An 'utterly crazy performance' and hot air balloon launched at Parcel 5: Fringe Fest 2023

Gary Craig, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·3 min read

The Rochester Fringe Festival will again bring the skies at downtown's Parcel 5 to zany life this year as part of its annual and highly attended fete of arts, music, comedy and drama.

And don't forget acrobatics, which are typically found at Fringe within the ornate confines of the Spiegeltent or the open turf of Parcel 5. This year, the aerial feats will have a decidedly international flavor: Parcel 5 will host free appearances from the French company Cirque Inextremiste, with a show billed as a "premiere in a clownish, tightrope-walking, quirky, fiery, spectacular and utterly crazy performance called EXIT."

Rochester Fringe Festival Producer Erica Fee discovered Cirque Inextremiste during a visit to Europe when scouting for Fringe. “At Cratere Surfaces in Ales, France, I attended their performance and knew immediately that Cirque Inextremiste was the perfect centerpiece for the Rochester Fringe,” she said in a news release. “We believe this is the first time a hot air balloon has ever been launched from Parcel 5!”

Cirque Inextremiste will headline Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 with free shows at Parcel 5 .

Meanwhile, the downtown Spiegeltent, a centerpiece of the festival, will host the aerial circus, Circolombia, from Colombia. "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.

Performances at the Rochester Fringe Festival 2023

The French company Cirque Inextremiste in a performance.
The French company Cirque Inextremiste in a performance.

On Thursday, the Rochester Fringe Festival unveiled its acts for its 12-day event, Sept. 12 - 23. Among the acts are longtime favorites and new additions. They include:

  • 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 is shipping 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 to be featured 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 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.

A past "Silent Disco" at the annual Rochester Fringe Festival.
A past "Silent Disco" at the annual Rochester Fringe Festival.

Fringe organizers also recently announced comic Tig Notaro will bring her latest standup show to Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre on Sept. 16. Tickets have been selling fast for the show from Notaro, who was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the "50 best stand-up comics of all time."

Fringe has ballooned in popularity since its 2012 inception and is now the largest multidisciplinary performing arts event in the state. According to organizers, nearly 670,000 people have attended more than 4,500 performances at the festival, which utilizes multiple venues across the city and county.

More information can be found at rochesterfringe.com, and tickets can be purchased there.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Fringe Festival 2023 acts and free shows on Parcel 5