photo courtesy Orlando Fringe
Orlando Fringe’s seventh annual Winter Mini-Fest concluded Sunday, Jan. 15, capping the debut weekend of the organization’s extended-awaited downtown Fringe ArtSpace at 54 W. Church St.
The festivities kicked off Wednesday evening with a ceremonial ribbon-chopping carried out by a chair-stacking acrobat from WeFlip, adopted by previews of the 20 shows collaborating in the Mini-Fest.
Around the pursuing four times, Mini-Fest and the new ArtSpace acquired a heat reception from patrons, with outgoing producer Lindsay Taylor reporting that they reached their complete ticket income projections by Saturday evening. And checking out artists raved about Orlando, specifically our expanding downtown foodstuff scene, although not so a great deal about the frigid temperature.
The 2023 Fringe Wintertime Mini-Fest wrapped up with a short awards ceremony, wherever Paris Crayton III’s Bloodline came away the large winner, with both the Team Select award and the Critic’s Selection (selected by yours really). This deeply relocating 1-person show puts the playwright in the sneakers of equally his paternal grandfather Paris and his father Paris Jr., as he bravely traces the effects of their traumas on his have existence with remarkable empathy for their flaws.
Righteous anger at racism rubs up from rebellious explorations of sexuality, all wrapped up in Crayton’s meticulously crafted prose, which is the two achingly poetic and authentically uncooked. Director Dennis Neal will help Crayton obviously delineate the many time and character jumps of his story applying small a lot more than a hat and some stools, skillfully shifting his physicality and vocal cadences in its place of employing established alterations. Most likely most importantly, Bloodline provides an all-far too-scarce onstage example of optimistic Black masculine affection, which is impacting to look at no matter of your race or gender.
In addition, a Critics’ Decision award — chosen by both equally myself and the Orlando Sentinel’s Matt Palm from the exhibits we the two saw — was introduced to Jon Patterson’s How I Achieved My Mom (read through my complete critique).
Nods also went to Erika Kate MacDonald’s The Barn Identity, which took home the Heartstring Award, and Bonnie He’s A Awful Demonstrate for Awful Persons was named “Fringiest of the Fringe.” Physical comedy is ordinarily dominated by white dudes, so He’s Hi there Kitty-accessorized, coquettish character is a breath of clean air, as she acrobatically assaults unwitting audience volunteers in her endearing look for for adore. I appreciated how He’s genital-centric humor manages to be puerile with out remaining explicit … that is, right up until the gag-inducing gross-out finale vigorously leaps across each individual line of taste and decency.
Ultimately, the Patrons’ Choose went to VarieTease’s On the Move, which was inspired by Blue Star’s saga of going into and then out of HAOS throughout the avenue. VarieTease: Genesis, that show’s sequel, premieres Jan. 26-29 as the very first mainstage production in Fringe ArtSpace’s inaugural period.
Stop by Orlando Fringe ArtSpace for tickets and a lot more details.