The Agony and the Ivories at Fringe

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Grown Man Productions, Chicago, IL, presented Bill Larkin behind the piano in the Brown Venue. I have to say right up front that this was the funniest show I have seen so far at this year’s Fringe. Bill was from Orlando working at the SAK Comedy Lab before he moved to Chicago. He is an actor, musician, and most defiantly a comedian. He feels the music and he feels your pain.

He sang a song about his twin brother. It was the first song he ever wrote when he was just 8 years old. The beautiful chord progressions that followed lead me to believe a Disney ballad might follow. Instead the ballad was about how the family only wanted one child. Then followed his dreams of killing his brother and how the world would be such a better place once he was gone. It was hilarious and unsettling all at once, a viscous and crazy childhood dream.

Another song about his childhood involved the lengths he had to go to to see some porn. It involved a long trip into town on his trust bike. His destination, six miles away, was the magical Davidson’s Pharmacy that carried a special type of magazine. Way in the back of that den of drugs were the magazines, from Time to Woman’s Day, but up above those behind an orange, plastic screen were the objects of his dreams – Playboy and Penthouse magazines. He was able to reach the forbidden fruit and he hid it inside a Life Magazine. Lost in the splendor of what he saw, his cover was blown when a proprietor tapped him on the shoulder. He ran for his life and biked home in the rain.

He then explained how easy children have it today. He asked a member of the audience to set the timer on their iPhone to see how long it might take him to find some porn on his phone. The timer was set and his fingers flashed across the screen. Within 14 seconds he found a site and screamed. It took 14 seconds. He shouted it out for all to hear. He then walked over to the outdoor stage door, opened it, and sunlight streamed in. “14 seconds!” he shouted.  I laughed so hard my sides hurt.

This is just a dry sampling of the hilarity that ensued. His songs tackled subjects such as aging, homosexuality, self-esteem, and social media.  Weird Al Yankovic himself is “a big fan.”

The Agony and the Ivories is in the Brown Venue at the Orlando Shakes, 812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803. 

Tickets are $12 plus a $10 Fringe Button needed for every show.

Remaining show times:

6:15 PM

8:15 PM

10:45 PM

5:30 PM

7:00 PM

Coconuts, Coral, and Cow S#it at Fringe

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The title for this show was quite misleading. I walked into the preview assuming I would find a strange comedy. Instead, I found a compelling personal drama. Actress Sara Kunz stood on a chair looking down into an abyss. Wind whistled in our ears as she subtly swayed forward and back. She began to cry. The moment lingers, allowing the audience time to realize that she might be willing to jump. The theater went black.

Sara excitedly considered a challenging hike in Hawaii. She loved physical challenges, they allow her to push to her physical limits and beyond. The park announcements in her iPod headset kept reminding her of the dangers. The announcer offered much needed humor, since she seemed to be directing her recorded commentary directly at Sara.

At an outdoor festival, Sara discovered that people would actually pay her money when she performed with her hula hoop. She showed us her act, which was incredible and graceful. She beamed when performing, a human flame, making the hula hoop move in unexpected and magical ways. Realizing that people actually paid her for her art, she decided to travel the world, busking along the way to supplement her life. Her parents didn’t think this was a wise life choice, but her mind was made up.

Someone she thought was her friend took a part of her that sent her into a spiraling depression. The scene I sketched had her seated in a therapist’s office as she described how her life had been put on hold. We returned to the Hawaiian hike where she was crossing a dangerous ravine that only had a PVC ladder as a crossing point. The ladder was across two chairs, but her terror as she crossed was palpable. I identified with this scene as I had just painted a mural and reaching up to paint the sky, high on the wall, was terrifying on the tall swaying scaffolding.

This performance was testimony to the fact that Sara had not only overcome the horrible experience in her past, but that she also has the strength to share her story so that others who might feel the same guilt and debilitating shame might realize that they are not alone. So don’t go to Coconuts, Coral, and Cow S#it expecting comedy, go to be challenged and inspired by the strength of the human spirit. I highly recommend the show.

Tickets are $8 plus a $10 Fringe Button.

The Green Venue is in the black box theater behind the Repertory Theater, 1001 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803

Remaining show times are:

2:00 PM

6:15 PM

5:45 PM

Weekend Top 6 Fringe Picks

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Saturday May 18, 2019

3 PM to 4 PM $12.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. Black Wood. Gold Venue in the Orlando Museum of Art 2416 Mills Ave, Orlando, FL 32803.

Carpenter Aunt Productions, Orlando, FL

It’s 1967, and Caroline
Logan has just joined the cast of TVs top supernatural soap opera. But
will nervous network censors and a vampire with line trouble derail her
career before it’s begun? Probe the dark shadows of dysfunction in a
hilarious and poignant new comedy written by Fringe fave Steve Schneider
(Escape From Baldwin Park, Ominous George) directed by Dave Russell
(president, SAK Comedy Lab), and starring a cast of top O-Town talent.

13 and up – Strong Language, Adult Content

8 PM to 9 PM  $12.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. A Showgirls Musical. Orange Venue in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater 812 E. Rollins St Orlando, Florida 32803.

JMEG Theatrical, Winter Garden, FL

Sequins. Sabotage. Sex in the
pool? Based on every one’s favorite career killing cult classic, JMEG
Theatrical takes you to the 90’s with a parody musical that is sure to
have more than just your eyes popping. Nomi Malone arrived in Las Vegas
with just a suitcase and a dream. So pack your ice cubes, hitch a ride,
and wear your best Versayce!

18 and up – Nudity, Adult Content, Strong Language

This show includes strobe lighting effects.

10:30 PM to 11:30 PM  $12.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. Corsets and Cuties: #Celebrate. Black Venue in The Venue 511 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803. 

Corsets and Cuties, LLC, Casselberry, FL

Fringe veterans Corsets
& Cuties have made their home at The Venue since their sold-out
debut August 2014. Sponsored by Premier Couples Superstore, the Cuties
personally welcome guests and attendees to their shows and the troupe
intends to light up the night this May in the Black Venue. With a
different guest star each night you never know what’s gonna happen with
this troupe. Be a part of the Cutie’s party and “have a good damn time.”

18 and up – Strong Language, Nudity, Adult Content

Sunday May 19, 2019

3 PM to 4 PM  $12.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. Black Cow Jumps. Purple Venue  in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater 812 E. Rollins St Orlando, Florida 32803. 

Banks Helfrich, Clermont, FL

Multi-vignettes that place the
human back into humanity. Visceral reflections of how we perceive
ourselves when we remove our veils, and shift into authenticity. An
observation of reality in a performance space to create a clarity and
frankness that we all crave, if only we are willing to see ourselves in
others. An invitation to pause long enough to experience our Ah-ha
moments in a room full of people desiring connection. Life soup.

18 and up – Strong Language, Adult Content

5:30 PM to 6:25 PM  $11.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. The Hammered Dog. Red Venue in the

Orlando Shakespeare Theater 812 E. Rollins St Orlando, Florida 32803.

Freeline Productions, Orlando, FL

Starring Fringe favorites Sarah
Lockard, Steven Johnson and Todd Allen-Long! From the creative team of
2016 Purple Patrons Pick Murder Sleep. Shy, insecure and emotionally
fragile Sandra meets the handsome, sexually possessive Ted at a
nightclub where a chance interaction quickly leads to an intense,
volatile relationship. Under the strain of her obscure past and Ted’s
emotional manipulation, her life takes a fateful turn. Some wounds never
heal.

13 and up – Adult Content

9:45 PM to 10:55 PM $10.00 plus a $10 Fringe button. How to Eat a Bear. Brown Venue  in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater 812 E. Rollins St Orlando, Florida 32803.  

Crafty McVillain, Orlando, FL

Best friends Dave and Mark
decide that they will stop at nothing to satisfy their inexplicable
craving for bear meat and find out the hard way that their quest will
lead them down every path except victory.

13 and up

Ray Bradbury’s H2O at Fringe

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Susan Turner and Kangagirl Productions is presenting H20, conceived and performed by David Lee. I went to a tech rehearsal to sketch. The production is centered around three Ray Bradbury short stories. The Lake had a young boy yearning for a moment alone by running along the shore. When truly alone, he began to miss Tally, perhaps his sister or a dear friend who he used to help build sand castles. At 12 years old she swam out into the lake, never to return. He built half a sand castle hoping she would return to build the rest.

In The Season of Calm Weather, George Smith and his wife were vacationing in France. He didn’t mind the art of Caravaggio or the thick wormed yellows of a Van Gogh sunflower, but he truly loved the paintings of Pablo Picasso. He hoped to one day pay Picasso $5000, telling the artist “Give us the sea, the sand, that sky, or any old thing you want, we’ll be happy.” George took a walk along the beach and in the distance saw a tan old man drawing in the sand with a popsicle stick. He was drawing incredible figures. He was completely absorbed in his work drawing one figure and then another, and another. The sand flew as he sketched wildly. What appeared was free-running bacchanal, with satyrs, fauns, wine-dipped maidens, prancing unicorns, and piping youths dancing toward distant meadows, woodlands, ruined temples, and volcanoes.

The artist stopped and discovered George standing behind him. The artist shrugged his shoulders as if saying “Look what I’ve done; see what a child? Allow an old fool this, eh?” He wanted to run back to his room for a camera to capture the scene but there wasn’t time, the sun was setting fast and the tide was coming in. He only had time to walk along the length of the creation to soak it all in before the sun slipped below the horizon.  Then, the tide came in, ironing the sand flat. I loved this story which was a reminder that nothing we create will last forever. However as artists, we can’t help ourselves.

The third story was The Million Year Picnic, about a family trip to Mars. Blue lights on the edge of the stage created subtle ripple patterns on the ceiling and walls of the theater. This visual clue tied together the three stories, which each had the common element of water. The stories were at times haunting and foreboding about how small we are in the grand scheme of the universe. David did block out each scene by moving around the stage taking on the parts of each character in turn. His goal was to focus on the rich language of Bradbury. This created a staged reading where Ray Bradbury’s mesmerizing phrasing could shine. It was raining hard while this rehearsal took place further emphasizing the theme of H2O as the storm pounded the theater roof. There was magic in every moment.

Ray Bradbury’s H2O is in the Yellow venue in the Orlando Shakes,  812 E. Rollins St Orlando, Florida 32803. Tickets are $12 plus a $10 Fringe button. The show runs 60 minutes.

The remaining show dates are:

7:30 PM

12:15 PM

8:30 PM

10:45 PM

7:15 PM

Corsets and Cuties: #Celebrate

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Corsets and Cuties made their Fringe debut in 2014. Since then, the shows keep selling out. I first sketched them that year, and I have been following their entertaining antics ever since. The Fringe show opens with the jingle song of Premier Couples’ Superstore. What followed was a fun night of burlesque, mixed with singing prowess and comedy. There was some unexpected news that their aerialist had fallen recently at the pirate dinner theatre, so he would not be performing.



Veronica Paige did a hilarious and sensual routine in which she essentially made love to a delicious handful of carbs as she stripped, a Hawaiian Sweet Roll I believe. Her Rubenesque might not fit into many pencil thin fashions, but she put those thin girls to shame and looked beautiful. Black gloves and a flowing semi transparent robe made for some fine old-school burlesque.

Crumbcake Cutie did a hilarious routine in which she was baking a cake. Orlando Sentinel theater reporter Matt Palm was in  the audience, seated toward the back away from the crowd. Crumbcake strutted up to him once she had stripped down, and shook her bootie right in his face. He realized he was now the center of attention and gave her a playful pat on the butt, as it seemed she would not go away until he did.


Barbie Rhinestone gave a high energy routine in her polka dot dress. She radiated smiles. Nicki Jay performed to a Lady Ga Ga song and she moved with so much energy that I had to just stop for a bit and watch. I will figure out how to get that level of energy into a sketch someday. Pam seated next to me always jokes, “I always know when Nicki Jay is performing, because your brush stops moving and you just stare.”


Corsets and Cuties offered an amazing night of Burlesque. You never know what will happen. Super fun with a big side of sexy.


There are 4 show dates. Tickets are $12 plus a $10 Fringe Button. They are in  the Black Venue which is in The Venue 511 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803.

11:59 PM

10:30 PM

10:30 PM

11:59 PM

Black Wood at Fringe

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Pam and I happen to have been binge watching Dark Shadows, a goth 1960s live TV show. The show ran for an incredible 1,225 episodes. We are still watching the first season, though it seems like it has been forever. Black Wood, written by Steve Schneider and directed by David Russell, recreated what it might be like for the cast of that tradition of live TV. I have a rather personal memory of watching Dark Shadows as a child. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and she spent most of her time in a NYC hospital away from our suburban New Jersey home. Towards the end, she came home and I would sit in bed with her watching Dark Shadows each day. To me the show seemed dark and sinister, often dealing with people struggling to stay alive after having their blood sucked away by Barnabas Collins… a VAMPIRE! This was one of the last memories I had of being close to my mom. I was 10 years old.

Black Wood featured a young method-acting student, Caroline (Melanie Leon) landing a prize role right after graduating from acting school. Her excitement and enthusiasm was thrilling. The long time cast of the show, however, was jaded, just trying to get through each episode without stumbling. To open her first appearance, Caroline read an opening monologue into the mic. Her throaty, reflective, and dreamy performance was perfectly in line with every intro that proceeded the actual on-air drama. In her monologue, she dreamed of how her life would change once she was finally confronted by Black Wood. The intern on the program, William (Hannibal Callens), was black and he tried to hold back a giggle. This was an ongoing joke.

The cast were professional actors faced with having to go live before the cameras for each show with only a brief rehearsal and script rundown. The sinister vampire of the series was Peter, playing Victor (J.D. Sutton.) He had a magnificently chiseled face, reminiscent of Vincent Price. One constant when watching the TV show live is that actors often stumbled horrifically over their lines. In this stage comedy, Victor as an aging actor was the one who would forget his, leaving the cast stunned as they tried to redirect him on the live broadcast. It left room for plenty of comedy and dark terrified stares off into the scary unknown.

This is my favorite Fringe show so far. I have the advantage of being in the midst of watching Dark Shadows. If you have never seen the goth 1960s drama, then some of the subtle jokes might be missed. But I had a blast. When Caroline let it slip that she was proud to be working on a soap opera, the whole cast gasped. They didn’t like referring to their show as a soap opera. They preferred to call it a daytime drama. Soap operas suck, but reality bites. I am certain that Barnabas Collins would approve.

Tickets are $12 plus a $10 Fringe Button. Show dates are:

Thursday May 16, 2019 at 8:45 PM to 9:45 PM

Saturday May 18, 2019 at 3 PM to 4 PM

Wednesday May 22, 2019 at 1:45 PM to 2:45 PM

Saturday May 25, 2019 at 1:45 PM to 2:45 PM

Sunday May 26, 2019 at 10:45 PM to 11:45 PM

Showgirls at Fringe

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On May 14th the Orlando International Fringe Festival begins. It will be 14 days of fun and theatrical fancy. Fringe is the longest running Fringe Theatre Festival in the United States. It is founded on the principle of being 100% uncensored, unjuried, accessible, and inclusive. 100% of ticket sales are returned to the performers.  To Fringe you need to get a Fringe Button, necessary to get into any show. No button = no entry. Tickets are around $12 and most shows run for about an hour.

The first show I saw was A Showgirls Musical presented by JMEG Theatrical, Winter Garden, FL. The show featured sequins, sabotage, and sex in the pool. Nomi Malone arrived in Las Vegas with a dream of being a famous showgirl. When she arrived, she caught a ride from a stranger and immediately had all her possessions stolen. She took her anger out on a random car and in the process met a girl who took her in.

The first club she worked in was a total dive. When told to show her breasts she said she wasn’t getting paid enough and stormed out. She changed her tune over time – for the money – and she did a disgruntled lap dance for a customer. As a 20-somethinglearning for the first time, she yearned to fit in on the strip. She saw a woman walk by in a dress she loved. She wanted the dress, which she bought with money borrowed from her friend. It was $900.  Though she bought it, she didn’t bother learning how to pronounce Versace. “Ver-sayse!”

A musical-sex-in-the-pool number brought an audition opportunity and advancement. But, even a better showgirls’ troop was far from ideal. There was plenty of glitter and cat fights in the dressing rooms. She fought her way to the top only to find it wasn’t really what she had even wanted.

The press preview I saw had technical difficulties, in that the mics kept cutting out, so I didn’t hear half of what some characters said. That said, This is still a show I would recommenced for fun dance and plenty of sass!

Tickets for the remaining show dates. The show is in the Orange Venue in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Don’t forget to get your Fringe button as well.

10:00 PM

8:00 PM

10:30 PM

8:15 PM

6:30 PM

10:15 PM

Chef Nite

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Chef Rashaad Shears was lured to Central Florida by Disney. They were looking for talented chefs for their themed restaurants. For a time, it was a dream job, but eventually things changed. Rashaad set out on his own, setting up Chef Nite in a warehouse (3477 Parkway Ctr Ct, Bldg 608 Orlando, Florida) which he converted into a kitchen and teaching space. Now, he works on his own introducing couples and groups to the pleasures of cooking, while also catering custom meals and offering personal chef experiences.

Pam is a fine chef herself, cooking each weekend by taste and experimentation. She arranged for us to take this cooking course together. Finding the workshop was an adventure in and of itself. It was at the end of row of warehouses. It reminded me of a scene in Good Fellas, where the wife of a mobster was encouraged to walk into a dark alley to get some free clothes. Inside burly men loomed in the dark. She got spooked and drove off. We weren’t spooked, and when we got inside we found a warm inviting kitchen space. The converted warehouse space allows for individualized cooking stations and prep areas. All the food items, appliances, tools, equipment, and knives were provided. Outside the entry was a home-grown herb garden.

The longest lesson was on using a knife. We would be dicing all the vegetables for our creations. As he put it, boys know from adolescence how to firmly grip a long, firm handle. He demonstrated the rocking motion needed for quickly slicing the vegetables and demonstrated ways to avoid also slicing off a finger in the process. Safety was repeatedly stressed, with a sense of humor.


There were four couples taking the class. The next step was to mix a bowl of spices for our personal creation. Pam has a refined palette so she mixed our spices. There was no step-by-step process, each couple was free to blend to their own tastes. One couple was snuggling the whole time, which was mildly distracting, but also a little adorable.

This was a different kind of date that gave us a shared memory. We already worked well together in the kitchen, but this was also a way to mix and mingle with a larger group as we created. When our dishes were finished, we shared our dish with others and they tasted our creation. I might be biased, but I think that what Pam and I cooked that night was pretty spectacular.


Should you want a unique date night contact Rashaad Shears at Chef Nite.

Aloma Bowl

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My intrepid group of urban sketching students from Crealdé School of Art went for a sketch outing to Aloma Bowl (2530 Aloma Ave, Winter Park, FL 32792) which is just a block away from the school. On Sundays Tournaments are held, so there are some pretty talented bowlers working the lanes.

The goal of this sketch workshop was to help students catch gestures in their sketches. For the first half hour of class we worked in the Crealdé studio, doing quick, two minute sketches to catch gestures. We used a round shaped radio to substitute for a bowling ball and posed, keeping gesture and storytelling in mind. I stressed the importance of using fluid action lines to catch the motion.

The Aloma Bowl lanes were active when we arrived and they grew more crowded as we sketched. I made the rounds, showing the different stages of my sketch as I progressed, and also giving tips and some demonstrations on how to catch a pose in repeated attempts as the parson stepped up to the line to bowl again and again. The large overall sketch was intended to demonstrate one point perspective. I suggested that students only focus on the bowling pins on one lane so they didn’t spent much time obsessing over that one detail.

Families came in to bowl, and guard rails were raised on either side of the one bowling lane so that stray balls didn’t go down someone else’s lane. For the very small kids there was a ramp that could be put on the line and the child just had to get the ball to the top of the ramp and gravity would “bowl” the ball down the lane. I had never seen that contraption before. The first bowler I sketched was finished with his game after only a few times of going up to the line to bowl. I started getting better about watching the score board of people I was sketching, because the board could let me know if I had much time to sketch the people before their game was over. My quick demo sketch stressed the importance of making the figures in the foreground dark against the illuminated lanes. I didn’t spend much time on the sketch since I kept checking in with each student as they worked.

There is a wonderful energy to a bowling alley, as folks celebrate their strikes or spares and chat between games. The place had an auditory buzz about it, punctuated by the loud sounds of the pins getting smashed. As an artist, it is exciting to feed off that energy and try to infuse some of it into each sketch. This was unfortunately the last class with this crew of talented artists. It is always hard to say good by after working with artists for six weeks straight.

My next Urban Sketching: Tips and Techniques class starts June 16, 2019 running each Sunday Morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Usually, the first hour we cover a premise in the Crealdé studio and then we break out into the community around the school to sketch on location.

Orlando Fringe Abridged Sketchbook

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The Abridged Orlando Fringe Sketchbook documents 10 years of the Orlando Fringe in sketches. The project began in 2009 and today, 10 years later, the sketching continues. Above is a sample of the first 10 pages of the book.

This Abridged Fringe Sketchbook is 110 pages with over 200 full-color sketches. The book is going to press now and will be available by the 2019 Orlando Fringe Festival. Each year has a few paragraphs highlighting my favorite shows of the year. The goal has been to assemble every sketch done at Fringe shows over the past 10 years at an affordable price.

The books will sell for about $25 at the Orlando Fringe. If you would like to pre-order a book, contact pam-schwartz@hotmail.com. If you pre-order, we will arrange to give you the book when you arrive at the Fringe Festival. If there is enough interest we will print more books. We can take orders via pay pal, checks, or of course, the preferred cash. As an added bonus, prints and original Fringe paintings, are being offered at HALF OFF. $100 per print, and $200 for an original. Should you want me to frame the art I can arrange that for $100 more. If you order original art, you will receive an Abridged Orlando Fringe book thrown in for free.

A much larger 249 page book that has all the original articles written for Analog Artist Digital World is also being produced if we have enough pre-orders and interest!