SARAH WUELLNER, Asst. Sports Editor—The Fringe Festival is a part of the Denison Theatre Department season that comes about every few years. This past week three original shows were showcased for the Fringe Festival. The performances took place starting Sunday May 2 carrying on through Sunday May 9. Each performance brought something different to the stage with pieces from about 20 minutes to an hour long.
The Fringe Festival was produced by Professor Peter Pauze and assistant producer Adam Venrick ‘21. The crew consisted of stage manager and sound console Kaylah Linkiewicz ‘23 and lighting designer and lighting console Jack Lehman ‘23. The Fringe Festival originated in Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival, the world’s largest arts festival in 1947. A small group of uninvited independent theatre-makers performed on the fringe of the festival. The Denison Fringe Festival is inspired by this global theatrical movement to bring authentic plays written, directed and performed by Deniso Students.
The first show The Compassion of Mundanity by Echo Cain ‘21 opened first and performed both Sundays. The original piece dealt with voice over acting, onstage acting, dance, and music underscoring. The piece featured characters of Tiferet played by Cain ‘21, Shedim by Sarah Wuellner ‘24, Tanninim by Thy Trinh ‘22 and Ose by Maxwell Marshall ‘21. The collaborated character of Phenex played by Wuellner, Trinh and Marshall. Two dancers Galaxia “Figure” played by Julia Rizzo ‘24 and Saccharon “Other Body” played by Fiona Shepherd. This piece was to be performed as a DITA show back in fall semester but had to be put off due to COVID-19 challenges.
The second original show Sucker for Romance by Genevieve Pfister ‘24 and directed by Adam Venrick was showcased on Tuesday and Thursday. The piece dealt with finding and rekindling romantic relationships in a bookstore. The play featured Rachel played by Pfister, Jimmy by Arth Patel ‘24 and Stephen by William Main ‘23.
The last show Angel Face by Adam Venrick and directed by William Main took place on Wednesday and Friday. The play takes place in an office breakout room and features a solo performance by Venrick for his character Nick Claiborne. Voices of Danni Gutelius ‘21 and Alyssa Brown ‘23 are present throughout the performance via voiceover. The piece covers the story of a middle aged man trying to find himself while tackling challenges with his boss, partners, family and strangers.
The Denison Fringe Festival wrapped up the season of theatre performances for Denison until next fall.