30 years of Orlando Fringe memories: 2019, the 28th festival

Back in 2016, I celebrated the 25th Orlando Fringe Festival in a series of articles detailing each year of the theater fest leading up to the milestone. This year, to honor the 30th installment of the oldest Fringe Festival in the U.S., we’ll continue that series with a column each month leading to the big 3-0 in May.

Along with other Central Florida arts groups, the Orlando Fringe found a helping hand in Orlando’s city government in the months leading to the 2019 festival.

The state Legislature had gutted the year’s arts and cultural allocation; organizations only received 6% of the funding they qualified for in the annual budget process. You read that correctly: 6%.

The city of Orlando stepped up, providing $235,728 to Orlando Fringe and 18 other groups.

“Through this investment, we are able to further our commitment to helping our cultural organizations thrive and grow,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

And the Fringe did thrive and grow in 2019.

“It really was the best overall year ever,” said executive director Alauna Friskics. Attendance rose 3.5%, to just shy of 75,000 people — though one unforgettable Fringe presence was missing. Barbara Solomon, a longtime Fringe producer with a booming voice you could hear clear ‘cross Loch Haven Park, had died of cancer in the fall.

Solomon had been nicknamed the “Mayor of Orange Avenue” after the title of a 2009 Fringe show in which she featured.

Even if the Fringe lawn was less colorful without Solomon, performers were seeing more green. The 2019 Fringe artists took in $446,227 in ticket sales, and average earnings per artist also hit a new high.

Visual artists sold more art and earned more money. Bar sales rose 17%, reaching $117,000. And you want a really big number? Marketing manager Brian Sikorski reported that the Fringe’s social-media accounts attracted more than 10 million views.

So what was all the fuss about?

Well, Neil Arthur James’ high-octane Southern gothic fable titled “Dandy Darkly’s All Aboard!” took the top Critics’ Choice award. Other critically acclaimed shows included Jeff Jones’ Disney spoof “The Animatronicans: Under New Management,” the return of Eric Pinder’s comic “Driving Miss Cherry Blossom,” Steve Schneider’s soap-opera parody “Black Wood” and Mochinosha Puppet Company’s decidedly bizarre but entertaining “Space Hippo,” which — with memorably off-kilter characters such as Food Robot and Lizard Man — I called “the stuff Fringe is made of.”

Theatergoers also flocked to parodies of the films “Mean Girls” and “Showgirls.”

Oh, there were serious shows, too. Beth Marshall Presents’ “girl” took a hard look at growing up female in America. Paris Crayton III was acclaimed for his performance in “Spare the Rod,” about his difficult childhood.

Offstage, there was also serious business at hand.

The Fringe reached out to an underserved part of the theater community with a new American Sign Language interpretation program led by Mandy Longo.

Six shows featured sign-language translation as part of the pilot program — which made the interpreters Fringe performers as well.

“I have to convey that it’s a big, burly man with a deep voice speaking, or it’s a sweet Southern belle — in addition to the motion of the language,” Longo explained. “Our job is to be the same person as the character who’s speaking. It’s challenging.”

The Fringe also debuted a “Safe Spaces” program, spearheaded by associate producer Lindsay Taylor. Performers and volunteers were asked to sign agreements ensuring they would treat people respectfully. Volunteers also received training on how to link patrons with counseling services if any of the festival’s artistic content upset them by recalling past trauma in their own lives.

Fringegoers were made aware of the services through preshow recorded announcements, which director Laurel Clark said was a perfect solution for heavy shows such as “The Hammered Dog,” about an abusive relationship.

Clark, by the way, was also a Critics’ Pick honoree. The longtime Fringe champion was named best director for her work on “Hammered Dog” and the bubbly “Shirley Valentine.”

Finally, while the Fringe has a history of nurturing new talent, in 2019 its shows helped a new theater.

In Sanford, Theater West End opened its doors in September. One of the ways it got its name out there: The venue hosted encore productions of Fringe favorites such as the Josephine Baker bio-musical “Josephine” and Chase Padgett’s ode to music, “6 Guitars.”

With saucier shows, the Corsets & Cuties burlesque troupe — another group of Fringe regulars — also would find a home at the theater as the Fringe spread its love around.

To find links to the original 24 columns in this series on a single webpage, search “Orlando Sentinel Fringe Memories” on Google. The more recent columns are available at OrlandoSentinel.com/arts. Find me on Twitter @matt_on_arts or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com.