Fringe: Hollywood Horror Story

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Ingrid Garner from Hollywood California presented A Hollywood Horror Story at the Orlando International Film Festival. This show was about Vampira, the first host of horror movies on TV. Vampira was a legend before her time. She created the character on her own with costuming she had on hand. She built her persona before punk or goth was a fashion trend. She based her look on the evil queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Ingrid’s performance as the Horror goddess was sultry and enticing. She managed to bring the mistress of the dark back to life. The show was both funny and very sad. Vampira’s popularity was brief yet her legacy lives on to this day.

The actress, Maila Nurmi who created Vampira, moved to Hollywood with the hope of becoming an actress. She got several small roles she then went on to create the Vampira character. She hosted a TV series called simply, The Vampira Show, from 1955 to 1955 on KABC-TV. When the show was canceled, she retained the rights to the character.

She later appeared in Plan 9 from Outer Space directed by Ed Wood. That low budget film is now considered a classic because of how campy it is. Tim Burton made a film to celebrate Ed Woods Campy universe.

Maila’s intimate relationship with young actor James Dean was something I wasn’t aware of. She understood him in a way few others did but in the end she was unable to protect him from himself. She claimed to have had an affair with Orson Wells and she had his child, which she gave up after birth.

She appeared in a few other films after Vampira was canceled but she had to fall back on laying linoleum to bring in cash. She then opened a boutique shop where she sold handmade jewelry and clothing.

In 1981 KHJ-TV wanted to revive the Vampira character for Television. She worked with the producers as an executive producer. Then she left the project after the station cast a comedic actress, Cassandre Peterson, that she felt was just not right for the part. The TV station could no longer use the Vampira name so Cassandra became Elvira. Elvira used the same sultry black dress and used all the same graveyard puns. Vampira sued for copyright infringement but lost. The court felt the likeness was simply a close resemblance. Elvira went on to become a massive cult hit in the 1980’s. The show reached millions of viewers every weekend in dozens of markets nationwide. A film was made built around the character called Elvira Mistress of the Dark. Elvira’s legacy has proven timeless and she remains popular at horror conventions, and she retains rabid fans to this day.

My mother’s name was Elvira but she died a decade before the name gained its goth horror cult notoriety.

I love any show that introduced me to someone who deserves to be recognized for her creativity. I left feeling that Vampira should have received royalties or a lump sum buy out for having created the character that Cassandra imitated.

Fringe: The Dress

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Ana Cuellar Productions from Davenport Florida presented The Dress at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. In the halls of the Shakespeare Theater someone explained to me that Anna saw this particular dress in a window, and she felt she had to have it. She was bound to that dress by destiny. The dress was her muse for years.

The dress was worn by Ana at performances around the world. The choreography in this show expressed love, lose, longing and gratitude. I was familiar with the dancer Dion Leonhard DiDonna, so it was exciting to see her dance through the range of expressive emotions. Dancer Elaine Hoxie was the one who got to wear the dress itself. She spoke about the emotional bond between the ballerina and her dress.

Video was projected on the backstage screen which showed the dress being designed. When worn while dancing the dress came alive like an undersea creature surrounding and enveloping the dancer. Sorrow turned to pure joy. The dress maker, Ricardo Zuccolini was in the audience only a few seats away from me for this performance. Someone had pointed him out to me in the lobby.

As I was leaving the theater I noticed another choreographer who was in the audience was wiping tears from her eyes, because she was so moved by the performance.  That was a true testament to how solidly the dance choreography landed. Dion in particular put everything she had into the performance which was at times super human. I loved that the dress was a major performer in the show.

There is magic in a dance performance being able to touch an audience so deeply. As an artist I hope someday to find a muse, animate or inanimate, that is as moving as the dress. The performance lay bare every artists daily struggle. The play was about the pure joy found in creation. Art isn’t easy, but well worth the effort when everything aligns, even if imperfectly.

The Dress won a Critic’s Choice Award as an Outstanding Dance Show.

Fringe: WTF Fringe Cabaret

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Orlando Fringe presented WTF Fringe Cabaret which was a late-night show that was free to all Fringe artists and Fringe Volunteers. Fringe guest performers would spin the wheel of fate to determine what they would be performing.  It was a variety, improv, cabaret with unexpected hilarious results.

Marisa Ashley Risque, a talented actress and burlesque dancer was the hostess although in the ensuing chaos it grew hard to tell who was running the show. When Disney Princesses from Once Upon A Traitor: Faithfully Ever After came on stage, I started sketching furiously. The evil queen, Theresa Smith-Levin, had to wear a big inflatable orange jumpsuit that made her look like a blimp. Despite the inflated weight gain she sang with gusto. I also caught Danielle Ziss who plays Alice In Once Upon a Traitor.

Sarah Hester Ross is a powerhouse singer from Las Vegas and she was asked to wear a strap on penis. Why on earth did they give Sarah such a flaccid looking strap on. Maybe she just put it on upside down. This is what I love about Fringe. Even the most accomplished performers join in with the crazy hi-jinks in this late night cabaret.

This was a chaotic sketch opportunity since each performer was only on stage for a few minutes. I did my best to try and capture just a fraction of the insanity. There were songs, sonnets and plenty of silliness.

I had never sketched these late-night shows before, but the unexpected chaos of this show was such a joy to witness. I was laughing the whole night. It felt good to drive back late at night to my Air BnB and collapse after a long day of sketching at the Fringe.

Fringe: Bytes

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Play the Moment Productions from Orlando Florida presented Bytes at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Aradhana Tiwari wrote this play that explored the relationship between a gaming nerd and a virtual companion. Michael Marinaccio played the digitally obsessed gamer, and Tymisha Harris played his virtual companion.

The gamer would spend countless hour at the computer and his digital companion shared his gaming obsessions. She shared and understood all of his wants and needs which became comedic in the way she wanted to fulfill his every need. What made her so unrealistic as a companion was her endless focus on him while her needs were never addressed. Being a virtual recreation, she really didn’t have needs.

She was programmed to satisfy is passionate fantasies and she kept pushing for this intellectual intimacy. At one point she did convince him to participate in the equivalent of sexting and the stage went dark as their intimate exchange built to a climax.

The next day was awkward. He wanted nothing to do with her.  There was something very unsatisfying with the level of intimacy he had experienced. As the relationship developed, he began to isolate himself more and more, spending all his time at the computer screen. Developing a friendship with this digital companion resulted in him pulling away from friends and family.

He did keep one small sign of true life near him with his goldfish which was on his desk at all times. If he could keep that fish alive, then perhaps he could find his way back to a balanced life with flesh and blood community. He had a niece who loved that fish.

Spending all his time with his digital companion resulted in a deepening depression. The depression lead to suicidal thoughts. Since his digital companion couldn’t see him or touch him, she was clueless when he considered self harm. This scene hit me hard since I had recently sketched a court case in which a mom was suing Google and the start up company that developed a program that had Game of throne characters that children could chat with. Her son fell in love with Daenerys Targaryen. He wanted to have a suicide pact with his virtual love and when she said , “Come home to me sweet prince”, he took his father’s gun and shot himself. I feared that the gamer in Aradhana’s play might do similar harm. A programed companion can not understand the complexities of human emotion.

Bytes was an exceptional play about the dangers of relying on the digital world for companionship.

Bytes, written and directed by Aradhana Tiwari, took home the Critics’ Choice Award for Outstanding Original Script.

Fringe: Unconditionally: The Ultimate Pop Diva Celebration Starring Kayla Fischl

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Kayla Fischl from Orlando Florida presented Unconditionally: The Ultimate Pop Diva Celebration Starring Kayla Fischl at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. I am a huge fan of how hard Kayla promoted this show. She was at just about every press preview performance I sketched. She was always holding a poster on foam core mounted on a log stick with flashing lights that promoted her show. Any time I sat in an audience the first thing I did was scan the audience to see the Unconditionally flashing lights.

With the help of arranger Chuck Curry, Kayla built her musical journey around three icons, Lady Gaga, Adele, and Katy Perry. She is building a repertoire which she hopes to pitch to a cruise ships. Kayla had costume changes when  she she switched to a different diva’s music. This was her first solo Fringe show, and she had not thought about what to do while she was backstage getting changed. The audience was left to talk amongst themselves until she came back out. You learn what works and what doesn’t work by taking big risks. She explained that the show is a work in progress and she is so thankful for the support of fellow Fringe artists who were helping her mold the performance. Fringe is a place to experiment and grow as an artist and I love that.

When Kayla came back out she was in a flowing white dress. She didn’t have time or the help to get the dress fully zipped up. When she turned several times, the zipper running up the back of the dress could be seen down at the small of her back. This kind of wardrobe malfunction I consider endearing and honestly I hope she leaves it in the show to remind us that we are watching a live performance where anything can happen.

Kayla’s enthusiastic family was in the audience, including a youngster who started crying very loudly. The caretaker eventually walked the child out of the theater since the crying was competing with Kayla’s singing. Beach balls were lobed out into the audience at one point and people tried to keep them airborne volleyball style, but they kept finding empty seats to settle in.

At one point she held a large fan which I tried drawing but then abandoned. I sketched the very first outfit she wore, with a black miniskirt and knee-high black boots. Black sleeves gave her a formal vibe with a 60’s look. Sticking with the diva lighting scheme she had on her marketing poster, she had a heart and star on the wings of the stage.

Kayla’s family was super supportive, whooting and hollering. I must say Kayla embraced the Fringe by seeing probably more shows than I had the opportunity to sketch. I get rather seasick on the high seas, but I wish Kayla the best in pitching her show to cruise lines. Cruise ships must want polish, but I prefer the diamond in the rough.

Fringe: Serving C*nt with Sarah Hester Ross

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SHR Entertainment LLC from Las Vegas Nevada presented Serving C*nt with Sarah Hester Ross at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. I had sketched Sarah at a past Fringe and since then her career has skyrocketed. During the pandemic the videos she was sharing online started going viral. She downplayed the long term splendor of internet fame but her incredible vocals cross my feed almost every day. Many are simply dressing room selfies shot in the mirror but the power of her voice stops me from my doom scrolling every time.

Considering her popularity, I feared that I might not get in to get a sketch. I was thankful when I got in.  The show featured bold confessional comedy and incredible cabaret numbers. Sarah was all over the stage and even circulating around the audience. I was hard pressed to pick a moment to try and get her on the sketch page. I ultimately decided to sketch her twice.

She had a huge black hand fan with white letters that spelled out CUNT. I saw these fans pop up all around the fringe to wick away the sweat between shows. Between several songs Sarah walked off stage while a video played of people ribbing her online popularity. The internet community is vicious and often comments wished her dead. There were videos of goats blissfully munching on grass as the comments ripped Sarah to shreds. We had already witnessed some of her vocal talents, so the absurd attacks became increasingly hilarious. You need to have thick skin to make it in showbiz that is open to the anonymous comments of armchair trolls.

One song in particular hit home which empowers woman. Many of Sarah’s songs are meant to empower woman to do whatever the F*ck they want despite the comments and push back from a patriarchal society. Thankfully Sarah will never lower her voice.

Fringe: The Lord of the Sword

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Jacob D’ Eustachio from New York, New York presented The Lord of the Sword at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. This show was a fun medieval circus romp. If Florida Governor Ron Deathsantis wants to see a Fringe show that is completely family friendly, then this is the show he should see.

The premise of this show is that the master juggling and sword swallowing expert was not available to perform. His apprentice played by Jacob had to fill in. He excused anything that would follow as the attempts of a newby.  There was a treasure chest full of things to be juggled. When he began juggling with absolute expert abandon the audience was amazed at his beginner’s luck. If a sword happened to fall, then it was easily excused.

Jacob called out to the audience to find someone to fill in for the missing master juggler. He picked Eric Pinder who is an opera producing powerhouse. Though uncertain what was expected of him, Eric played the part of the Master with aplomb. The show always felt like it was on the edge of collapse. I am certain this was intentional because the laughs obtained from witnessing absolute chaos very hardy.

There was one bit where Jacob asked a member to the audience to catch a loaf of bread. For some reason, he lobbed a loaf of bread at me. I had a brush in my right hand, so I tried to catch the loaf with my left hand and missed. My embarrassment was short lived, because he was soon lobbing loafs of bread to everyone in the audience. When people started biting into the bread, he shouted out that the bread was for juggling not eating.

This was a fun 50-minute show and I was laughing the whole time.

Fringe: Josephine

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Dynamic Lunchbox Entertainment from Orlando Florida presented Josephine at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Powerhouse, Tymisha Harris starred as Josephine. This show is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

As a child, Josphine Baker discovered her love of dance when she entered a talent show. Performing in America however had its drawbacks since racism kept her from even entering some venues. These deep rooted American racist setbacks vanished when a talent scout invited Josephine to perform in Paris France. In France she was deeply beloved and became an international star.

Josephine is most famous for her dancing while wearing a banana skirt. Tamisha performed this sensual dance with abandon. She was tough to catch on the sketch page since she was in constant motion, and when she wasn’t she was hidden behind a stage screen doing a costume change.

Josephine lived with passion. Besides her skyrocketing career, she also told us about the many men in her life. Having a live band on stage helped the show feel like it was from the luscious vaudeville era. There was a moment where Josephine posed for artist Frida Kahlo. From the intimacy of the moment I wondered if Frida and Josephine might have been lovers.  Both women were celebrated, openly bisexual icons who fiercely defied the rigid cultural, racial, and sexual boundaries of the early 20th century.

I cursed myself for not choosing that moment to sketch Josephine, There was enough time in that still moment where I could have slowed down enough to produce a well observed sketch. Oh well, life moves on. Keep making bold choices and live without regrets. I am sure that is what Josephine would have told me if we were to meet in Paris before or during WWII.

Fringe: Sororicide

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Lavender Moon Productions from Orlando Florida presented Sororicide at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. This campy murder mystery was written by Rheanne Walton and Savana Petranoff who first met as stage managers at Florida State University in Talahassee.

While waiting to get into the theater, I met the mom of one of the performers and she had a beautiful black and white Husky with sky blue eyes by the name of Quinn the Pomsky. A Pomsky is part Pomeranian and part Husky. Quinn is mostly Husky in appearance with a Pom dash of fluffy cuteness. This adorable pup is a bit of a star who has performed in commercials and other important roles in film. Quinn has run on the star-studded Hollywood walk of fame and proudly posed on the red carpet before screening premieres.

Sorocicide is built around the premise that the Delta Nu Sorority is raising funds for a pup rescue campaign. Quinn had a walk on role in the show but there are permits that have to be obtained along with other red tape that held up the pup performance. Quinn had to watch the show from the audience. Christina Breza who plays Hanna in the show is Quinn’s god mother. She came out just before the doors opened and gave Quinn a reassuring hug.

The show was chaotic to start. Sorority sisters walked all around the room meeting one another and chatting with members of the audience. Gradually they gathered around three long tables for their meeting. However the meeting could not start because the Sorority sister president was missing. She was the one who usually presided over these meetings. One sorority sister had been seated right beside me, but she wasn’t Chelsea.

The show is a who done it. A few phone calls reaching out to friends soon revealed that Chelsea, the Sorority sister President had been murdered. The fundraiser meeting then turned into arguments among the members about who might have killed Chelsea and why. One of the sisters was studying criminology, so she tarted interviewing people to try and get to the bottom of the mystery. The audience was also invited into the investigation.

College student stereotypes played a roll in the performances. One girl kept posing and shooting selfies while puckering her lips and tossing her hair. There were several Christian zealots who opposed any form of drink or partying, yet they too could be suspects. There were a couple of random party jocks at the end of the table who made light of the situation and bragged about their exploits.

Though in a position of authority in running the charity, Chelsea wasn’t liked by many. Everyone seemed to have had a confrontation with her at some point. The goal was to figure out who had the motive and opportunity to like totally kill Chelsea.

All I know is that Quinn the Pomsky did not kill Chelsea and might have sniffed out the suspect in record time if allowed on the stage.

Fringe: The Review

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Martin Dockery from Brooklyn New York presented The Review at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. In this show, two lawyers met in an office. The younger lawyer wanted to go over a performance review. There was unspoken tension from the start and it became clear that the elder lawyer felt he should be in the position to perform the review rather than be judged. Both lawyers probably would not be in the firm if not for the hard work of their fathers.

The office was frames out by a simple string of lights on the stage floor. On occasion the lawyers would ask the lighting to change since it must have been a smart office run by Alexa.

Martin Dockery played the part of the lawyer receiving the review. When it came time to point out how his performance was lagging, he mentioned an inappropriate photo he found on his wife’s computer. The photo was of the other lawyer half clothed trying to look sexy. The photo may have been sent by mistake to the wrong woman, or it might have been sent on purpose.

The quick-witted banter back and forth was a delight to watch and the underlying tension was eased by the hilarious way the drama played out. The two lawyers tried to push the photo incident aside and get back to the business of the review but it was the elephant in the room and it charged back any time Martin’s position in the firm seemed threatened.

The mysterious smoochie faced photo became the primary bargaining piece in the review. Rather than having his job threatened, Martin insisted that he deserved a promotion to become on the partners in the law firm. To protect his reputation, the younger lawyer had to agree that the promotion was a very good idea and well deserved. The review went swimmingly for Martin despite his questionable performance record. He was a hard-hitting negotiator that anyone would want working for them in a courtroom case.

In describing the business-like nature of the Review you might thing the show would be stiff and dry. But there was a playful undercurrent in every exchange. These two men must have grown up together and they were used to laying the game of one upping one another. It was like Willie Loman from Death of a Salesman was having a wish fulfillment dream. His marriage might be on the rocks but he certainly had a guaranteed position in the firm.