Aerialists dangling from balloon, art on trees, drunken Othello - Rochester Fringe returns

Faces projected on trees, with the mildest shift of winds rustling leaves in such a way that the countenances move with equally mild yet clearly noticeable changes.

Actors revisiting "Othello," while transforming the Shakespeare drama of revenge and jealousy into a riotous bacchanal as they imbibe in alcohol throughout the performance.

A sky-high narrative in which daring aerialists try to escape from straitjackets, a la Houdini but with a hot-air balloon added to the mix.

Yes, it's time again for the annual Rochester Fringe Festival, and these are just a few of the 500-plus shows on the 12-day schedule, running from Sept. 12 through Sept. 23. There will be seances, silent discos, drag shows, astronomy, immersive audio/visual excursions, a capella, circus troupes, children's shows — and more, and more, and more.

"We're like the Madonna of festivals," said festival producer Erica Fee. "We're constantly re-inventing ourselves."

Rochester's Fringe — there are more than 200 worldwide — is in its 12th year and has become an establishment (though that word runs counter to the Fringe spirit and code) in the community's vibrant festival scene.

Fringe has carved out such a distinctive mark that it is now the largest multidisciplinary arts festival in New York and is recognized among its contemporaries for the dramatically sizeable and free outdoor shows that highlight festival weekends.

"In the United states we don’t have a lot of spectacle-type performances in public spaces," Fee said.

Building post-pandemic

The Rochester Fringe is one of the rare festivals that navigated the worst of the pandemic, creating a remote festival in 2020 that still brought in acts from afar. (Speaking of afar, this year's acts include performers from Colombia, Ireland, France and Australia, to mention a few.)

Thomas Warfield, the professional dancer, singer and pianist who also teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology, remembers vividly his Covid-year remote Fringe show.

"I did a show right at the piano in my living room," said Warfield, who also is now starring in the production of "Wizard of Oz" at the Geva Theatre. "I sang songs and told stories.

"I was just stunned at how many people were watching. They were from all over the place, not just Rochester."

The pandemic did slow and stymie the arts community, and for many artistic creators this year seems like an energized return to what the world was like before.

"I think that this is going to be genuinely a very exciting year," Fee said. "Many many artists, I feel, have been preparing for this year."

Even before the pandemic, Fee hoped to land the French aerialists Cirque Inextremiste, who will perform in a free show downtown — they're the ones with the balloon — at Parcel 5 on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.

"We have been trying to get them here since I scouted them in July 2019 in the south of France," Fee said.

Fringe's trademark Spiegeltent and its stained-glass windows and seating-in-the-round will again be a downtown hub, as will the adjacent Spiegelgarden, which hosts shows and free popular and classic films.

This year's Spiegeltent is from Antwerp, Belgium and is larger than previous Spiegeltents at Fringe.

A wealth of artistic voices

Over the past 12 years, nearly 670,000 people have attended more than 4,500 performances at the festival, according to organizers. Artists have found a home at the annual fete, which is presented in a "bifurcated" fashion.

What does that mean?

The festival itself curates some shows, and local venues map out their own performances. In all, there are more than 30 venues.

The venue-specific shows "come up from its own grassroots," Fee said. "There is not a central organization that is dictating to the others how you must run the festival."

Fringe festivals worldwide sprouted from the original in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1947. Then, some theatre groups that had not been invited to a major arts festival performed on the fringes of the venues.

The reception was so positive that the Fringe concept grew, then spread internationally.

Locally, there are crowd-favorite performers and performances that return year after year. As well, Fee and her festival-planning colleagues try to ensure that the Rochester Fringe stew is always seasoned with something surprising.

"The very nature of a Fringe festival generally highlights new work," Fee said. "... We're thrilled that the artists do have a variety of platforms to choose from at Fringe. We need to feed this arts ecosystem pretty regularly."

Both the arts community and the community at large are the festival beneficiaries, Warfield said.

"There's a kind of boost to the collective morale of the community," said Warfield, a member of the festival's honorary board of directors. "... There is this sort of connecting tissue that the festival brings. It's actually an explosion of creative energy. It's unbelievable in a city our size.

The festival success "both speaks to that (energy) and the support that you can get from here," Warfield said. "These things wouldn't survive if we didn't have audiences."

Fee is encouraging audiences to sample not only their favorite performances but others that "you've never thought of seeing before."

"There are 500 shows, for goodness sakes," she said. "People can find something they enjoy and we have so many different genres.

"There's something for everyone at the Fringe."

Rochester Fringe Festival shows 2023

Information about Rochester Fringe shows is available at rochesterfringe.com. Among the Rochester Fringe shows are:

• Circolombia, from Colombia, at the Spiegeltent. "Circolombia’s charismatic cast melds jaw-dropping acrobatic skills, high-intensity Latin dance and music, and a uniquely modern circus aesthetic to create a world-class entertainment experience," Fringe organizers said in a news release.

• Cirque Inextremiste. French comic aerialists who also utilize a hot-air balloon for their show, will headline Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 with free shows at Parcel 5 .

• An exchange with Monroe County's sister county in Ireland, County Cavan, which will send its comedic street theatre artists, the Fanzinis, to Rochester Fringe. Meanwhile, the Rochester Fringe Festival recently shipped one of its most popular local comic shows, Bushwhacked, to Cavan Calling, an inaugural festival in Ireland. Bushwhacked will also be back at Fringe.

• An outdoor video installation projected upon trees and called "Monuments" to be featured at Third Presbyterian Church throughout the festival. From Australian artist Craig Walsh, the art will feature "unsung heroes" of the Rochester region. The exhibit "leads us to question what monuments actually are, what they represent, and whom we should honor in this public manner," Fringe organizers said.

• The return of the irreverent Shotspeare, which combines the bard with bawdiness, and this year will shape its wackiness at the Spiegeltent around the tragedy "Othello."

• The popular "Silent Disco," in which participants dance to the music in their heads (channeled through headphones), and that music may well differ from those around them.

• Comic Tig Notaro, who will headline the festival with a Sept. 16 performance at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.

• "AstroFringe: A Celestial Stargazing Experience," which, according to festival organizers "brings the Rochester Museum and Science Center, RMSC Community Eclipse Ambassadors and the Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science together to introduce you to close-up looks at stars and planets. More than 60 experts bring their telescopes to focus on celestial objects for your viewing pleasure." This will be Sept. 22 and Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. at Parcel 5. The festival will also hand out eclipse viewing glasses for the forthcoming solar eclipse in April.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Fringe Fest 2023 re-invents itself with 500-plus shows