens her stability, her relationship with a much younger man and her new book, an exploration of racism in America. They also bring to the surface a volcanic anger that has been seething within her. She turns to a therapist whose unorthodox style repels her. The two clash in heated exchanges, but their confrontations lead her to face her darkest secrets. Dalia relies on her storytelling gifts to relive her past and examine her present. "The Comfort of Anger" moves seamlessly between reality and fantasy, delving into uncomfortable territory, from sexuality to racism, from psychotherapy to religion.

Artist/Company Biography: The Driscoll Street Salon Theatre, a creation of playwright Fernando Dovalina, began as an informal play-reading project to develop new plays written by Houston writers. Many of the plays first read at the salon have gone on to other readings, workshops and productions. Dovalina, a member of the Dramatists Guild, has studied with Edward Albee and Stuart Ostrow and has seen several of his plays produced, most notably "The Man in the Trunk" and "American Homefront." His drama, "Meskins/Cycle of Life, Love and Death," won second place in the Nuestras Voces national playwriting competition and was read at Repertorio Espanol in midtown Manhattan. He and J.T. Buck wrote the musical, "The Gospel According to Tammy Faye," which has been seen in Cincinnati, Portland, Ore., Hood River, Ore., and Houston and received an industry reading over three days at the Manhattan Theatre Club creative center in New York.

Primary Contact Name: Fernando Dovalina

From: Houston, TX

Group Name (if applicable): Bad Dog! Productions

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Headstrong

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: It's true love gone horribly, desperately wrong: unpublished writer Norman Miller pours all his energy - that is, /all/ his energy -into his soft-porn fiction, which, unfortunately, leaves, well, nothing for his wife, Mixie, who inspires it. After years of fruitless hoping for Norman's literary success and equally fruitless attempts at a fulfilling love life, Mixie can't take it any more. She feverishly plans to eliminate Norman, with the help of her more-than-physically-able lover, Ted. But an unexpected visitor causes her ill-conceived plans to go horribly awry.

Artist/Company Biography: George Sapio is an award-winning playwright, director, dramaturg, and actor from Ithaca, NY. His most recent work is Oatmeal and a Cigarette (awarded Critics' Pick at the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe Festival). Other plays include And They Lived Happily Ever After, commissioned by Ithaca's Kitchen Theatre; Kynges Games, a historical play about Richard III; and Ghosts, which won the 2001 Panowski Award. He received his M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College in 2007. He is also a photojournalist who has published a book, "Collateral Damage," which features his pictures from two trips to Iraq in 2003. Bad Dog! Productions was founded in 2003 for an Ithaca starving for low-rent, cutting-edge, non-summer-stock theatre. Ever-changing and dynamic, over the years, Bad Dog! has seen over two dozen members in its ranks.

Primary Contact Name: George Sapio

From: Spencer, NY

Group Name (if applicable): Jimmy Hogg

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: A Brief History of Petty Crime

Genre: Theatre, Solo

Brief Description: Fringe veteran Jimmy Hogg arrives in Cincinnati to discuss his life of petty crime. Physical, fast-paced hilarious storytelling with a car crash and plenty of tangents. "Hold onto the arms of your seat: Hogg will take you spinning." -Orlando Sentinel "His characterizations are spot on, and while the piece jumps from story to story-centering on a traumatic night out that ends with the threat of prison looming over the young narrator's head-Hogg juggles them like a trained master with three chainsaws and a flaming baton in the air." -City Pages, Minneso ta. "Managing to fit so many entertaining characters, hilarious anecdotes, and witty pop-culture references into 60 minutes is a difficult test of endurance, a test Hogg passes with flying colours." ***** (5 out of 5) Eye Magazine, Toronto. " Dickens would love this guy." -Orlando Sentinel. Best of Fringe- Victoria 2009, Toronto 2007, Minnesota 2007 & 2006, San Francisco 2006

Artist/Company Biography: Jimmy Hogg is an actor, writer, director and comedian from England. He has been involved in more than fifty theatre productions and toured a dozen countries. He studied clown, Lecoq and physical theatre in Barcelona, Commedia dell'Arte in France and Drama and Theatre Arts in London. He has spent the last four years touring North America with his outstandingly successful solo shows.

Primary Contact Name: Jimmy Hogg

From: Toronto, Ontario

Group Name (if applicable): Karim Muasher

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: A Short Lecture of a Different Time

Genre: Theatre, Solo

Brief Description: Come and hear the story of the OLDVERSE: the universe before this one, long dead and gone. Two lovers meet, and soon discover the truth about their existence: their universe is dying, burning up into flames. Told by the Historian, a mysterious corduroy-clad stranger, this show asks the questions: How do you stop the unstoppable? How do you face the inevitable? A combination of nintendo graphics, gameboy music, and theoretical physics; acclaimed theatre creator Karim Muasher single handedly creates an 8-bit universe of wit and wonder.

Artist/Company Biography: Karim Muasher was born in Amman, Jordan, and immigrated to the United States at an early age. He studied theatre at Ithaca College where he received his BFA in Acting. It was here that Karim began to create original work, incorporating comedy, puppetry, and physical theatre. Karim worked at various theatres across New York State, before heading to London to study for his MFA in Lecoq Based Physical Theatre. While in London, Karim continued to create original work, as well as forming the interNational Theatre company Giant Bird (whose "Empire of Feathers" was seen in last year's fringe). His work has been called "gleefully low budget", "bound for great heights", and "so like life in my head." Back in the US and based in Astoria, NY; Karim continues to create absurd work out the realities around him. For more info, go to karimmuasher.com

Primary Contact Name: Karim Muasher

From: Astoria, NY

Group Name (if applicable): T-O-T-A-L-L-Y!KIMLEIGH PRODUCTIONS

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: T-O-T-A-L-L-Y!

Genre: Theatre, Solo, Dance

Brief Description: In this powerful one hour theater piece, Kimleigh Smith takes the audience through a journey that is totally uplifting, totally heartbreaking, and totally powerful. T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! is the ultimate cheer. It will have you howling in your seats in hysteria and clutching your heart. Kimleigh inspires audiences through her hilarious and honest story to embrace their inner superheroes and find the strength to move forward no matter what. The cheer "That's Okay, That's Allright...get back up and Fight, Fight, Fight!"

Artist/Company Biography: Kimleigh Smith spent the first 10 years of her life in Japan and then moved to Leavenworth, Kansas. She graduated from Emporia State University with a BS in Psychology and was off to Chicago to pursue her dream to be a dancer. But dancing simply whet her appetite - On a dare, she auditioned for a play. She got the part and has never looked back. Kimleigh has graced the stages of Chicago's most renowned theaters: The Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre and The Steppenwolf Theatre where she performed in "A Clockwork Orange", "Crumbs from the Table of Joy" and "Puddn'Head Wilson". Upon moving to Los Angeles, she had the pleasure of reprising her role in "Puddn'Head Wilson" at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre. This production was honored with an "LA Weekly" Theater Award. Garry Marshall fell in love with Ms. Smith and cast her in her first major motion picture, "The Princess Diaries. Kimleigh's career continues to flourish in theatre, commercials, television and film.

Primary Contact Name: Kimleigh Smith

From: Los Angeles, CA

Group Name (if applicable): Four Humors Theater

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Harold

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: Two brothers drive their herd deep into the mountain to graze. Isolated from the outside world, they build a scarecrow for their amusement, Harold. They show Harold amazing kindness, they show Harold amazing cruelty... Until Harold starts making decisions for himself. A new horrific comedy from the creators of "Mortem Capiendum" and "April Fools".

Artist/Company Biography: Four Humors believes the epic can be created from the ordinary; that the beauty of theater lies not in expensive sets and costumes, but in the connection between performers and audience. They strive to make the beautiful foolish and the foolish beautiful.

Primary Contact Name: Kristin Campbell

From: Champlin, MN

Group Name (if applicable): Pones Inc.

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: That One Show

Genre: Theatre, Dance, Video - Interdisciplinary

Brief Description: Based on interviews from over 100 people, THAT ONE SHOW creates a dialogue about how dance can maintain its relevance, personal significance, and artistry with individuals today. Incorporating movement, theatre, video, and music, THAT ONE SHOW explores a variety of existing relationships to dance and an array of suggestions about how to reshape or progress the art form. Presented as a live documentary, this project re-arranges theatrical conventions in a unique and unusual way asking audiences to expand their perception of traditional dance.

Artist/Company Biography: Pones Inc. Laboratory of Movement is a non-profit, movement based performance art group dedicated to creating original work that blends dance, theatre, music, poetry and more. Founded in 2008 by Northern Kentucky University dance and theatre alumnae Kim Popa and Lindsey Jones, Pones Inc. collaborates with a diverse range of artists. As writers, directors, choreographers, producers, and performers their work typically begins as an autobiographical experience and often incorporates audience participation. Pones Inc. is unique in that it does not hold permanent company members nor a permanent space. Pones Inc.'s, "The Four Food Groups" won 2nd place in the 2008 Cincinnati Director's Competition, and the Cincy Fringe debut of "The Factory" was nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Alternative Show in 2008.

Primary Contact Name: Lindsey Jones

From: Cincinnati, OH

Group Name (if applicable): The Faux-Real Theatre Company

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: QUEER IN THE U.S.A.

Genre: Theatre, Solo

Brief Description: Johnny, a 14 year-old boy from Freehold, New Jersey, hungers to follow in the footsteps of his hero-Bruce Springsteen. Johnny, however, is made cruelly aware that his high-pitched soprano voice sounds more like Celine Dion or Barbra Streisand. He struggles against homophobia at school, even while his own sense of identity is uncertain. Facing brutal rejection from the Freehold High School Glee Club, Johnny sets off for New York City, where lovers, rockers, and Gypsies challenge him to embrace his queerness. He retraces Springsteen's early career footsteps, hoping to mold himself into the image of his rock god. Does he have what it takes to rock like The Boss?

Artist/Company Biography: Manuel Simons (Playwright/Performer) is an actor/writer with credits that include national tours and productions on New York stages such as The Public Theatre, Living Theatre, and American Place Theatre. His on-screen credits include Watergate conspirator Jeb Magruder in Spike Lee's SHE HATE ME, and appearances on LAW & ORDER, SEX AND THE CITY and THE SOPRANOS. / Chrissy Moore (Director) directed the workshop of QUEER IN THE U.S.A. at New York's American Place Theatre. Other credits include THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, Sophocles' ELECTRA, and Neil Gaiman's STARDUST. Her directorial expertise has served the many actors she coached in the Youth Company of Off-Broadway's MCC Theatre. / The Faux-Real Theatre Company (Associate Producer) melds truth and imagination to create staged visions in which complex texts and challenging ideas are rendered into engaging, accessible productions. Faux-Real was recently named one of TIME OUT's "Top Reasons to Love New York Theatre!"

Primary Contact Name: Manuel Simons

From: New York, NY

Group Name (if applicable): Venzin Althaus Explosion

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: A Night of Well Adjusted Ladies

Genre: Theatre, Interdisciplinary

Brief Description: What do you get when you have a manic, narcoleptic lady from Cave City, KY (.2 miles from the national site of Dinosaur World, USA) and a schizophrenic, alcoholic chick from New England (.2 miles from Clam Chowder, USA)? You get two daughters with a killer sense of humor, and the ability to deal with just about anything. Join Megan, Emily and a giant sketch pad, as they tell childhood stories of sleepy outings, drunken holidays and unconditional love.

Artist/Company Biography: Megan Venzin and Emily Althaus met at Western Kentucky University, shortly after forging a friendship they began performing together (or maybe the frienship came after? Who remembers now?) After graduating and embarking on seperate journies into "the real world" the dinamic duo met up once again, this time in New York City. The Venzin Althaus Explosion was formed in an outer borough, birthed of love, passion, but most of all the need to make people smile.

Primary Contact Name: Megan Venzin

From: Astoria, NY

Group Name (if applicable): paperStrangers Performance Group

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Medea

Genre: Theatre, Dance, Classical

Brief Description: Euripides' classic drama of a woman betrayed in love, on a quest for vengeance, and her discovery of its price.

Artist/Company Biography: paperStrangers was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2010. It is our mission to have our audiences truly feel. Our focus is evocation. We utilize the effectual liveness of performance, provide imaginative and provocative presentation, and remain committed to the investigation of our own humanity in order to most effectively engage and involve our audiences. We are a theatre of feeling, an experience, one that resonates deep within each of us.

Primary Contact Name: Michael Burke

From: Indianapolis, IN

Group Name (if applicable): Digital Nada

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: The Water Draft

Genre: Multimedia, Theatre

Brief Description: Is there any gift too Common to just privatize away?

Artist/Company Biography: Digital Nada is what happens when documentarist Barbara Wolf and collaborator Demi Tsasis join theatre worker Michael Burnham to make a truly portable piece. Barbara makes narrowcast organizing videos - "Degrees of Shame" and others - designed to give public voice to groups and issues concerned with what she thinks is Justice. She believes there's no such thing as objective reporting and does her best to re-tilt tilted scales. Michael makes plays - Corpus Christi and others - that he thinks need to be spoken aloud in his town. Demi's work is driven by emotional influence and meaning. Ms Wolf is happy that as she gets older the video equipment gets lighter. Mr Burnham is happy that as he gets older he can still carry himself. Ms Tsasis isn't old, yet is sometimes happy.

Primary Contact Name: Michael Burnham

From: Cincinnati, OH

Group Name (if applicable): Bridge Productions

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: TWO BOWLS OF CEREAL AND SOME BACON

Genre: Theatre, Solo,

Brief Description: He can't promise cereal or bacon, but he can promise truth! TWO BOWLS OF CEREAL AND SOME BACON is a special blend of heartbreak, humor, and hope, drawn from Mahmoud Hakima's childhood memories. The product of a fractured and violent household, boy Mahmoud finds innocent joy in the attentions of a lovely, older Mystery Girl in his gifted and talented class. The Mystery Girl's tragic story is interwoven with Mahmoud's own. A 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival favorite, TWO BOWLS OF CEREAL AND SOME BACON is a moving and original one-man show. (Ages 14 and up)

Artist/Company Biography: Bridge Productions, founded in 2007, is devoted to supporting and developing playwrights and their spirited new work, with and for our community. Each new play crafted through Bridge Productions represents a unique vision, a message of hope, and a model of positive action. We create beautifully crafted, resonant new plays in a nurturing environment. Each play brought about through Bridge is the result of a thoughtful collaborative process. Bridge Productions is based in St. Paul, MN and can be found at www.bridgeproductions.info.

Primary Contact Name: Michelle Storm- Producer & Mahmoud Hakima - Writer & Actor

From: Woodbury, MN

Group Name (if applicable): Nicole Kearney Productions

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: And Ya Dont stop, A Hip Hop Play

Genre: Theatre, Hip Hop

Brief Description: "And Ya Don't Stop" a hip hop play finds a trio at the crossroads when they discover that a record label only wants one of them - Supreme, the emcee. Unknown to him the label plans to distort his image. Embittered, under contract and estranged from his crew, Supreme unwillingly goes on a journey guided by the messenger and the four elements of hip hop to help him regain his self and return to his hip hop roots.

Artist/Company Biography: Nicole C. Kearney is a playwright whose creative expressions focus on those who voices and images have been un- or under represented and/or marginalized by society. Since 2005, Nicole has had numerous productions on stage, most in partnership with Karamu House Theater, Cleveland, OH. She also has over 90 short stories, numerous poems and articles that have been published in literary journals, magazines, web sites and newspapers nationally. Nicole Kearney Productions is a theatrical stage Production Company dedicated to the cultivation of Contemporary Theatre and new audiences by producing engaging, thoughtful and entertaining live theater.

Primary Contact Name: Nicole Kearney

From: Indianapolis, IN

Group Name (if applicable): Performance Gallery

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: the council

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: Based on close observation of the workings of city councils around the nation, "the council", toys with the absurd and often genuinely earnest practice of government at its most fundemental level. "the council" discovers that the individual voice can still be heard, but you may want to pay close attention to who is listening.

Artist/Company Biography: The Performance Gallery is a collaborative performance environment existing to produce and promote challenging works of theatre which seldom find a home on mainstream stages. The Performance Gallery produces a varying amount of works per year. Works featured can range in discipline from new plays generated from within the company, actor driven work, director experiments, existing but seldom produced scripts interpreted with an experimental vision, works in progress, or stuff we've just been dying to do.

Primary Contact Name: Regina Pugh

From: Covington, KY

Group Name (if applicable): Piñata Productions

New Participant - Director e.E. Charlton-Trujillo was in Film Fringe in 2009 and won Producers Flick of the Fringe

Name of Proposed Project: The Global Lovers

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: A privileged woman living in Kentucky. A sex slave known as Girl on the other side of the world. What could possibly bring them together by the end of The Global Lovers? Inspired in part by the story of Aisha Parveen, a former sex slave in Pakistan, this poetic drama explores sex slavery and its relationship to American consumer culture. It juxtaposes visual imagery, dialogue, monologue, poetry, advertising slogans, chants, and song, and transcends time and space, to bring you to the heart of conflict and hope. Be prepared for transformation. If you enter the performance like Kentucky Woman, you'll leave like Girl. Written with original songs by Rhonda Pettit; directed by award-winning Fringe veteran e.E.Charlton-Trujillo.

Artist/Company Biography: Piñata Productions is a Cincinnati based company helmed by award-winning filmmaker and novelist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. The indie company collaborates with local, national, and International Artists to develop and produce film, theater, television, web, and print materials. Their most recent endeavor Fallen, a one-hour drama television pitch filmed entirely in Cincinnati, is being shopped in Los Angeles. Rhonda Pettit, whose poetry and scholarship have been widely published, teaches literature and writing at University of Cincinnati Raymond Walters College.

Primary Contact Name: Rhonda Pettit

From: Erlanger, KY

Group Name (if applicable): Pipeline Productions

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: The Long Way Home

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: A homeless veteran of the Iraq war journeys back to the home he lost, carrying sorrows and resentments - and a loaded Colt .380. The people he meets along the way stir memories and fantasies, and prepare him, unknowingly, for his climactic confrontation with the occupants of his former home.

Artist/Company Biography: Pipeline Productions is a Cincinnati-based theater company devoted to showcasing the talents of local artists.

Primary Contact Name: Roger Collins

From: Cincinnati, OH

Group Name (if applicable): Ryan Lear and Rachel Petrie

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: The Finkles' Theater Show

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: "Hi there, friend! Come see our first ever theater show! We may be new to this, but we have seen a lot of theater, so we're pretty sure we know what we're doing! We were so excited when we found out that we got accepted into the Cleveland Fringe Festival! We can't wait to meet all of you and show you what we've been working on. There's going to be singing, juggling, tumbling, guest stars, duels, and a gigantic musical number. It's going to be the greatest thing since sliced potato cakes. So bring your friends, your families, your neighbors, and your neighbors' neighbors (that's you silly!), and tell them that the Finkles are in town!" - Sincerely, Carl and Wanda (and Tinkles Sprinkles) Finkles

Artist/Company Biography: Ryan Lear and Rachel Petrie met in 2006 at the University of Minnesota and have been doing theater together ever since. ‘The Finkles' Theater Show' is their first original work and was first presented at the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival to enthusiastic reviews. One of them mentioned "barfing a lung from laughing so hard." That is taken as a compliment and not an indication of the show's health hazards.

Primary Contact Name: Ryan Lear

From: St Paul, MN

Group Name (if applicable): Fake Bacon Productions

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Aftershock! An Event!

Genre: Theatre

Brief Description: A new hotel is built within a faultline but the VIP group at the soft opening cannot avoid impending doom! Aftershock! An Event! is a comedy that originated from three improv sessions and will be performed in Senzurround, which will shake the theater seats to fully immerse the audience in the experience!

Artist/Company Biography: Fake Bacon Productions is the theatrical wing of the Columbus OH improv group Fake Bacon. Fake Bacon performs at venues, events and corporations around the Central OH area. Their first production Vices was performed at the MadLab Theatre

Primary Contact Name: Scott Tobin

From: Columbus, OH

Group Name (if applicable): Serenity Fisher

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Sophie's Dream

Genre: A play with music

Brief Description: Imaginative, ethereal and insightful, Sophie's Dream is about the profound universal connection between dreaming, waking up, and bringing forth the soul's deepest desires. Sophie is a creative soul, striving to build a bridge between her rich inner reality and the exterior world, yearning to express her deepest passions. Sophie's Dream is a love story unfolding. Sophie encounters Gray, a man whose presence is at once disconcerting, comforting, and exhilarating. The cast of six characters includes three Tree Muses and The Woman at the Piano - all playful visitors who remind Sophie who she was, who she is and who she is meant to become. Set in present day/time, this play-with-a-live-soundtrack is chock-full of truth-telling dialogue and lyrics, haunting melody and harmony, shimmering dream-scapes and transformational discovery.

Artist/Company Biography: Serenity Fisher is... the writer of "Sophie's Dream" and composer of all music therein a singer-songwriter? playwright actress? tree-hugger? poet with a penchant toward the absurd an architect of strange creatures made of ink and paper? an ardent malapropisist? currently without bicycle? interested in experimental, relatable art brimming with innovative, artistic truth As a musician, she has performed her original songs all over the country, most notably at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena at a concert featuring female artists. Her acting credits include "My Perfectly Beautiful Life" (Mindy) at the Clifton Performance Theatre and "Eight Reindeer Monologues" (Dancer) and "Great Gray Poets" (Sugar) with Know Theatre. Her directing credits include "Stop Kiss" by Diana Son at Kent State University. Serenity invites you on a playfully wild journey through the wilderness of imagination, where trees dance, the sun is blue, and the sky is yellow.

Primary Contact Name: Serenity Fisher

From: Cincinnati, OH

Group Name (if applicable): The Bengsons

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Ain't That Good News

Genre: Musical Cabaret

Brief Description: Abigail Nessen Bengson & Shaun McClain Bengson's Ain't That Good News is a raucous vaudevillian cabaret, full of roaring music and impassioned characters. The Bengson duo evoke the quintessentially American stories of the immigrant and the outcast and play at the heart of the political struggles of our age through a melding of the musical forms of Tin Pan Alley, the Old South, German Weimar and rock and roll. The show is constantly evolving. As the Bengsons travel, they trade songs and drinks for new stories from the personal to the divine, and shift the work to reflect where they've been, and each new community they're in.

Artist/Company Biography: The Bengsons are a Brooklyn-based husband/wife vaudeville rock duo who perform in a variety of mediums. They are Off-Broadway performers whose original musicals, including The Magic Show: The Story of the Barefoot Angels and Ain't That Good News, have been featured at such venues as The Culture Project, The Daryl Roth 2, La MaMa, and the Flynn. They are rock musicians who perform both as the Bengsons and the electronic-infused Zombie Nationalists in rock venues across the nation, including NYC's The Knitting Factory, Arlene's Grocery, and Pianos. They are folk musicians who perform in across the country in festivals and community venues, are a part of the vibrant East Village Anti-Folk scene. The Bengsons are also activists and teachers, who have taught students in NYC's public schools, worked with gang children in El Salvador and Cambodian immigrants in Massachusetts.

Primary Contact Name: Shaun Bengson

From: Bloomington, IN

Group Name (if applicable): The Four Beauties

New Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Over Time

Genre: Dance

Brief Description: The Beauties, four women dancers who have each lived for over half a century and collectively have lived for over two hundred years, refuse to step off the stage and will make an appearance at the Fringe. Middle-aging dance and theatre-goers as well as those who are just curious as to how one lifts a leg past fifty will love this show of the beauties recent and new works. Their 2009 performance at Iowa s Correctional Facility for Women spawned the dream of touring Women s prisons. But more to the point, they will explore ways - through hands-on wo

Artist/Company Biography: The Four Beauties have collectively or individually strutted, kicked, folded, twisted and leapt for audiences at the Aronoff Center for the Arts as well as various colleges and universities throughout the United Sates. Deborah Breuleux, from Sugar Land, TX, manages to weight train and dance while maintaining an active career in real estate. Shellie Cash jet sets between Florida and Cincinnati where she is an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, Renee McCafferty has graced numerous stages throughout the Cincinnati area and manages to walk her dog everyday in the hills of Northern Kentucky. Shawn Womack choreographs and teaches dance at a small liberal arts college in rural Iowa where she is typically snow-bound from December through March.

Primary Contact Name: Shawn Womack

From: Grinnell, IA

Group Name (if applicable): Psophonia Dance Company

Returning Participant

Name of Proposed Project: Money Back Guaranteed

Genre: Dance & Theatre

Brief Description: It is everybody's story rolled into a saucy little burlesque but instead of selling sex, we seduce the consumer to buy what he desires. If it feels good do it; get it; buy it. Don't just look- touch, take. Get that house, buy that car, fill your life with stuff. Let us take you away with a little music, song and dancing showgirls! For in the world of credit, you can buy now and pay later and later and later. You may even get Money Back Guarantee. So why not sink into your seat and enjoy a slightly disturbing but highly seductive world of money where nothing is guaranteed.

Artist/Company Biography: Founded in 1998, innovative, imaginative, theatrical and daring, Psophonia Dance Company (PDC) explores a kinetic language of ideas and images that will dazzle audiences of all ages. This Houston based company is recognized for their ability to engage diverse audiences on a truly unique level by utilizing everyday objects, sounds, and technology to re-examine and transform familiar elements and move audiences from the point of recognition to the point of discovery and infinite possibility. Psophonia has produced over 12 full concerts featuring 40 original works for both intimate spaces and grand theaters as well as nurturing collaborations with other arts organizations and independent artists. PDC is supported by the Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment, Inc., Target, corporate grants and individual donors.

Primary Contact Name: Sophia L. Torres

From: Houston , TX

Group Name (if applicable): Devil's Deuce
Returning Participant
Name of Proposed Project: Soul Juice
Genre: Interdisciplinary
Brief Description: Josiah Pratt and Ruth Gardener are reporting for duty in God's army. This Christian couple has answered the call to start a Christian Ministry called, Soul Juice. Songs, puppetry, mime, and clowning are only some of the talents God gave to this inspirational couple. Mix in some Holy Ghost fire and you've got a cocktail of Soul Juice that will set any sinner on the straight and narrow. Josiah and Ruth come armed with God's word to bring spiritual revival to our morally bankrupt society. Soul Juice's message is simple. Repent! The end is near! God is just itching to smite our nation. But maybe, just maybe, a good clown sketch about Jesus could help detonate a salvation bomb across America!
Artist/Company Biography: Devil's Deuce is the sketch comedy duo of Dylan Shelton and Annie Kalahurka. Performing together for three years, this is their second premiere at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Dylan has an MFA from Ohio University, has written more than a dozen touring children's' shows, and has performed at the Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, the LaMirada Theatre in Los Angeles, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Annie has a BFA from the College of Santa Fe. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Annie moved to Cincinnati in 2006 as a touring actor and puppeteer. Annie has performed locally and in theatres across the country from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Monmouth, Maine.
Primary Contact Name: Dylan Shelton
From: Covington, KY

Group Name (if applicable): Casey Scott Leach
Returning Participant
Name of Proposed Project: The End is Near
Genre: Theatre, Dance, Poetry
Brief Description: The End is Near is oNe Young man's poetic exploration of his culture and his generation. As his journey explores the triumphs and pitfalls of the modern world, he investigates our anxiety with endings; the end of our life, of our culture, and our world. Part spoken word poetry, part one man show, watch one man battle against his words while trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world.
Artist/Company Biography: Casey Scott Leach is a recent graduate of CCM Drama and grew up in Columbus, OH. Over three years ago he started the process for what would eventually become The End is Near. Since then, the piece has become the largest creative endeavor he has yet to produce. He debuted The End is Near this summer at the Covington Artisans Enterprise Center with the help of Joshua Steele and the Carniege Visual and Performing Arts Center. In the time that has passed he has reworked the piece and is ready to present it again as apart of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
Primary Contact Name: Casey Scott Leach
From: Cincinnati, OH

Group Name (if applicable): Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
New Participant
Name of Proposed Project: Cyrano
Genre: Theatre
Brief Description: Thrill as Cyrano slays 100 men! Chortle as Christian can't woo to save his life!! Weep as Roxane makes one sad mistake after another!!! A dynamic, hilarious, inspiring, tragic, moving, epic reinvention of the tale of everyone's favorite large-nosed lover and poet with a script by Belgian avant-garde playwright Jo Roets in a production that has been evolving across the country from Seattle to Hawaii to Alaska to Cincinnati.
Artist/Company Biography: Director Mark Lutwak is director of education for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; actors Tim Abrahamsen, Kelly Pekar and Jonathan Self are members of The Playhouse's 2009-10 Bruce E. Coyle intern company. Percussionist Grant Cambridge has been wokring as a composer, drummmer & music producer in Cincinnati forever.
Primary Contact Name: Mark Lutwak

From: Cincinnati, OH

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