By Jeanne Beechwood
The 2024 KC Fringe Festival
Audrey Crabtree, the director of the KC Fringe Festival, had the opportunity to attend the most recent World Fringe Congress conference. She found it to be a very powerful and informative experience which translates into her work as the director for the KC Fringe Festival.
The KC Fringe Festival is the largest celebration of arts and culture in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Returning for its 20th season for a two-week explosion of performance, film visual arts exhibitions and events from local, national and international artists.
Celebrating its 20th year, the KC Fringe,a non-profit organization, was originally started by Cheryl Kimmi, who served in that role for 17 years. Kimmi now serves in the role of Development Director.
Crabtree was brought on three years ago. Crabtree created the International NY Clown Festival and was the program director for Artica (a festival celebrating off-beat performances and artists) in St. Louis. Crabtree explains, “As we re-emerge with our live festival in Kansas City this year, I plan to continue the support and showcase our KC artists while growing our diversity and inclusion, and engaging KC’s emerging artists. ”
Dates
The KC Fringe Festival runs July 18 through July 28 and features 44 original works, 33 world premieres, 289 performances, and there are over 500 artists involved. There are also workshops and classes in a variety of arts, including “Practical Mime” with Beth Byrd and Dean Hatton, and “Producing Theatre 101” with Beth Marshall. Marshall was the former Producing Director of the Orlando International Fringe Festival and former Vice President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals.
Highlighted productions this year
Some highlighted productions of the 2024 KC Fringe Festival include “Gulag Girls,” written by local playwright Shea Ketchum and produced by Rising Tide Productions. Based on true accounts, “Gulag Girls” tells the story of a group of women daring to live, love and fight the system from within the constraints of a Soviet era gulag. The play is an unusual offering for the Fringe Festival, providing a deep dive into historical fiction. Both the playwright, Shea Ketchum and the stage manager, Taylor Zimmerman, for this production are Avila alumni.
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Arriving from Orlando, Florida is Katie Thayer, who wrote and performs in a one-woman musical titled “Titanic.” While this 59-minute parody is for mature audiences, reviews have said it is “the best double-sided wig work since Broadway’s Jekyll and Hyde”. Oh, and there’s a splash zone too.
Another show is “The Sound Mandala.” This show has an immersive audio system that distributes sound to dozens of independent loudspeakers and moves sound through space in ways never heard before. Program content will feature pop, rock, jazz and Celtic tracks, and features several short scenes with voiced actors and sound effect collages. This show is good for all ages. This production is written by Sam Toskin and Tom Mardikes. Mardikes serves as a Professor and Head of Graduate Sound Design for UMKC Theatre.
The from Denver, Colorado offers “Dream State.” This non-stop, elating aerial dance experience is set to dreamy and dramatic music from the artists of Son Lux. This memorizing performance explores themes of love, loss and transformation. It delivers a spellbinding journey through the human experience.
A sensory friendly magic show is being performed by Jordan Allen. He is diagnosed with dual ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder. “People automatically assume you are not good or competent in what you do because of your disability when you are public about it. That said, differentiating yourself also helps you find your niche and your tribe, ” says Allen. It offers something for everyone using a sensory friendly format. This friendly, fun-filled experience is loaded with stories, bits of comedy and magical surprises.
The Cyclopedia Ensemble presents “Romantic Fools.” This Lee Summit theater company stages this two-character comedy examining love, dating and romance. With influences like Monty Python, Saturday Night Live and the Marx Brothers, this show celebrates the inherent comedy of male-female relationships. This show is for mature audiences.
“Breakneck Twelfth Night” comes to KC Fringe 2024 by actor, writer, director, Tim Mooney. Mooney plays all of the characters of Shakespeare’s only Christmas play! (That has nothing to do with Christmas by the way) This is the closest Shakespeare ever came to cranking out a musical, and Mooney has given brand new tunes to Shakespeare’s old words! This performer hails from Chicago and has received rave reviews on his Shakespeare parody works.
The Tennessee Playwrights Studio from Nashville, Tennessee brings “That Woman” to the KC Fringe Festival this year. This monologue is about perspectives of women involved with John F. Kennedy including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. These monologues reach beyond decades of headlines, books and broadcast documents and give humanity and individuality to women who revealed or alleged to have been involved with John F. Kennedy.
Tickets to see shows range from $12 to $15, depending on how many shows you want to see. For more information on tickets, times and locations, visit kc.fringe.org.
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