SF Fringe Festival Adds 13 Shows To Roster Of September Events

The 2009 San Francisco Fringe Festival has added 13 shows to its roster of offerings, bringing the total to 43 theatre pieces, according to festival Artistic Director Christina Augello. The 12-day San Francisco Fringe Festival is an open, non-juried, uncensored interNational Theatre festival that draws theatre companies and individual performers from the Bay Area, around the U.S., and across the world. This year's festival season runs September 9 through 20.

The 13 recently added productions are termed "Non-Traditional" (yes, even the Fringe has traditions) for several reasons. They may be site-specific, like this year's Public Service Announcement: Comedy and Justice for All, which is planned for an outside corridor next to the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Or they are shows too long to fit into the Fringe's 60-minute maximum running time; or they require sets too complex to be set up and then struck within the Fringe's time limits.

These added shows include the following (title and producing organization);
I. Non-Traditional Fringe Venues
J. Lo. Hew, Against Type Players, The Stud, 399 9th St., SF

MISSING: fugue #9: wear a warm coat, Not Yr Grammy's Theatre/Amy Crumpacker, Quesada Gardens/just west of Third on the 1700 Block of Quesada, Bayview District, SF.

Public Service Announcement: Comedy and Justice for All, Public Service Announcement, Corridor next to Contemporary Jewish Museum, bet. Market & Mission (near 750 Market St.) SF.

II. Non-Traditional Fringe Shows at theatres in the immediate Downtown neighborhood.

The Garage, 975 Howard St., SF
tempestuous(ness) or HIStory is Told by the Victors, Performers Under Stress,
LandEscape, Rowena Richie's Chain Link Friends
Open Season, A Queer Performance Spectacular, SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts
Recess, Keep It Movin' Productions
Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason St., 6th Floor, SF
Pulp Scripture, Original Sin Productions,
Marriage: A Queer Institution, Garrison Harward
Eat, Pray, Laugh!, Alicia Dattner
The Texas Chainsaw Musical!, Pantywaist Runt Productions
Climate Theatre, 285 9th St. (at Folsom), SF
Show No Show, We Are Nudes
Legs and All, Summer Shapiro

The 30 initial Fringe productions were chosen in a January 31 lottery at the EXIT Theatre in downtown San Francisco. The lottery is the Fringe's traditional method for choosing the shows for the Festival's three "standard venue" performance spaces, Augello explains.

In addition to San Francisco Bay Area theatre companies, the 2009 Festival will include companies from New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, as well as from Brooklyn, NY, Aspen, CO, and Missoula, MT. International performing groups will travel from Toronto, Brazil, Slovenia, Germany, and Andorra.

The 12-day festival takes place in the above-mentioned venues, as well as in three of the EXIT Theatre performance spaces in the Downtown San Francisco Theatre District - the EXIT Theatre & EXIT Stage Left (156 Eddy Street) and EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street). These three theatres constitute the "Standard Venues" for the festival.

A few words about some of the latest additions to the 2009 SF Fringe Festival

Legs and All, Summer Shapiro, San Francisco

Legs shoot out from a box, dinner times turn to drum brigades, and fights turn to tango dancing. This, paired with live original music by classical percussionist Brandi Brandes and sound-scapes by Jeremy Shapiro, peaks at human loneliness, roots in physical comedy, and hits up against reality's glass ceiling to poke about in the breathing space beyond. The world premiere of Legs and All takes a magical look at the mundane.

Pulp Scripture, Original Sin Productions, San Francisco

The Bible is the foundation of family values, right? Sure...if those values include incest, human sacrifice, oral sex, eye-gouging, and perversions that would make Larry Flynt blush. Pulp Scripture: Bible stories they didn't teach you in Sunday school.

Open Season: A Queer Performance Spectacular, SAFEhouse @ The Garage, San Francisco

The Garage and the Queer Cultural Center present a 90-minute rollicking performance showcase with some of the Bay Area's most provocative queer performance artists. Each show features a rotating roster of spoken-word, music, drag, cabaret, experimental theatre and contemporary dance.

The original Fringe Festival began in Edinburgh, Scotland, more than fifty years ago, and has since become an international phenomenon. Fringe Festivals currently bring cutting-edge theatre to more than twenty cities across the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Europe and Asia. San Francisco's is the second oldest in the U.S. Traditionally, international performers appear at the San Francisco festival, many of them having appeared at other Fringes, such as Toronto, Edinburgh, and Prague.

EXIT Theatre celebrates its 26th anniversary this year. It produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the second oldest Fringe Festival in the United States and is a member of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF). 2009 will mark the 18th annual San Francisco Fringe Festival.

Each year, EXIT Theatre presents over 500 performances of some 100 productions by more than 75 companies and is one of San Francisco's most successful and enduring centers of alternative performance. EXIT continues to commission, develop and produce new work and present independent artists. In addition to the San Francisco Fringe Festival, EXIT produces the annual DIVAfest, dedicated to commissioning and producing work by women writers. The EXIT Theatreplex includes EXIT Theatre, EXIT Stage Left, and EXIT Café at 156 Eddy Street, and EXIT on Taylor, around the corner at 277 Taylor Street, all in Downtown San Francisco. Visit the EXIT Theatre web site at www.theexit.org.

SF Fringe Festival - EXIT Theatre - 156 Eddy Street - San Francisco, CA 94102 415-931-1094 www.sffringe.org

 

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