FRINGE: Naked at My Age

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Naked at My Age was a one woman show featuring  Charla Hathaway about sensual pleasure at every age. She recounted an early affair with a French Soldier and then an open marriage where she was free to meet and explore other partners.

It was inspiring to listen to a woman who is my age or maybe a little older discussing her sensuality. Americans seem to feel pleasure is only for the young. Every audience member was given a peacock’s feather and at one point in the performance, we were encouraged to caress our skin with it’s gently tip. I did so, but kept my sketching hand moving, an act which also gives me pleasure.

There were several original musical numbers where Charla strummed her guitar and sang about, well, sex of course. A song related to free sex of the 60s and later in life finding a partner who could not get erect. With patience and caring she learned how to give and receive pleasure. Chala openly talked about having to get an abortion before it was legal. Later in life She felt she had given all she could as a school teacher and she answered an ad as a senior sex worker.

What started part time after teaching school children developed into a Ph.D from Florida University, an online sex advice site and several books which she wrote on sexuality. Today Florida University is cutting any mention of women in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and related language. UF has removed women’s studies courses.

A sign on stage was a quote from May West which was, “If my panties aren’t wet, they don’t come off”. Young boys used to try to force themselves on Charla but she learned to set boundaries until she knew she was moist and ready.  She pointed out that most people are so concerned with giving pleasure that they never relax enough to receive pleasure. Sexual partners might come and go but her advice was to, “leave your partners better than you find them”. It is advice that everyone should take to heart. It was beautiful to see that as we age, our sexuality continues to bloom when we find the right partner.

FRINGE: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln

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When Abraham Lincoln delivered the now famous speech at Gettysburg, there was a photographer on hand who was scrambling to get his camera and flash set up. When he finally took the photo, the president was already in the process of sitting down. The image of the president was a blur. It is a shame there wasn’t an artist on hand.

Historical performer, Tom Leahy stood in as the former president and I had plenty of time to sketch him as he read from the script.

Besides reading the Gettysburg Address, he talked about his relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln and the death of his son which devastated them both.

Abraham discussed his launch into politics and read his acceptance speech. With the Civil War being such a gut wrenching dramatic time, I wish more of that drama had made its way onto the production.

Next door a huge audience was going wild for one of the opening shows of the Fringe. The muffled cheers made their way through the thin walls, marking a start contrast between the boisterous flavor of the Fringe and the stark historical monologue being read aloud.

A woman who had seen me start the sketch wanted to see the finished result. As she was looking at it, Lincoln wandered over to look. “Why did you lean me forward?” he asked. If I sketched him standing upright, he would not have fit on the page.

FRINGE: Dead Pets

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The Orlando International Fringe Festival show, To All Our Dead Pets was a heart tugging open therapy session at the Rainbow Bridge Support Group for 11 strangers who were grieving for the loss of a pet. The loss of a pet tends to be even more devastating than the loss of a friend or relative.

In the lobby, each audience member was given a name tag and we were asked to write the name of a pet we had lost. I wrote Timmy. Timmy was the beagle our family had as I was growing up. After my mother died, we had to take Timmy to the vet. I sat in the back seat with him. He had developed worms, and the worms literally were wiggling out of his belly and fur and dropping onto the seat as we drove to the vet. It is a vivid terrifying childhood memory of mortality that is hard to wipe away. Timmy was put down at the vet.

As the theater filled the pianist swayed to the beat of the house music. I am a fan of anyone who have to move enthusiastically when the music plays. As the accompanist she did an amazing job holding this musical together.

The folding chairs were arranged in a circle as the audience filled the theater, but once the play started, the actors set themselves up in a line. Each actor had am monologue and a solo performance.

The woman seated in the center acted as the moderator at first but others stated a mutiny, questioning why she was putting a positive feel good spin one peoples grief.

One girl only had her pet for a day but her grief was as intense and everyone else’s. One woman became so overwhelmed that she stormed out of the back door of the theater. One macho actor tried to make a jokes at the expense of others. There was an author, a matronly grandmother, and a woman who felt she was above it all until she to broke down. The lyrics didn’t grip me but the feelings expressed held me firmly to my seat.

FRINGE: The Lobby

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Between shows at the Fringe, patrons search their digital devices to find what shows they would like to go to next. Fringe has a well designed flipbook PDF that I use to search for show information.

I am however a rather analog artist, so at home I write the shows I plan to see on a slip of paper and I carry all that information in my art bag. I circle the next show with a pencil and head over to the next theater. In the Fringe Club room the Fringe dinosaur mascot head was on on top pf a storage case. The mascot is often found at kids Fringe.

The purple tables in the middle of this sketch are set up to be the indoor bar for Fringe Patrons. It had not been sett up completely yet when I did this sketch. Someone was searching around for an outlet and could not find one. A long extension chord would be needed.

While doing this sketch I got to catch up with several Fringe regulars. One was selling $5 raffle tickets for the Florida Council of the Blind. First Prize was $1000. Second prize was $100. I passes on the raffle ticket at first but then decided I needed to get some caffeine in my system to get my hand twitching. There is a soda machine at the Shakes and I went to give it a try. I left my artist chair behind and one of my friends joked that they planed to sell it while I was gone.

The soda machine would not take my $5 bill. It kept spitting it back out with a mechanical whine. When I got back to my seat, the woman who was selling the raffle tickets told me she had change for a 5. I decided that I should buy one of her raffle tickets for the kindness of giving me change. The machine took her dollar bill and spit out my much needed liquid death. It was an expensive drink but much needed. When doing all these sketches I would start in the morning and end late a t night. I never took time to get out and order food or drink. Was the can of soda worth the $6? Absolutely. I sucked it down in several gulps and started to feel like a humming bird.

The drawing for the $1000 prize was on May 17, 2025. I didn’t win. I never do.

FRINGE: Paco Erhard, Live Forever

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Paco Erhard: Live Forever was in the Silver venue at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. The show was presented by German Comedy International from New York City presented the show.

Paco’s show was part stand up and part heart wrenching drama. Paco’s Russian accent added to the international flair.  Hard times were mixed with plenty of laughter.

Paco wanted to live the care free life of a beat generation writer like Jack Kerouac. Since Jack Kerouac wrote several books in Orlando My ears perked up. The Karouac Project in Orlando offers residencies for writers and I have had the honer of sketching many of these creatives as they write in the old College Park bungalow that Jack used to live in with his mom.

Paco’s description of taking LSD was intriguing since it is an experience I have never had.

I sat at the back of the theater since I had to sneak out early to teach a virtual class from my car in the theater parking lot. This was my first time using a phone hot spot to teach a class and thankfully it worked.

I can’t give a full review since I had to sneak out, but I was certainly laughing and had a great time at this one man show.

FRINGE: Your Camp, Mein Kemp: The Musical Political Satire

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Your Camp, Mein Kemp, The Musical Political Satire is a Rrump era musical. The youth of America are indoctrinated into detention camps that promote Friendships, sing alongs, crafts, and dystopian MAGA re-education.

Vulva Va-Voom and Shane Mayforth who created the show, played the camp counselors. Vulvain her green tee shirt, was a former lesbian and she had to educate the children on straight binary male female roles. Her and another counselor could not change the camp system themselves but she felt they were doing good as long as they reported about that was happening in the camps to the outside world.

A large poster showed the moment the play acting began with Rump pretending to be shot in the ear my an assassin’s bullet. The theatrics needed were garnered from WWE wresting. Secret service acted as side players who gave the candidate a moment to raise a fist rather than keep him safe.

Polio has made a comeback among children thanks to the anti science rhetoric.  A small puppet played the part of a child camper who ends up in a polio pressure chamber to try and save his life. In a dance number two dancers were behind one another and they bent their arms at the elbows to create a swastika. A camp sign to the Eagles nest refereed to Hitlers Swiss mountain top retreat.

The original lyrics sometimes built around existing show tunes were a strong way to showcase the hypocrisy and chaos of modern MAGA times. No one was safe unless they towed the line and parroted the party lines.  The fact that dark political fascist intentions have crept into a Fringe musical are a clear sign that all Americans need to wake up to the horrors that are soon to follow.

FRINGE: Improv Erotica

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Molly M. Brinkman from Vancouver, British Columbia presented Improv Erotica in the silver venue. Some erotic romance novels were scattered on the stage. She had a comfy 1960s era lounge chair but she only sat down for a brief moment.

Before the show audience prompts had been collected which would inspire her erotic fantasies. Unfortunately her production manager had not arrived from Vancouver yet and Molly didn’t use many of the prompts.

Molly had an amazing ability to build an erotic story in just moments. The star crossed lovers would be drawn to one another unable to resist a magnetic force that pulled them together. Each story had a conflict or misunderstanding then a glorious climax.

To build another story, romance novel covers were projected on the theater screen in quick succession and the audience was asked to shout out when they wanted to stop on a title. I love listening to stories about visceral animal heat, and Molly had a real talent for quickly tying together passionate tales. In other FRINGE shows she empowered women with Woman’s Guide to Peeing, My Body of Work, and Pack Animals. If you are looking for some hot literary entertainment, then Molly Brinkman’s Improv Erotica could fire up the loins.

FRINGE: Cult Classic, A New Musical

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Cult Classic: A New Musical is in the Pink Venue at the FRINGE. A young daughter took over a struggling video store after her father died. The store carries classic films but can not keep up with the demand for recent block buster releases.

When one of her staff is tasked with restocking recent releases he instead brings in obscure independent films he feels the people should be watching.

When an enthusiastic Jehovah’s witness enters the store looking for a christian film, the idea is hatched to turn the video store into a place of movie worship thus evading having to pay taxes.

Staff start wearing black hooded robes and skulls appear on the shelves along with candles.

A representative from Blockbuster Superstore hears of the small video store’s financial troubles and he swoops in to buy up the struggling store. He finds himself a potential sacrifice to the new cult.

The music in this production has promise and the premise is reminiscent of one of my favorite musicals, Little Shop of Horrors. I would actually love to see this idea fleshed out further to make a full length play. It has so much potential. The quite neighborhood Video store spirals into chaos.

Tickets are $15 with a FRINGE button. Remaining show times are May 23, 6:45pm, and Sunday May 25, 3:55pm.

FRINGE: Giselle’s Florence Silver Foster Jenkins Schuberlade Review

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Giselle’s Florence Silver Foster Jenkins Schuberlade Review was a strange tribute to the infamous soprano Florence Foster Jenkins. The young singer Giselle Bellas had a really good voice but she expressed her doubts while getting encouragement from the disembodied spirit of Florence Silver Foster Jenkins. The spirit of Florence would be projected on the screen as an undulating light form.

Various acts such as dance and other solo singers would perform and I became confused as to how it all was meant to tie together. Perhaps the chaos was the point.

This was the very first FRINGE show I saw and it was very fringe.

The show centered around a single recorded performance by Florence in which she was absolutely tone deaf. Critics of the time thought the performance was a prank. She was described as having great difficulty with such basic vocal skills as pitch, rhythm, and sustaining notes and phrases. Her performance was so bad that it added up to quite a good evening of theater. The young singer laughed at the recording and then Florence scolded the young singer for her callousness. Despite the tiff, the spirit of Florence was always encouraging the the talent of the aspiring Opera singer. There was so much talent on the stage, but the overall impression was scattershot.

Tickets to Giselle’s Florence Silver Foster Jenkins Schuberlade Review in the Pink Venue are $15 with a FRINGE button.

Remaining show times are: Wednesday May 21, 8pm, and Saturday May 24, 5:10pm.

FRINGE: Breakup Variety Hour

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The Breakup Variety Hour was a solo show themed around a six point recovery program after a hard breakup. Ariana and the rose had some rather hilarious accounts of her experiences dating followed by some incredible singing. She reminded me of Lady Gaga, just with bad audio.

The lyrics to the songs she sang however I could not make out. The volume was up so high in the venue that the speakers buzzed and vibrated making the acoustics garbled.

Ariana with a red rode pinned to her right breast, had a great singing voice but it got lost in some horrible volume levels. Hopefully tech will resolve this issue before the full run of the show.

Tickets are $10 with a Fringe button. Show times: Sunday, May 18, 3:35pm, Wednesday May 21, 9:50pm, Friday May 23, 7:45pm, Saturday May 24, 11:05pm, Sunday, May 24, 4:05pm.