On the final night of Fringe, Awards are handed out to all the best shows.On this 25th Anniversary of the Fringe Festival, over 50,000 tickets were sold. That resulted in $400,000 going to Fringe Artists. There were 119 sold out performances this year. The Fringe keeps getting bigger and better.
The out door Stage Tent got crowd for the ceremonies. Those who couldn’t fit inside the tent, sat in lawn chairs on the lawn of fabulousness. As awards went to the show with the most sold out performances the sky grew dark and it began to rain. Performers crushed inside the tent. I had been sitting on the outside of the front row but the wind whipped the rain onto my sketch page. I decided to move into t center of the tent and I sketched Beth Marshall and those around her as they watched the ceremonies.
So many awards were given out that I started to feel like I was the only person in the tent who didn’t get one. A new award was created for a Fringe Patron of the year, Dewey Chaffee and Douglas McGeoch presented the award. They reminisced about a. Fringe show that was going great, Dewey had the audience entranced in the palm of his hand, when a drunk audience member got sick and had to be escorted out of the theater. Dewey tried to make it appear as if this was all part of the show. When the sick patron was gone, silence enveloped the theater. A very old lady sat the front row, and Dewey said to her, “If you are going to pick a moment to die, this would be the perfect time.” The audience couldn’t stop laughing and the show u back on track. Douglas then explained that Helen, the woman in the front row, then wrote the performers often, encouraging them to keep the faith as they struggled in New York City. Dewey got choked up as he spoke about her generosity. It took her some tin to get on stage to accept the award with her walker and the supporting hand of friends. It was a heart warming moment.
Edgar Allan performed by Katie Hartman, and Nick Ryan was named the best show by local critics. Other Critics Choice Awards winners included…
• Best play — comedy: ‘The Animatronicans’
• Best play — drama: ‘Thomas Jefferson: My Master, My Slave, My Friend’
• Best play — musical: ‘Simpleton: The Legend of President Trump’
• Best solo show — comedy: ‘Stewart Huff: Sense Ain’t Common’
• Best solo show — drama: ‘Rocket Man and Kaleidoscope, by Ray Bradbury’
• Best solo show — musical: ‘From Broadway to Obscurity’
• Best dance show: ‘VarieTease: Carnivale’
• Best physical-theater work: ‘Trick Boxing: Swingin’ in the Ring’
• Best original script: ‘Inescapable,’ by Martin Dockery
• Best female performance: Katie Hartman (‘Edgar Allan’)
• Best male performance: Jim Braswell (‘Thomas Jefferson’)
• Best ensemble performance: ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’
• Technical achievement: ‘Space’
Patrons Picks resulted in each show having an extra show added on Memorial Day.
• Blue – Sex With Animals
• Blue – Shirley Gnome: Real Mature
• Brown – 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche
• Brown – Slut Like Me
• Gold – Simpleton: The Legend of President Trump
• Gold – Taffy and Tonya Live! At the Ramada Inn Key West
• Green – Fruit Flies Like a Banana – Alphabetical Disorder
• Green – Doro & Diega Explore Middle Class America!
• Orange – VarieTease: Carnivale
• Orange – Lil Women: A Rap Musical
• Pink – Bella Culpa
• Pink – The Foreplay: An Exploration of the Birth of our Nation
• Purple – 21 Chump Street – The Musical
• Purple – Murder Sleep
• Red – Inescapable
• Red – Women Behind Bars
• Silver – The Road To Zamboria
• Silver – God Is a Scottish Drag Queen IV
• Yellow – The Animatronicans
• Yellow – Peter Pan-ish: The Musical