Gathering of the Arts
at the Fringe Festival

By Brian Rademaekers
Times Staff Writer

More than a decade after Nick Stuccio and Eric Schoefer founded the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the citywide celebration of all things art has continued to grow.
Inspired by Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, an event jumbled alongside five other simultaneous festivals, the two Philly-based artists set out to create their own version back home.
Their first attempt launched in 1997.
The goal then and now was to give "underground art an above ground stage," Stuccio said.
Apparently, Philly liked the idea.
Since the festival’s debut, the two-week-long celebration has expanded exponentially.
Last year, the festival showed the work of more than 1,400 artists and drew in nearly 45,000 attendees.
This year, the events — ranging from traditional theater and wild one-act plays to static gallery displays of stunning art — are even more numerous and are showing up at even more locations.
And according to Stuccio, this is the year to come out.
As one of the event’s founders, the Stuccio has had a close-up look at the various shows that have emerged over the years.
This year, many of the shows deal with the notion of America’s identity, Stuccio says.
"Our image around the world has really had its teeth kicked in over the last few years, and artists have been strangely silent on the matter," said Stuccio.
A past performer for the Pennsylvania Ballet Company, the Fringe founder attributes that phenomenon to sort of artistic gestation period.
Still, Stuccio found the absence of such works in recent Fringe rosters odd.
For 2007, though, the artistic community has put forth a fresh set of creative works that deal with the topic of defining what it means to be American head on.
Some, like an adaptation of playwright Eugene O’Neill’s 1920 work The Emperor Jones, and Gatz, which is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, draw on traditional sources.
Others are about as modern as it gets.
Hearts of Man, performed by The Riot Group, details the story of an Internet sex predator caught in a televised sex sting, drawing a direct parallel with Chris Hansen’s NBC undercover series To Catch a Predator.
Flamingo/Winnebago is an all-American road trip play that explores oil consumption and climate change.
"It’s very fun, but it is also very poignant," says Stuccio.
Of course, Stuccio’s observation on this year’s theme is only drawn from the Philadelphia Live Arts section of the festival. Those performances are hand-picked by the festival’s board.
In the Fringe events, anything goes, says Stuccio.
"We don’t know anything about the content, and that is part of what makes it so great," he says.
As the name Fringe would imply, these galleries and performances are often untraditional works that happen in unexpected places.
Fortunately for the folks living north of Vine Street, that means heaps of the Fringe events are set to take place throughout the neighborhoods outside of Center City.
Even moreso than in the Live Arts festival, the Fringe happenings run the gamut from classic theatrical plays to oddball live art.
Fishtown’s Walkingfish Theatre, set to make its debut during the festival, offers a good example of both.
!Tengo un Arma! (I Have a Gun) is one of Mexico’s most produced plays, and features a strung-out man who gets caught up in a kidnapping.
Playing in the same theater is PUKE Cabaret, performed by an experimental rock art company. Its goal is to teach a simple lesson: "Less puke equals more common decency."
In addition to those shows, the Walkingfish will also host three other performances throughout the festival.
Over in Francisville, The Arts Garage will host a highly unconventional play perfectly suited for the space.
Muralista is a play written by former Inquirer and Daily News reporter Joseph P. Blake.
Just prior to Philly’s visit from Prince Charles and his lady Camilla, Blake wrote a scathing article about the murals they came to see.
That statement caused much dismay in the mural-making community.
Next week, Blake will stage a play featuring walls that resist being painted with idyllic scenes that betray their true history.
The play comes at a time when the city’s Mural Arts Program is installing a $70,000 mural at the Arts Garage.
"It has been branded as very controversial, said Ola Solanke, the venue’s owner.
That conflict of ideas and exploration of thought is what his space is meant to foster, explained Solanke.
"The Arts Garage is doing exactly what it was intended to do: give everyone a place to put their ideas out there and let a discussion begin," said Solanke.
This is the Arts Garage’s second year in the Fringe festival, and Solanke hopes it is not the last.
The annual arts bonanza’s theme of unconventional art in unconventional places fits his venue well, Solanke said.
And while many of these performances may aim for high-minded heights, Stuccio said the important part is that the events remain fun as well.
"It should be highly social," said Stuccio. "It’s almost like a party, you’re hanging with people who dig what you dig. While you’re there, you also get to see really cool art that you that you might not see anywhere else." ••
For list of venues hosting Fringe and Live Arts Events, check out the list bellow. You can get a detailed description of venues, show times, and ticket prices by visiting livearts-fringe.org For more information, call 215.413.1318

Fringe events north of Vine Street:
Angler Movement Arts Center 1550 E. Montgomery Ave.
Bambi Gallery, 1817 Frankford Ave.
Ice Box Project Space, Crane Arts building, American and Master streets.
Freedom Theatre, John E. Allen Theatre, 1346 N. Broad St.
Higher Grounds Café, 631 N. Third St.
Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, 723 N. Bodine St.
Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave.
Liberty Lands Park, Third and Wildey streets
Mascher Space Cooperative, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
MBN Studios (Gallery), 725 N. Fourth St.
The Arts Garage, 1516 Parrish St.
M Room, 15 W. Girard Ave.
The Milk Depot, 2042 Amber St.
Tower Gallery, 969 N. Second St.
Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Ave.
Gallery 908 at Philadelphia Glassworks, 908 A N. Third St. ••