‘I dread turning on the news,’ says Fringe leader as delta variant emerges | Philly Theater Notes
Also in our weekly roundup of Philly theater news: Philly talent at Boise Contemporary Theater’s new BIPOC Playwrights Festival, and some data points on audience interests during the pandemic.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/B2KMGPCCDVC2LLJFLR6W4WS4U4.jpg)
Usually by August, the organizers of the annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival have a good idea of how things are likely to play out. This year, “it feels like we’re sitting on a powder keg,” says Nick Stuccio, FringeArts president and producing director.
With this year’s 25th anniversary festival running Sept. 9 through Oct. 3, Stuccio and his staff find themselves obsessively clicking on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates for the latest pandemic news and guidance, trying to figure out what it portends. “Every morning I dread turning on the news and seeing where we are with the variant,” he says.
Stuccio has sensed a pent-up audience demand for performance, based on an increase in calls and emails asking about the festival. An earlier comedy festival sponsored by the Fringe “sold out in a flash,” he said.
But the question remains, he says: “Are they going to buy tickets?”
He’ll know soon enough. FringeArt members can start buying tickets on Monday, Aug. 9, with the general public getting its turn starting at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 13.
To address safety concerns, the Fringe folks are requiring audiences to be masked for all indoor performances. Performers, staff, and volunteers at the FringeArts building itself must all be vaccinated, Stuccio said. They are still considering whether to ask showgoers for proof of vaccination.
Fringe ticket buyers can count on the usual array of theater, dance, immersive experiences, circus, comedy, improv, music, film, and something described as “other.” There are live and digital works.
In response to the pandemic, this year’s offerings include “a bunch of walking tours and work that is self-directed — podcasts or you get a set of rules to follow, and you can go on an adventure. A gamification of shows,” he said. “A lot of people are doing this.”
As for themes, “it’s all over the place, which is how we like it,” Stuccio said.
Tickets can be purchased online at FringeArts.com, by phone at 215-413-1318, or, starting Aug. 30, at the box office, 140 N. Columbus, Blvd. Free previews are set for 7 p.m. Aug. 16 and 23 at the FringeArts building.
Philly proud in Boise
Philadelphia theater artists will be the stars of Boise Contemporary Theater’s first BIPOC Playwrights Festival, launched this summer to recognize and highlight the work of artists who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color.
“We are thrilled to have such a stellar lineup of talent for the first iteration of this festival,” said Lily Yasuda, festival director. Two of the three offerings come from Philadelphia theater folks.
The festival, which runs through Aug. 14, will culminate in a performance of Turn, a one-woman show written and performed by M’Balia Singley. She’s a Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist who explores the human condition through story, song, and audience engagement. Philadelphia audiences had a chance to catch the show, inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello, at the Kimmel Center in February 2020.
“This is a play by a dead white guy usually directed by a white guy,” Singley told The Inquirer then. “But there’s a lot more to it. If you are a Black woman, you might see it in a different way.”
Philadelphia playwright Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters and director Jeff Liu will showcase Walters’ Half of Chopsticks, set in a Korean takeout. Another of her plays, Esther Choi and the Fish That Drowned, was two weeks from its premiere, at Philadelphia’s Simpatico Theatre when the pandemic struck. Its intriguing story line involves the ghost of the lead character’s grandfather and a haunted dry-cleaning business on Cheltenham Avenue.
Data points from a pandemic
With the ever-shifting COVID-19 news, Philly’s theater companies are asking their audiences for patience as the companies respond. That’s the word from theater organizations surveyed last month by Theatre Philadelphia, an umbrella marketing enterprise and the organizer of the Barrymore Awards.
When surveyed, two-thirds of the 40 respondents said their theaters planned to reopen for live performances in the fall, and half said they will continue to offer some mix of virtual programming.
Throughout the pandemic overall attendance dropped, but a third of the audience was new, survey respondents said, as virtual programming allowed for an expansion beyond seasoned showgoers.
Interestingly, more people bought tickets for virtual content than actually watched it. And as vaccines became available in the late winter and spring, ticket sales for virtual performances declined.