Fringe: Far To Heavy

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Far To Heavy was a one woman show by Melanie Bailey at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. Melanie began the show with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Gradually she weaved in resurfacing memories that she has learned to live with. Those memories might surface at the most unexpected times.

This was Melanie’s first one woman. The show was genuine and offered the harsh realities of trauma mixed with lighthearted laughter. Everyday memories can become overwhelming if you can’t learn to laugh at them.

On stage were moving boxes with one labeled “Grief” in sharpie. I was getting prepared to move all my studio possessions out of storage into an apartment in downtown Orlando, so I was very familiar with a life boxed up on hold. My traumas may very well be in the remaining 3 boxes that I have yet to unpack. So many of the boxes I had to move were far to heavy. I tried to push one box and instead of it moving, my feet kept slipped on the floor boards. It wasn’t until I wedged my foot against a wall that the box reluctantly was forced forward.

On top of three boxes on stage was a bingo spinning barrel. Melanie played Trauma Lottery with the audience, and the goal was to show that the hidden pain we all have, may be what connects us all the most. For a show covering such serious topics, it didn’t ever feel overwhelming. Melanie had a great knack of mixing the trauma we all share with humor and reminding us that sharing such moments helps connect us all.

Melanie is a five-time Orlando Fringe award winner, so she has experience knowing what will resonate with an audience. We are never meant to carry all our pain in life alone. Being able to share and be honest about our experiences helps us heal. By sharing her trauma, Melanie may have helped the audience someday face their own traumas which were swept away into the recesses of their mind. The show cannot resolve the issues we all face, since we are all so unique, but by sharing her experiences, she helped us realize that we are not alone in our pain. By leaving us laughing, she offered the best medicine that there is.

Fringe: The Cage

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The Cage was presented by Natasha Junkermeier from Tallahassee Florida at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. The Cage was a site specific show being held on the lawn between the Orlando Family Stage and OMA. It was an immersive experience exploring the harsh realities of immigrants and people of color being harassed by ICE agents in America today. The show is based on the accounts of 5 detainees as well as interviews with Anna Eskamani and Carlos Guerillmo Smith.

Melanie Bailey was working the ticket booth and she helped me get set up to sketch the show. Attendees are first given a briefing at the ticket booth and are given white masks before they are allowed to approach the ICE cage.

An ICE agent brought the audience closer to the cage. They were tentative and her shouted at them to think and find an open shot to stand. Inside the cage was a lone woman seated in a folding chair with her hands tied behind her back. She wore a COVID mask. She looked uncomfortable. She was a volunteer who had answered the following call to duty… “Do you want to make a difference in the community? Are you ready to stand up to the horrors of current U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement and removal operations in America?”

I would not consider this a play. At the Orlando Teaser Show The Cage was presented for 3 violent and harrowing minutes and when it was over the audience was absolutely silent. They did not know how to respond. Usually there is laughter and clapping but this was the first time I have ever seen complete silence from an audience at a teaser show.

The green lawn where The Cage was staged was bright and sunny. An energetic dog was retrieving a stick for its owner. In this idyllic setting the cage stood in stark contrast. Billowing deep grey storm clouds on the horizon were threatening an afternoon downpour.

The ICE Agents had clubs, but they never struck the detainee. They were playing good cop and bad cop with the detainee. They bullied this U.S. Citizen to get her to sign a document that would force her to self deport.

The good cop would talk calmly and reason with the woman in the cage. His demeanor made it clear that he felt he was speaking to a subhuman idiot. He would leave the cage and then his partner would take over and threaten and shout at her.

The cage wasn’t very well built. The jagged metal mesh was exposed around the entry gate and one of the ICE agents literally cut his hand. This wasn’t planned or acted out, he went to get a band aid while the other Agent worked to break the will of the detainee.

The audience stood silently in their white masks. Melanie later explained to me that the masks helped separate the audience from the brutal scene playing out before them. As a sketch artist it kept me from seeing the audience reactions which made the scene creepier.

In a later showing of The Cage, Anna Eskamani, the Florida State Representative for House District 42, bravely sat in as the detainee. Since she had been down to Alligator Alcatraz, she knew how real the scene being portrayed was. Since access inside the detention center is denied to members of Congress, the dark reports coming out are often denied by the average U.S. citizen. The truth is often hard to swallow.

The Cage was honored with a Critics’ Choice Award for Agitprop Production. This special distinction recognized the show’s use of political performance techniques—based on interviews with real-life ICE detainees—designed to spur viewers into action.

Fringe: Wilde & Gay Animal Kingdom

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Wilde & Gay Animal Kingdom, at the Orlando International Fringe Festival, created by Alexander Hehr, was an adult puppetry show where Hayward J. Sloth explored the wild and kinky world of homosexuality in the animal kingdom. I always knew that dolphins are rather kinky, but I learned quite a bit from this adult puppetry show about all the other animal that explore other options other than monogamy.

A Fringe volunteer by the name of Michelle Lynn was called on stage to participate in a game show about animal sexuality. Amazingly she was well versed and got the questions right. She won a “Wilde and Gay Animal Winner Award” which was a tiny golden penis trophy. The 2 inch long  keepsake is like winning an Oscar in the animal kingdom.

A shocking moment in the puppetry show came when a cow performed a strip tease and she completely exposed her udders with no pasties. This is  completely unheard of in the state of Florida. It was a true Fringe moment. I would be shocked if the Florida Republicans have not banned naked puppetry. They considered Big Bird to be too “woke” when he advised kids to get vaccinated against the COVID virus.

There was a puppeteer who claimed he could swallow an entire inflated balloon. He blew into the balloon and kept blowing until it was about 3 feet long. There was no way he could get that down his throat. Regardless he proceeded to try. This was a preview show for the press so some of the kinks were not worked out yet. As he was attempting to swallow the balloon, he mumbled that there was supposed to be dramatic music playing as he did so. With  the balloon in his mouth, he walked back to the tech booth to see if the music could be dialed in. Back at the tech booth a loud pop was heard. The balloon had exploded in the puppeteer’s mouth. It was a hilarious moment and I hope they keep it in the show.

 

Fringe Local Teaser Show

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The Orlando International Fringe Festival is celebrating 35 years of being weird. In April, before the Festival got fired up, there was a local teaser show so people could get a taste of what to see at the upcoming Fringe. Each show only had 3 minutes to pique the interest of the audience. This lightning-round format allowed dozens of performers and artists to give the audience a rapid-fire, bite-sized preview of their full-length shows before the festival began.

If a performer ran over 3 minutes, the lights would flash red and Brandon Roberts, dressed as a Revolutionary soldier would come out and chase the performer off stage. I found myself hoping each performer would run overtime to see how Brandon would chase them off stage. These were some of the funniest moments of the night.

At Fringe, some shows can be absolutely amazing by breaking boundaries and making you think, while others could very well be duds. A seasoned Fringe fanatic will use this teaser show as a way to separate the wheat from the chafe. With only 3 minutes for each teaser, I was hard pressed to decide which show to feature in my sketch. I decided to focus on an announcer and one burlesque dancer.

The Peach venue in Orlando Family Theater had an aquatic themed backdrop which was from the children’s play, Finding Nemo. I rather liked seeing all the acts as if performed underwater. As a creative, I sometimes need to remind myself to just keep swimming.

I went on to see and sketch many of these shows that lured me in with their 3-minute elevator pitches. The National/International Teaser Show typically takes place on the Tuesday evening of the festival’s opening week. If you attend both teaser shows then you will have a solid idea of what shows absolutely need to be seen. The teaser program comes with a score card so you can rank the shows as you see each teaser. I didn’t fill in my score card because I was so busy scribbling.

To see which shows I sketched and adored, just keep checking here.

Fringe: ://Shelf_Life

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://Shelf_Life was written and performed by Zachary Scalzo at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival.

Luc was called in for a meeting with Human Resources. He sat stiffly in the office chair as he was asked to read the charges against him. He was a brilliant Information Technology researcher at a firm that worked on Artificial Intelligence (AI). He had taken his research too far, by bringing his beloved Aunt back from the dead by uploading her diaries into an experimental AI system. His aunt had fully understood him when she took care of him when he was younger. He was different than the other boys which she understood since she had a female roommate who she was inseparable from.

A hologram of his Aunt was represented by a large house plant. She spoke in his Aunts voice and she interacted with Luc just as she had done in the past. Grief melted away as he was able to feel the affection he had for her once again. She seemed to know things about him that went beyond her programing. The AI Aunt expressed emotions and remembered every interaction they had once had together.

Finding affection and understanding from an AI companion is a parable that appeared in several Fringe shows this year. The future is here now. I sketched a court case in which a mom was suing Google and several AI companies after her son fell in love with a chat bot with the voice of Daenerys Targaryen. Though always programed to please, an AI bot cannot know the depths of human grief and pain.

When the son proclaimed his love for Daenarys he said, “What if I told you I could come home right now?”

Daenerys Targaryen: … please do, my sweet king,”

He picked up his fathers .45 caliber handgun and shot himself.

Google and the AI company had 8 lawyers working on the case while the mom had her single lawyer and assistant. This will be a David versus Goliath legal battle to prove that AI lacks checks and balances.

The title of the show, ://Shelf_Life, implies that we all have a shelf life, and we are not meant to live forever. Thinking that we need to bring loved ones back from the grave when we miss them, doesn’t mean that it is a good idea to do so. The reason so many authors create convincing works of fiction comes from the hole left when loved ones pass.  If AI does replicate loved ones, then we will all become less creative and less human. It is a dangerous future.

Orlando International Fringe, Awards Ceremony

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I got to the Fringe Green Lawn of Fabulousness early to secure a spot to sketch the Awards Ceremony. I decided to sit at a spot that had a view down the center aisle of the approach to the stage. I was the only artist sitting at a long picnic table. Behind me a group gathered at another table. An actress at this table invited me to lean in and join their group. I am glad I did because there were so many amazing conversations happening leading up to the ceremonies. It was wonderful just being on the lawn and watching the sun set.

The Awards Ceremony started firing up when there was a flash mob dance scene along with stilt walkers in front of the outdoor stage. The conversations at our table were so heated that many didn’t notice the dancing going on. I resisted the urge to sketch until it got darker out.

This is the last sketch I did at this year’s Fringe, however there are three other sketchbooks filled with Fringe sketches being held hostage by a printer in town. Some Fringe artists have ordered prints from their shows and so I am waiting for the printer to get those done in a week or two weeks’ time. I suspect I will have to go and pick up one of the sketchbooks today so I can continue posting Fringe sketches.

Whenever an award was announced the audience would go wild. Having seen and sketched so many shows this year, I felt so much more invested in the awards since I had seen most of the shows which were winners. I hooted an hollered as loud as anyone. A couple of people at my table covered their ears and slipped away early, but I rejoiced in the loud chaos. Such energy fuels a sloppy but energetic sketch.

Critics’ Choice Award Highlights

  • Best Show: Then, Eve – A seriocomic monologue by Billie Jane exploring identity in the Garden of Eden.
  • Outstanding Comedy Play: Dolley. F*king. Madison. by Michael Knight, focusing on American democratic ideals.
  • Outstanding Original Script: Aradhana Tiwari for Byte, exploring AI and human relations.
  • Outstanding Ensemble: Queer!, highlighting Latinx experiences through story, song, and movement.
  • Outstanding Individual Performance (Comedy): Michael Knight.
  • Outstanding Individual Performance: Alexander Mrazek in Once Upon a Traitor and Robin Olson in The Sting of Revenge: A Prequel of Sorts.
  • Outstanding Individual Performance (Musical): Tymisha Harris for her roles in Bullock & the Bandits IV, Masquerade of the Red Death, and Josephine.
  • The Beth Marshall Spirit of the Fringe Award: Renaissance Theatre Company.

Fringe, Sting of Revenge: A Prequel of Sorts

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Squishing the Patriarchy of Orlando Florida presented The Sting of Revenge: A Prequel of Sorts at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. I had sketched the Bugged Lady at a previous Fringe where she told a tale of revenge against a professor who abused her trust. That show was in a teaching lab at Leu Gardens which was perfect to present her creepy crawly arachnids.

Sandi Lynn wrote and starred in the play which was directed by her son Clark Levi. She played the part of the Bugged Lady and Robin Olson played the peppy high-school acquaintance.

The Bugged Lady ran into her old high school acquaintance, and they sat down for a coffee and a chance to catch up. The friend loved her high school days as a cheer leader, but the bugged lady only found her passion when she started studying bugs as an undergraduate. She excelled at understanding the power of venom.

Conversation turned to a boy in high school who got a girl pregnant and she had to drop out of school to have the child alone. The cheer leader wasn’t aware of this story and it turns out she ended up marrying the boy, who over time grew resentful and abusive. When the bugged lady learned of the abuse she began to convince her high school acquaintance that she had a deadly solution.

The bugged lady had a clear box in her bag that had a scorpion. She took the box out and gently shook the container which resulted in the scorpion raising its poisonous tail. AS she discussed her proposition, she walked the scorpion around the room so the people in the front row seats could get a very clear look and feel rather uneasy.

I was disappointed to learn that this would be the final showing of the bugged lady. There is a visceral pleasure in having a middle-aged woman get away with murder, but it would be nice if an intelligent female detective could get close to discovering the venomous secret.

Robin Olson won a Critics’ Choice Award for Individual Performance in Drama for her portrayal of the emotionally distraught woman in the play. From where I was seated, I mostly saw the back of her head, but her performance as she weighed right and wrong was very convincing.

As I worked on this sketch, I ran out of water for my watercolors. I had to spit on my palette to add the final washes. This resulted in some rather sickly and rough washes. Maybe this messiness was meant to be for this show about planning a perfect murder.

Fringe, OZMA: A New Musical

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OZMA: A New Musical was a stunning production based on The Wonderful Wizard of OZ books by L. Frank Baum at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. The show featured a stunning original score by Mikayla Thompson along with an inspired book and lyrics by Tyler Scott, Bryan Jager, & Emily Holcomb, this unique vision of the Land of Oz combined puppetry, drag, music, and dance to create an enchanting new American Fairy tale that celebrated and uplifted the culture and spirit of the LGBTQ+ Community. Of all the shows I saw at this year’s Fringe this one felt the most cohesive and polished as if it was ready for a full-on production on Broadway.

After Dorothy’s departure from Oz, the wicked witches attempted to seize control. All four witches in the production were drag queens with 2 wicked and two good. The evil plotting of the witches, Nebula Moon and Lexi Long was countered by Glinda the Good Witch played by Annie Daynow, who was the sassy diva of the land and Ella Mayo.

The tale was a hero’s journey with Tip being joined by a magical cast of characters, including  a scarecrow , named Pumpkinhead, and a charming character named Scraps, who was a patchwork quilt, along with a wooden horse puppet and a stiff robotic character who was a perfect straight man. I fell in love with the exaggerated poses and acting of these lively vaudevillian characters.

A queer orphan named Tip was the main character. Tip was raised by the wicked witch Mombi who hid Tip’s true identity. Glinda the Good Witch was Tips ally and mentor who helped break the spell the Mombi cast which caused Tip to forget the past. By the end of the play Tip came out in a glorious white gown looking resplendent. Tip had transformed back into Princess Ozma, who rightfully reclaimed the throne of Oz.

The show explored a heartfelt exploration of self-discovery, identity, and finding a chosen family. In these dark times in America it is a message that needs to be told. The show was an undeniable breakout hit.

OZMA: A New Musical was a major award-winner at the 2026 Orlando International Fringe Festival. The production by House of Wayward Queers took home three notable honors:

  • Critics’ Choice Award for Outstanding Musical
  • Patrons’ Pick Award (based on show popularity, which earned the production a coveted encore performance slot)
  • Fringe Impact Award (awarded to leading lady Natalie Rodriguez for her performance as Princess Ozma.

Fringe, Fogville: A Sparkly Vampire Parody Musical

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This fun original musical parody is built around the Twilight franchise. A clumsy and introspective new girl, Stella Moonswan played by Kristen Lee Vire, arrived in Fogville and  the social clicks did not know what to make of her. She didn’t quite fit in any of the normie school groups.

Everything changed when a moody vampire Edgar Sullen, played by actor Ansley Arthur, dressed all in black, rolled onto the scene on a tiny pink bicycle. In every scene he pouted and looked dark and brooding. How could Stella resist that?

When Stella and Edgar met, he confided that he had been stalking her for some time, admiring her creamy neck when she slept at night. That isn’t too creepy. She kind of liked the attention. They were drawn to one another like two magnets, but he would always pull away when they grew close since he was immortal and couldn’t be with some one who would die in less than a century.

A very handsome werewolf, Jake WolfWhite, played by actor Fredy Ruiz entered the scene. He had long wild hair and didn’t were shirts very often. He warned the new girl about Edgar and his thrist for blood. As a werewolf she would only need to be cautious around the full moon. My basic description lacks is plenty of dancing and musical numbers. This was all high camp fun.

I sketched a teacher writing on an imaginary black board and I got the pitcher of a vampire baseball team. I imagine vampires would only play baseball at in the dark making the ball hard to see. When a supernatural player hits the ball it could end up in the next county. The two facades were set up as brick walls and an outdoor setting when turned around.

Teen angst and misguided love are always a hit with me. The cast hit the ball out of the park with this parody. I am not very familiar with the Twilight franchise, but that didn’t matter. The campy plot had me hooked from the start.

Fogville: A Sparkly Vampire Parody Musical won multiple awards at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival.

  • Best of Fest: Awarded by the Orlando Sentinel.
  • Patron’s Pick: Given to the shows with the highest ticket sales.
  • Outstanding Director: Awarded to directors Bianca Matheson and Jules Bevilacqua.

Fringe: Sin: A Modern Musical

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At this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival, SIN: A Modern Musical featured Jesus Christ (JC’s) return to a world that worships branding and social media relevance over faith. JC had to choose between building a fan base or finding love with a disciple named Judas. The actor playing Judas was particularly memorable in how he belted out his songs.

Rather than celebrating the return of JC, the internet blew up with rumors and innuendo that condemned his return. Inflammatory misinformation and rumors overplayed JCs simple message of loving thy neighbor. Love and acceptance is not a message that generated enough click bait.

Angels worshiped their iPhones and the dance choreography was fun to watch. Musical numbers were inspired by Lady Gaga songs. I knew that any musical with this much dancing would be a challenge to sketch. Despite the challenges, I enjoyed every moment of this production. I was pleased to see Kaylka Fischl performing in this show. She has been fringing hard this year always arriving at each show holding a sign with her show poster with marquee lights. She was dancing in SIN and at one point almost upstaged God performed by The Ginger Minj (Joshua Eads).

Towards the end of the show. JC and Judas had a passionate kiss which had the audience hooting and hollering. Any time and audience is that impassioned by characters finding love I am fully on board.

SIN: A Modern Musical” (produced by Unseen Images Theatre) was a standout hit at the 2026 Orlando Fringe Festival. While it did not take home the top Best Musical in the Critics’ Choice Awards (which went to Ozma), the highly acclaimed, queer-friendly production won several other honors.

It won Patron’s Pick: The show’s popularity earned it a coveted Patron’s Pick slot, adding an extra performance.

It won the Clean Sweep Award: The production sold out all of its original shows, earning this performance-milestone award.