>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Racquel Stephen.

Today we're talking about the Rochester Fringe Festival, which is back September 9th through the 20th.

Filling theaters, bars, and unexpected venues across the city with hundreds of performances.

You can see everything from circus acts to storytelling to immersive dance shows.

Fringe started in Edinburgh in 1947, when a group of performers set up their own festival to create a space for risk takers and rule breakers.

That spirit has spread to more than 300 fringe festivals around the world, including right here in Rochester.

So why do people seek out art?

That's weird, challenging, or even uncomfortable?

What does fringe really mean today?

Why do artists choose to take risk?

Festivals like this, and why do audiences keep coming back for it?

We're asking those questions.

With some of these years, this year's performers and the festival's founder to get a deeper look at what makes Rochester's fringe unique.

And joining us remotely, I have Martin Dockery is here to discuss his one man thriller, One Small Lie, and I have Dr. Jefferson Svengsouk is in studio to talk about the Cobbs Hill Consort, a returning music ensemble featuring Native American flute, harp and percussion.

I also have Cat D. Olson is here to share her work.

Ayuk a theater, a theatrical multi-media performance by Kat and the coyote and Erica Fee the CEO and the es of the ESL.

Rochester Fringe Festival is back on the program to help us understand how this massive festival comes together each year, and of course, our audience can join us in on the conversation.

You can call 1-844-295-TALK.

That's 1844295825 5 or 5 852639994, or email us at Connections at wxxi.org.

Or you can comment right in our YouTube channel.

I want to welcome all of you to WXXI Connections.

I can't wait to discuss the Rochester Fringe Festival.

Welcome!

>> Thank you, thank you.

>> Now let's start with Madam President.

Hi, Marty.

Martin, we forgot Martin.

Make sure we remember you're on the line.

okay, let's start.

How you doing?

How are you?

Now, let's start with our president.

Erica Fee.

can you tell us a little bit about what to expect from this year's festival?

And then can we.

Then we're going to ask our guests about their their individual performances.

>> Well, this year's fringe features approximately 650 performances across many genres, everything from comedy to theater, music, dance, multidisciplinary shows, children's shows, shows that, frankly, we even struggle to classify.

and that's at 39 venues in and around downtown Rochester, you know, as you said, Fringe Festival started in 1947, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Edinburgh Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world.

It's gone on to birth about 250 fringe festivals worldwide, and it is the third largest event in the world.

So it's Olympics number one, World Cup number two Edinburgh Fringe number three.

All of the fringes are totally independent.

We are a nonprofit organization.

Unlike many festivals in Rochester, we are a nonprofit and we have as our mission a variety of things.

One is to provide platforms to artists.

Another is to provide incredible art for Rochester area residents.

at affordable prices.

And also, we love the idea of bringing fresh blood, quite frankly, into our venues so that our venues remain healthy and stable and have new audiences moving forward.

So it takes a city to raise a fringe.

we are a bifurcated festival.

So we have two halves.

We have a half that the venues themselves curate, and we have a half that we ourselves curate.

So that makes us different from some other fringe festivals.

But we do that in order to draw people in and, and hopefully encourage them to stay and attend other shows.

>> And what year are we in for Rochester Fringe?

>> Well, it feels like you're 500, but it's actually year 14.

So this is our 14th festival.

>> And how has it has it grown over the years?

>> Well, it's you know, it's it's an organic it's an organic being.

Jefferson can probably speak to the the biological nature of the fringe, but, as an MD.

But it is it is something that is different every year.

I remember the producer of the Philadelphia Fringe saying one time that he doesn't know the theme of that year's festival until that year's festival is over.

And that's something that we find in Rochester, that we, of course, you know, different themes resonate every year, but we have I mean, how it's changed, it's really become, I think, more and more and more of a community event.

It's become more of a regional festival.

It's drawing in people from New York down from Toronto, you know, all over the northeast, really.

So it's become much more of a destination event.

>> Yeah.

And one of your performance performers, Martin Dockery you've been described as you when you attend fringe, you have to see a Martin Dockery performance.

>> Well, that's very kind.

I Had To says that that's nice to hear.

Sure.

>> And, Martin, can you can you describe, your your show?

One small lie.

Tell us, what's this about?

>> Yeah.

Well, I mean, one small lie.

I heard you in the introduction talk about how, you know, fringe shows are like, kind of weird.

And, challenging.

I would not classify my show as as those things.

It is a straight thriller, sort of in the in the vein of maybe like Fargo or A Simple Plan or even Breaking Bad.

It's about somebody who comes upon a car accident and a large sum of money in a duffel bag, and then has to make a decision about exactly what he's going to do in terms of that money and, and or helping the driver.

And so it's a it's like a story about one small lie leading to other lies leading to other lies and and ever towering, you know, a bunch of lies that are going to topple over, perhaps at any second.

So it's like an exciting, noirish story.

And it's set to music.

I'm also on stage with a with a number of kind of lamps around me that I'm controlling from my phone so I can.

So the color changes as the mood changes and the and the weather in the story changes.

And, there's like a lightning storm.

And so it's supposed to be like an immersive, exciting but very easily relatable story about an everyday sort of family man who could be any of us finding himself in a moral quandary when it comes to greed and temptation in a small town.

>> And, Martin, how do you keep audiences engaged with just yourself?

for an hour?

>> Yeah.

Well, it's, you know, you you just gotta tell a good story and keep the momentum rolling.

So I'm telling the story, but I'm also embodying it.

You know, I'm.

I am the character in the main story.

I'm telling it autobiographically.

So it's the stories happening to me, and as such, it's happening to the audience, too, as I'm telling this, this tale.

And so sort of keeping keeping things moving quickly, keeping a sense of like peril and suspense having the audience wonder, like, what is going to happen next?

How are we going to get out of this?

How are we going to, you know, escape?

and so it's it's just should feel it should feel exciting.

That's that's the way to keep the audience engaged.

>> And are you drawn to to dark or suspenseful themes?

I, I believe I watched one of your shows where you your fear of Uber.

>> Well.

>> Are you drawn to this?

>> First of all, thanks for watching that.

yeah.

You know every show I've done, I've done, I've done I think 14 solo shows now and seven two person plays.

and so the shows are all different, you know, they've all been more comedy based in the past.

This one is more suspense based and more of a thriller.

So it's it's a different thing.

This is the first time I also have a set on with me these, these kind of lamps that talked about that I'm controlling from my phone.

And it's also the first time I'm telling a story to music.

It's got a 60 minute long underscoring musical track.

And so, once the music starts, there's no sound cues.

I just have to tell the story in time with where the music is going.

And so it's something new for me this year also.

And I've been touring it across the summer to I've been at seven other fringe festivals with this, with this show, so I feel like it's a pretty it's a pretty well oiled story at this point.

>> And you've been to other festivals with this show.

How how does the audience react?

Is it what you expect?

Yeah.

>> You know, it's it's pretty it's pretty cool because like, from the from the stage, I can see the audience's I can see their faces.

You know, every audience member is experiencing any show on their own.

But I am able to sort of witness the collective facial expression of the entire audience.

And I've had a number of shows.

I'm particularly thinking of one where there was a mother and daughter right center stage, front row center.

And as the show went on, they started holding hands and and just clutching each other closer and closer, and their faces just looking more and more like, enthralled and worried.

And I, I was loving the moment that they were having as a as a mother, daughter, as a family and, and holding on to each other for safety.

I mean, I have a little seven year old daughter myself now, so I just sort of was sort of putting myself sort of in some future time with my own daughter, watching some story that we will be engrossed in, or that we are engrossed in now, in the stories that we read together and loving seeing that happening in the audience, seeing people's faces and their eyes grow wider and and and and laughing at times too, when it's appropriate in the story.

>> So so, Martin, what do you what do you hope overall that the audience feels or, or thinks when they leave?

1 Small Lie.

>> you mean, you know, in a word that I would love it if they just thought, wow, you know, so if it ends and they're just their first word is they look at each other and say, wow, that was that was awesome.

That was intense.

That was fun.

That was what a what a ride we just went on.

So I want them to feel like they've just been on some sort of like, yeah, amusement park ride.

and that they've like, arrived safely back at the, at the start of of the ride.

Yeah.

That's what it's supposed to feel like.

>> mm-hmm.

And I see cats like exactly that.

That's what I'm trying to capture as well.

before we get to you, cat doctor Dr. Svengsouk, let's returning to fringe for the 11th year, I, I heard how do you describe the sound of Cobbs Hill Consort?

>> well, Cobbs Hill Consort is well, originally an acoustic group, largely acoustic.

Now, there is a little bit of like, amplification and electronic pedals in there.

but it focuses on Native American flute and world flutes that that I play and I'm accompanied by harp, acoustic harp.

And then we have our guitarist and a percussionist and it's really like it's a it's a musical journey that we take you on for about an hour.

to find some peace and calm and respite.

where this comes from is, I'm an emergency physician and a palliative care physician, and I'm a joke a little bit, but like an eternal therapeutic musician student.

unlike our our harpist, who is a therapeutic musician that plays at our palliative care unit, and and she and I bring this this approach to music to our performance.

and, and our, our guitarist, Philip marshall, is a Rochester regional Health therapeutic musician with Rochester Regional Health Hospice.

so we bring this this sense of caring and support through the music to the audience for an hour.. >> And have you seen that that work translate well with, with your performances?

Are you is the audience feeling therapeutic and and peaceful?

>> Yes.

That's.

Yes, that's that's what that's what we see.

And that's the, that's the feedback that we get, that people really, really enjoy the experience, the music.

>> And as a doctor, do you use music to, in your medicine as well?

Is this.

>> I, I do, I do when, when I've been more active in my student portion of it.

I would actually schedule, time to play, Native American flute for patients at the bedside.

busy, busy schedule.

So I haven't been able to do that so much, but I have I play I have played for personal like friends who have been admitted to the hospital to help with their healing process during their stay.

>> Yeah.

That's beautiful.

That's amazing.

And and, Kat, how are you?

>> Good.

How are you doing?

>> Doing great.

A city magazine, best of Rochester 2024 finalist.

tell us about Ayuk.

>> So a uke is my company cat and the coyote's second full length presentation at fringe last year.

we had a sold out presentation at school of the Arts in the Black box.

This year, we're at on the main stage.

so Ayuk explores human escapism.

via the lens of contemporary social media and also the space race from the late 50s.

I feel that there's a parallel between these two time periods of clinging to technology to move forward and past into different realms, and I find, especially as someone who I teach at Nazareth University, so I teach young students, and I'm someone who is of the native internet generation.

and I've really seen so much, even just in the past few years, how much people's, second dimension that they've kind of created online has taken over quite a bit of our interactions with each other, but also just the way that people view these sort of dual personalities that they have.

So the work explores that and it hope the hope for the work is that it leaves the audience with questions about what they're seeing, but it's presented through very athletic and raw contemporary dance.

acting and a wildly varied score of music.

so the musical score is, composed and compiled by myself.

but it's made up of music by Hector Berlioz, who's a romantic composer.

from the late 1800s.

his Symphonie fantastique is sort of the, like, foreground or scaffolding for the work, and but it's mixed in with a lot of techno from the 90s and the early 2000. and also NASA sound recordings from space.

so I'm someone who really believes in the ability for the audience to take all the different things that they have in their life and to be able to pour it into what they're seeing.

So I don't I don't really like to stay in one genre of dance.

I don't like to stay in one genre of music.

As you can tell by my description.

but I aim to make work that feels connected to our human experience.

That presents a loose narrative on stage that allows the audience to have sort of touch points and through lines that they can connect to.

But at the end my hope is that they're not even really sure if they just saw dance, but that they've seen something that sticks to their rib cage.

And I think a lot of us have that those moments where they've seen art or they've heard music or they've seen a beautiful piece of fine art that, like, stays with them.

I remember seeing Jackson Pollock's work in MoMA for the first time, and it was after I had seen the documentary and I was like, oh, you know, he just sprays a bunch of paint on some canvas.

But when you're there and you see it, it has profound impact.

And it's amazing how much just the thought of his process stays with me.

So my hope is that the work that I make here because I'm kind of like a transplant from New York City that the work that I make here sticks to people's rib cage and allows people to continue to be excited about our dance community, to be continued to be excited about all the offerings we have here, because it's really incredible.

>> And your work has been called one of a kind, a one of a kind theatrical experience.

What creates that uniqueness for you?

One of a kind.

>> Ooh.

I think well, I think one of a kind is interesting, an interesting thought, especially as, like a an academic.

I think that there's not really.

Uniqueness is not really possible in my mind.

I think we're a collection of all of our experiences.

And because of that, we end up being beautiful.

>> like amalgamations or collages of all the things we've seen before us.

So for me, it's more about being open to the process and kind of saying yes to everything that comes in, whether it be something from one of my incredible seven dancers, I have to plug them because they are part of the reason why this works and is able to continue.

but just being able to see the things around me and being willing to include them and not feeling like a certain process can only have certain things in it.

>> Yeah, and a lot of risk taking in your work.

How significant is that for you?

>> It's wildly important, wildly.

I think I think when things become really easy for me to make, I don't really feel like I'm saying much because I have to go through an excavatory process of my research of the things that I find might be compelling to the audience.

And I have to think about how that's going to translate.

But I also come from an immersive theater background where it's a promenade style audience, where they don't sit in chairs, they walk around and experience the narrative.

I was a performer in the long running Sleep No More in New York City for a long time, so putting people back in seats.

I also think a lot about like a universally designed approach to an audience and how it's there's a lot of pressure and expectation put on people sitting in a seat.

They come, they have to buy the ticket and they, like are going to clap for you at the end.

And I feel like that applause needs to be earned.

>> Oh, and Martin, I would love your your take on on what Kat said.

that human connection, right is important and that applause needs to be earned.

How do you feel about that statement?

With the work you do?

>> I mean, I mean, certainly it certainly needs to be.

I mean, people are going to applaud because people are polite at the end.

>> Right?

>> But but there is a difference between a polite applause and then like, people really like you know, really giving it, I feel like when I'm on stage doing my own show, I feel like I have one foot in the audience that I am.

I am receiving this and and sensing whether whether this is an engaging experience, whatever the piece of theater is, whether it's my own or somebody else's.

But like when I'm on stage, I feel like the character I present is a version of me which is supposed to be sort of an everybody like you and the audience identify with me on stage and therefore whatever direction the story is going to go with, hopefully you are like on board because you can see yourself at every juncture in the story, having to make whatever decisions that I the character and making that you can you can agree with the decisions I'm making, even if you think they're dumb, bad decisions like, oh no, don't do that.

You at least understand why I'm doing that.

Because there's a version of you in me, and there's a version of me in you that we understand each other.

And creating that sense of connection.

and and empathy, really between the, the me on stage and the audience is important to for the story to proceed in a way that everyone can, can feel emotionally connected to.

And then hopefully at the end, the applause will be borne out of, like feeling like the audience has gone through this experience with the character that they, they, they are they're plotting me, but I am, I am just like a conduit for like the emotional journey we've all just gone on.. >> And doctor, how do you see your therapeutic performances fitting in with all of this?

>> Yeah.

I mean very much so.

Like from what I've just heard.

I mean you know personally, my personal experience of the music is therapeutic in itself.

it's the, you know, the Native American flute for me, is is a tool to express what's inside me and share it with the world around me.

And then as a consequence, I'm able to engage, make a relationship with the people I'm playing music for.

And so there's this, this interaction, this communication, this, this sharing that takes us, you know, takes us to another place.

>> Yeah.

Erica, when when you're choosing these performances, is that in your mind, intentional to to choose artists who will connect to to the humans, the human experience on that level?

>> Well, first of all, the good thing is that I don't choose all the performances.

So, as I said, we are a bifurcated festival and so many of the shows are curated by the venues themselves, which allows for incredible diversity.

And you don't have, you know, Erica Fee programing, 650 performances, which a would be totally impossible, but B probably in the end.

ultimately boring.

but when I am curating performances or you know, I mean, I come at it, I was a professional actor, in London and I, I my favorite moment of fringe is that moment that we see joy or connection on the faces of the audience.

I actually, as a producer, I'm a big audience watcher.

Half the time I've got my eye on the stage, but half the time I have my eye in the audience and it's it's as Martin was describing.

And Kat was, was was also everyone was describing really.

It's that it's when an artist can play truth on stage and an audience will pick up on that and they will have this connection that cannot be repeated.

it cannot be in many ways filmed accurately.

You have to be there.

And that's the beauty of live performing arts.

I was just reading this article that was talking about the industries that will flourish in the age of A.I., and one of those industries was theater.

and live performing arts, because you cannot replace it, you cannot replace that connection.

And that's what I absolutely love about our festival.

>> Wow.

And I have someone from YouTube said, I love to see my favorite indie artist, Sawyer Fredericks from upstate New York at Fringe.

Any advice on how it can happen?

>> Applications open in February, so anyone can apply.

that's how many of the shows are programmed through applications.

The venues choose through a competitive process, which shows that they are going to book.

I myself also travel around scouting shows for the shows that we book, which, for example, we have Sphere by Avanti Verticali, which is a huge outdoor spectacle performance that will be on September 19th and 20th at parcel five, totally free.

it's going to involve a giant sphere with acrobats in it.

Hoist it up by a crane above the crowd.

And these are the sorts of spectacle entertainment that no other Fringe festival is actually doing in the world.

We are the only ones.

Many times people in Rochester associate fringe with spectacle performance, and then they attend another fringe and they say, oh, I guess I missed that.

Well, no, you didn't miss it.

Were the only ones doing it.

So we we we do, we we invest in shows like that.

in order to obviously, like, everyone knows, provide incredible access to the arts, but also we do it to draw people downtown and to really encourage them, come downtown, make a night of it.

Most shows are about an hour in length, and you can attend many shows in an evening.

So we absolutely encourage people to come down, see a show that they've heard of.

Look, for example, we have Chelsea Handler on September 13th at Eastman Theater.

See a show that you that you know, that you've heard of, but then take a risk on something else because that emerging artist, that person may be the next big thing.

>> And how important is it for you to have emerging artists and young artists perform and take this opportunity?

>> And we have a range of artists.

We have professional artists who are performing in maybe smaller locations so that it's purposely performing there so that it's intimate theater.

We just have a huge range, and I it's it's very important to us to, of course, have the emerging artists because they bring so much energy and so many new ideas, and that helps all of us.

The great thing about fringe is it's like an ecosystem.

You're not just learning from the artist, from the audience.

As an artist, you're also learning from each other.

So I think it's it's a it's like a rocket.

Right?

And it kind of helps.

Rochester.

and, and the region really for the rest of the year round.

>> And Dr. Yvonne took 11 years with fringe.

Is there something that you've learned or changed each year that you've seen work better?

>> well, interesting to reflect on that.

I mean, definitely my approach to what I bring to fringe has, has changed.

So when I started, when fringe was young and I was just getting started, I, I went the route of kind of like the more typical approach of like a, you know, a paid, ticketed show.

that's what the that's what the venue wants.

I thought maybe that's what I wanted to, and which was fine, but then, philosophically, as I thought about it, you know, it's like what am I bringing to fringe?

I think I think I want to bring my music to the people.

And so as a consequence, I committed to having a free show.

so you know that with that in mind, like, I'm.

This is my gift to the community.

And so I've done I've, we've done it as a, as a free show, for many years now.

and I what has also changed is earlier there was more like covers of songs or more familiar songs which was, which was wonderful.

and now we have changed to fully original music, improvised music.

So it is truly, you know, music for From the Heart that is created in the moment, you know, for, for the audience that's there.

you know, something very special that is created, that is, you know, enjoyed, appreciated, experienced.

And then, you know, is never back the same again in the same way.

>> Wow.

And, Martin, you've done fringe all over the world.

is there something universal that you've seen at all these fringe festivals, or was there an experience that stood out the most to you?

>> Well, I would say the universal thing is just that, you know, the people that come and check out fringe shows, they are inherently adventurous people.

and that these, these people exist all over the place in every in all sorts of cities and towns.

you have people coming to a show that, you know, has a very limited marketing budget.

You know, you basically get a program, you have a and you're going off of a title of a show, an image and a program description.

And just based on that, you have people, you know, plonking down, 15, $20 and giving an hour of their time to an experience that they don't know what they're going to get.

And that is it's amazing that in today's age, when we're bombarded by so much marketing for for streaming things, for movie things, for music, so much, so many things barking at us for our time that you have people yearning to kind of be, explorers of a cultural landscape and to go out into the wild, so to speak, which would be the what the fringe has on offer and to discover cultural, experiences of their own and stories of their own, and then come back and tell the other people in the beer tent, so to speak, or their friends like, hey, I just discovered this really cool show.

you got to come check it out.

And then and then they'll be the ambassador for the fringe or for that show and bring them along, and then they'll have this experience where they will kind of own and kind of be their own, because they didn't hear about it from someone else.

They discovered it.

And that that quality is is wonderful and the kind of people that are willing to do that are people who are looking for community, are looking for connections with other people.

And I think that's what fringes the world over.

Foster is community, and the shows are kind of like are like tokens are things that they can converse about later and that you can talk about with anybody at the tent.

That's a universal thing.

>> Wow, Martin, you know, on that note, we're going to take a quick break.

and we're going to talk about how someone can navigate the Fringe Festival, the 14th annual Rochester Fringe Festival right here on WXXI.

Connections.

Stay with us.

>> I'm Evan Dawson coming up in our second hour, we bring back a recent conversation with Dr. Victor Poleshuck, a local doctor who can talk about what it was like after the passage of Roe v Wade, not the overturning of Roe that we've talked about lately on this program.

But way back when Roe was first passed, he and some of his colleagues received violent threats.

It was a very difficult time.

And he's going to talk about some of that next hour.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Mary Cariola center, supporting residents to become active members of the community, from developing life skills to gaining independence.

Mary Cariola center, Transforming lives of People with disabilities.

More online at.

Mary Cariola.

>> Org and we're back on WXXI Connections.

And we're talking about the Rochester Fringe Festival that's happening September 9th through the 20th.

Over 600 performances at over 30 venues across the city.

And to our listeners, if you'd like to join in on the conversation, you can call us at 1844295825 5 or 2 639994.

That's 585263999 for now, Erica, the CEO of ESL Rochester Fringe Festival.

As the festival grows, how do you protect space for the experimental work?

>> Well, honestly, one of the reasons that we hold the fringe is to protect space.

That's part of our mission, because we all know what it's like.

artists make an area cool, the rents go up and the bankers move in.

Sorry, bankers.

And then the artists move out, and then the theaters close.

we don't want that to happen.

That's that's a trend that's happening worldwide.

And Rochester punches above its weight artistically and culturally.

And we need to preserve these venues.

So I see it almost as an act of civic pride, a civic love to attend the fringe and to try out something new, perhaps at a space that you've never visited before.

Because the other thing that we notice is that when an audience member attends a space during fringe, they are more apt to return there the rest of the year round.

So we have seen that play out with some of our venues and their ticket sales, their post fringe ticket sales are up because they have connected with new people.

>> So the economical boost.

>> You're sure?

Well, there's an economic boost.

I mean, there are all sorts of boosts really, for the fringe.

I mean, yes, economic boost, the creative economy super important, of course, but there's also this, you know, and studies have, have shown this now.

I mean, it can be quantified now finally.

But it basically raises a community self-esteem.

I remember our first year when we had Bandaloop dancing on the side of what was at the time, one HSBC Plaza.

Now Five Star Plaza.

people said to us, why would we want to do this in Rochester?

And this and other negative comments like this doesn't feel like Rochester.

and then same thing with the Spiegeltent.

The first time we had the Spiegeltent.

Oh, well, I don't feel like I'm in Rochester.

I feel like I'm walking in somewhere else.

I'm walking into a different country.

Well, that's kind of interesting, but also sad and weird.

But by the end of the festival, both of those times, people were saying, well, this is how we do it, this is how we do it in Rochester.

And you could just feel that joy increasing throughout the festival.

And, the community's pride increasing events like these are a great way for a community to come together, to have all sorts of difficult conversations without having the difficult conversation, just even getting us all in the same room is huge, and fringe gets people into the same room.

>> Because it's funny, because I would think a comment like that.

This doesn't feel like Rochester would be a good thing.

>> I mean, it's good, but it's also like, why doesn't it feel like Rochester?

Oh, because it's too cool.

I mean, what does that mean?

Rochester has always punched above its weight and and it does during the festival.

And the good news is we hear fewer and fewer of those comments.

And I just think that the festival itself sparks so much joy.

and we need that you know, for a variety of reasons, which I needn't explain.

We need joy.

And I think that you know, this festival is is it's definitely a festival that is of, by and for the city.

The region in the northeast.

>> I want cat to Cat D. Olson.

I would like you to respond to something that Erica said.

She said.

Rochester punches above its weight when it comes to artistic expression and from being from New York City.

I recall you said that do you do you see that?

>> Well, I have to correct you.

I'm.

Well, I'm technically in New Yorker because I was there for 13 years, but I'm originally from Brighton.

>> Oh.

>> And I grew up actually in the Rochester city.

Rochester City Schools before we moved.

But I moved when I was.

I moved.

Oh, I'm gonna age myself.

I moved in 2007, and I didn't come back until 2020.

Wow.

So I was actually someone who was never going to move back.

I really did not think that the type of artistic things that I wanted to make, I didn't feel like I'd be able to do it here.

I wanted to have a different sort of professional career, and I was very inspired by Garth Fagan.

I grew up dancing there, so I also was hoping that, you know, maybe someday I would be in the company.

Maybe I'd come back or whatever, but but it didn't really feel like it was in the cards to come back.

I feel like I had moved and I had made my decision, and I have two kids with my husband, and we decided that, you know, moving back was probably going to be a really good idea for them.

And I started getting plugged into the dance scene, which is always been robust.

But I wasn't, you know, I was a little too young to really take part in it.

and I have found that this is the most robust dance community that I've been a part of, and I've been a part of New York City's dance community.

It is supportive.

People are making incredible work.

>> and I and I do think that in terms of across the board music theater, I mean, the things that Khalil Del Bueno is doing, the things that, you know, lots of people in the community are presenting really incredible things.

And there's an appetite for new and types of different work.

When I first started working up here in decided I was going to start to make work up here, I reached out to the Rochester cocktail revival to talk to them about doing an immersive show with them, and they've recently become or not recently, but in the past two years, we have a presenting partnership where they help, and I create with Leah Stacy beautiful works that the that are promenade style theater.

So it's a the people, the audience comes to a building, they get to walk around and view the performances.

and I didn't actually think that people would be wanting to see stuff like that, be willing to see things like that.

And we have had sold out shows since we started presenting them.

So I think, there's a really educated arts audience here.

There are lots of people who are ready to not see what they've seen forever.

I think that's also part of our zeitgeist change.

You know, everyone is looking for things that are new, more representative of a wider range of art forms specifically.

So I think that, I mean, in largely in part to fringe, too, because I remember when I came back, I was like dying to be a part of the Fringe Festival, like the first, the first year I was I was performing in someone's work at a collective show at school of the Arts, and I was like, oh, this is it.

This is like, these are the goals.

You know, you want to you want to do something here, you want to do it at this venue.

so it does set up for people who are new or freshly back to the area.

This like benchmark of kind of greatness that we have here.

>> So yeah, we find that too.

The audiences are looking for new experiences during fringe.

I mean, and we hear that from our venues all the time, that if they program the sort of work that they program, and I'm not talking badly about their programing, but if they program what they program the rest of the year round at fringe, it's not going to be as successful.

So people are definitely looking for something new during the fringe.

you know, I lived out of town for 11 years and I produced in London and, and obviously performed there, but I just think that Rochester has this incredible depth and breadth of artistic and cultural heritage and so many artists based here.

And, you know, one thing that I think is so funny is Rochester gets this rap about being so conservative and like, maybe we're fiscally conservative, but I haven't found us to be very artistically conservative.

I have not seen that.

And Matt Morgan, who does our show annually in the Spiegeltent, a new show every year.

This year it's called Cirque du fringe, Claws out.

He's based in Vegas.

He and his wife Heidi, who is his comedy partner.

Matt and Heidi, they always say there's nothing like a Monday night in Rochester.

They say they've never seen a wilder crowd.

>> It's true.

>> That's absolutely true.

It's absolutely true.

>> And, Martin, do you do you find that Rochester's audiences adventurous?

>> Oh, I mean, certainly I do.

I mean, it's like I was saying before, I think fringe festivals, just by their very nature, attract adventurous people from whatever community they're happening in.

I mean, what I find particular about Rochester Fringe is just like how the fringe itself seems very like, confident and bold and, you know, like Erica was saying before, like having kind of a big spectacle that they invest in and to bring, bring awareness to what's going on down, down to be to bring people there, to let people know, oh, there's something happening.

And that that there's a and bringing the Spiegeltent and setting that up, that's those are all very like flashy, bold, confident decisions.

And I don't know if that's a reflection of Rochester, if that's a reflection of Erica, I.

>> Don't.

>> Know, maybe it's both.

You know, maybe they are one in the same in many ways.

you know, I grew up, I live in Brooklyn, New York.

That's that's where I'm am at this very second.

And so, like, I didn't really know Rochester when I first came to the fringe there, which was, I think 2000 and 19, I think.

And so I really didn't know what to expect.

And you know, there was a pandemic after 2019, as we all know.

But like, I've been back the past three years also, and I'm always amazed that at that, there is such a vibrant arts community.

And since doing the fringe, I've I've hooked up with push you know, physical theater dance troupe there.

We've been talking about dance troupes and, and then we've done a show together.

We toured myself and them, we toured Dracula, and that came out of you know, hooking up at the Rochester Fringe.

And, and I've been really impressed with the, the art scene there.

And as I said before, it was nothing I knew about or had heard about.

and it is it is amazing to think that, like, this is all going on on the other side of the state that I have lived in my whole life.

I'm way down south, as I said.

So like, yeah, it's it's it's a so fringe is inherently attracted adventurous people.

But Rochester itself has is seems to be this like diamond in the rough in terms of like the art scene which like is the fringe boldly is kind of letting, letting the country maybe the world know is happening.

Right?

Right.

in this right here in New York State.

>> Wow.

Diamond in the rough and the art scene.

I do have a caller on the line.

Emmett from Rochester, and Emmett wants to make a comment about the festival's free stuff separate from the ticketed shows.

Emmett, are you on the the line?

>> Yeah.

And I mean, you start talking about Rochester being a diamond in the rough, and I did some thinking about all the stuff in Rochester theater scene that's just been remarkable this year.

That's not even fringe, but what I called to say is that you guys have been talking a lot about you keep mentioning ticket prices and tickets, and there is so much wonderful free stuff that is part of the Fringe Festival.

From sphere to eco vibes to music at Kodak Hall and the Little theater that I just wanted to make sure it was mentioned to the people on the radio could hear that.

Like, there's a lot of stuff you don't have to pay to come see at the Fringe Festival, and there always is.

And as long as I got Erica's ear, I wish you guys would do a little free section in the in the guide.

Like, you know, a little like, colored pages that like free so that it was clear where the free stuff is.

You don't have to hunt through.

>> Oh, that would be a quarter of our guide.

But but, yeah.

Point taken.

you can now of course, on our website you can filter by free, if you want, but we also have a new festival app.

So we have a new Rochester Fringe app.

And you can filter by free on the app to.

>> Great.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you.

Emmett.

Thank you for.

>> And and thank you.

And thank you for the festival.

Oh thank you.

Every year.

>> Thanks.

We can't wait to see you.

This year.

>> Well, you'll see me in dashboard dramas.

I'll be there 26 times.

>> Sold out.

>> oh.

>> Yeah.

Totally sold out.

Yeah.

>> Oh, he got it.

It wasn't free.

>> In it, so.

>> Oh, you're in it okay?

>> Yeah, yeah, he's in it.

>> Yeah.

>> okay.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Emmett, for your for your call and your comment., doctor, your your performance is free.

You said you switched over to free so you can just share your your love and your passion with with the with the community.

That's right.

are you still thinking about free?

Is there something magical about having your event just free and open to all?

>> Well, I mean, it's it's it's really a about that is, it's, you know what what can I do to to make our world a better place?

And if it's to allow access to the arts, to music for people who might not have, you know, engaged in that, like I'm all for it.

And and, you know, it's it's, self-perpetuating as well as well as just, the community itself.

you know, the, the fringe festivals you know, philosophy is to expose, you know, the community to all of all of these wonderful arts, you know, with an emphasis on, on, free shows to, to allow that to happen.

And so I, I can't not.

Yeah.

Do it.

>> Yeah.

And, Erica, the meaning of fringe.

Well, one of the meanings of fringe is unconventional.

extreme., non-mainstream.

>> Yeah.

>> Is becoming more mainstream.

>> I don't think so.

Fringe Festival started in 1947, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

And what happened was there was a curated theater festival called the Edinburgh International Festival, which still exists, and there were eight groups who turned up.

They were not booked by the festival committee, and they just rocked up with their set and their costumes and their props in this kind of postwar spirit.

And they found space above pubs and in lecture halls at the University of Edinburgh, and they put on their shows and there was a reviewer who was trying to figure out, what do I call these shows that aren't part of the official program?

And he nicknamed them the Festival Fringe.

But he also said, it's not going to happen two years running.

It's just a total fluke.

Well, it did, obviously, and it snowballed to become the world's largest arts festival.

So I mean, fringe, one Man's fringe is like fringe doesn't necessarily mean avant garde.

it just means, it's that we're all a descendant, really, of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

And, you know, frankly, one man's conservative is another man's you know, extreme.

But so we have a wide range of, of shows.

I don't think that anything is becoming more or less mainstream.

But I do think the audiences in general, you know, as Cat was saying, with the, you know, huge success of the show that she was in in New York, Sleep No more.

audiences are really trying to attend events that are just more immersive and inclusive and hit them on different levels.

So we are seeing more and more of those sorts of shows.

>> And for for Cat and doctor Savan sook, do you see your art differently when it's in front of a French stage and a traditional stage?

>> No, but mostly because I feel.

I feel connected to the audience all the time, and the venue feels, I mean, outside of choosing venues that feel like they align with my company's philosophy, I could get into that.

It's part of the reason why we're at school of the Arts.

outside of that, I. I don't I think sometimes it, changes maybe how the work is presented, whether it's a proscenium where the audience is far away or whether the they're at a black box where they're more at your eye level or promenade.

But yeah, no, I don't I don't necessarily think of it differently, but I do know, I guess.

No, I don't I'm going to contradict myself.

it does feel different because everybody knows that it's fringe.

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, as I was saying, and I'm like, no, because even my students at Nazareth, they they know that fringe is from the ninth to the 20th, and they have got their calendar and they're like, already getting ready to get their stuff together.

They're like, are you doing a fringe show this year?

You know, so they I think through their eyes it feels also more weighty.

>> And Dr. Svengsouk do you does it feel different on a fringe stage?

>> Yeah.

It's interesting thinking about this because my, my sort of like first reaction.

No, it's, it's, it's the same but.

Right.

It's it is different being fringe you know and the festival like the, the it it's an event.

It's, there's something special about this, this thing, this gathering everyone together and you know, to do this.

>> Yeah.

And Erica, to wrap it up, tell us all the information you need to know about the Fringe Festival.

>> Well, go to Rochester Fringe.

Com.

You can search for all your shows there.

September 9th through the 20th in and around downtown Rochester.

39 venues.

come down and see something spectacular.

>> Yes.

The 14th annual Rochester Fringe Festival over 600 performances, over 30 venues.

Thank you to my guest.

Thank you, Martin Dockery for being on the line with us as well.

Kat.

Dr. Erica, it's been a pleasure.

WXXI Connections.

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