FRINGE: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor

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: Paco Erhard, Live Forever

Posted on by Thor

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: Done to Death By Jove

Posted on by Thor

Done to Death by Jove presented by Nicholas and Collett Productions from Hastings England, at the Orlando International Fringe Festival, is a Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie mash up featuring a cast of 6. However, 4 of the cast along with sets are stuck in traffic on I-4.

The two English actors who were left did there best to play all the parts. When Watson had to change into the part of a woman be speared thick lipstick around his mouth because he could not see back stage.

A laptop computer gave all the sound cues for the show but neither actor was familiar with how the program worked, so sound cues fell off the tracks. Quick costume changes, of which there were many, were done behind a thin metal costume rack. The audience could see the costume changes a happening but the actors requested that no one look.

When there were supposed to be more than 2 actors in a scene they used hats to stand in for the missing actors. The show was fast paced and hilarious. I loved every minute as I laughed my head off.

Tickets are $15. The final show is tonight, Sunday May 25 at 7:40pm. It really is a fun romp.

Fringe: Get a Clue, A Murder Mystery Who Dunnit Stage Combat Extravaganza

Posted on by Thor

At the Orlando International Fringe Festival some venues are not inside a theater. This show put on by Live Action Novelty Combat Entertainment (LANCE) takes place between the Orlando Science Center and Princeton Street.

Most of the audience was seated to my left. One man shouted out to me, “Are you doing a courtroom sketch of the performance?” I shouted back, “Yes, You all are the jury.”

In the show, a corrupt businessman is murdered along with two others. The narrator set the scene for the audience. As she spoke, 3 members of the cast dropped to the ground. Then she said, would you kindly move to where you actually died? All three got up and moved to a new spot.

The premise of the show is that the murders are recreated using objects that are set about the stage. There is plenty of staged fighting and murder. Once the scene was complete and the three actors lay in their spots, one would lean up and point out that the murder as described was completely wrong.

The whole scene would be reset and the scene would be replayed with a new villainous soul committing the murders. At times the stage fighting was quite unnerving with loud hits and narrow misses. The emotional impacts were helped by cast gasping and reacting in horror.

But the end of the show it had started to drizzle. I put away my unfinished sketch and popped my umbrella. If afternoon rains persist, the number of shows might be impacted.

Show times are:

Saturday May 17, 6pm, May 17, 8:30pm, Sunday May 18, 6pm, May 18, 8:30pm, Saturday May 24, 6pm, May 24, 8:30pm, Sunday May 25, 8:30pm.

The show is 45 minutes and tickets are $8 along with a FRINGE button. You need to be prepared to witness plenty of violence.

Orlando Fringe: Danny Feedback to the Future

Posted on by Thor

The Orlando International Fringe Show, Danny Feedback to the Future was unexpected. I think the premise was that Marty and the Doc from Back to the Future are playing guitar and at one point Dick Tracy performed on the drums.

An interactive component of the show consisted of passing out tiny vials that contained a scent. Since I was sketching I never picked up a vial. Besides I was wearing my trusty N95 mask, so that last thing I needed was to removed the mask to take a big whiff of community breath.

At one point doc was stripped down to his drawers. I am not sure why. The Feedback in the title refereed to a shrieking guitar performance where lots of foot pedals on the floor amplified the guitar feedback.

I think the show was part comedy. The audience definitely wanted to laugh. I am not sure what I experienced. It was certainly an unexpected assault on the senses. So, Back to the Future is a great movie, definitely worth seeing again.

I didn’t sketch the Fringe Awards ceremony since I am crunching on next season’s theater poster art for the Shakes, but I am so happy to see so many of the vibrant talented artists I got to sketch winning awards. Fringe is a wrap.

Orlando Fringe: The Magic Castle Still Stands?

Posted on by Thor

I wanted to sketch a show that several people had suggested that I should sketch, called The Magic Castle Still Stands, in the Scarlet Venue in the Orlando Family Theater. I had the ticket with QR code on my phone.

I was running late because the Visual Fringe Story event had run late. I needed to run across the lawn to the Family Theater. I couldn’t run straight across because the lawn of fabulousness was fenced off, so I snaked my way past food trucks and tents.

At Scarlet I didn’t notice any line. I was too late. The audience had already gone in. I walked up to a scarlet colored table and paused. I heard a crowd laughing to my right. I followed the laughter and walked trough two large swinging doors. There was no one to check my ticket, so I walked in.  I peaked around a corner and saw  that the place was absolutely packed. There was no way I would find a seat.

I noticed someone behind me and figured he must be a Fringe volunteer. I asked him if the show was sold out. He shrugged. Then he started talking loudly into his cupped hand followed by making a radio hiss and clicking sound. Oh…. He was not a volunteer…. He was a performer. I stopped asking him questions. he had enough on his mind. I went to the top of a house right staircase and discovered that there was a flat area away from the bleachers where a video camera was set up to tape the show. I decided to sketch while standing beside the camera. I liked that I was removed from being seated in the midst of the packed mask less crowd. There was a metal railing blocking part of my view, so I simply didn’t sketch it.

The Magic Castle Still Stands was described in the program to be a show blurring the lines between reality and imagination. It is supposed to be a show of self discovery and sacrifice. What I was seeing wasn’t that. It was a raucous two man comedy show and the crowd was hooting an hollering like a rodeo crowd. This felt like humor targeted to the QAnon crowd. Something was off. Did these comedians run a completely misleading description in the Fringe program? Maybe that was part of the joke. Well, I was committed, and kept sketching.

What followed were a series of two man comedy sketches with different themes. There were Top Gun pilots. pirates and bungling burglars. On sketch I rather liked was a re-imagining of the Abbot and Costello sketch “Who’s on First‘” The sketch was re-written so it worked with modern gender identification pronouns. I still remain confused with identifications of them and they so I got a chuckle. There really should be a pronoun for people who are COVID conscious. Male. female of non-binary they are a rare breed.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I found out that I had not sketched The Magic Castle is Still Stands but instead 10 Sketches with Rauce and Joel. I had slipped into the peach venue instead of the Scarlet venue by mistake. If something can go wrong, it always does in my world.

Orlando Fringe: Eleanore’s Story, Life After the War

Posted on by Thor

Ingrid Garner is such a dynamic force as a story teller. Actually she is more than a storyteller, she is a cast of thousands.

Eleanore’s Story: Life After the War follows a show I got to experience and sketch back in 2018. In that show we followed the life of an American family who were stuck in Germany as World War II broke out because one member could not return to America.

In this sequel we got to feel the relief as the family prepared to get out of the largely leveled Berlin which had been carpet bombed into oblivion. Somehow every member of the family had survived.

However the United States would not pay for Eleanore’s mom to return. The family agonized but her mom insisted they go and she would find a way out later.

The steamer trunk was packed and the family left with mom still in Berlin. The view of the statue of Liberty brought tears to the eyes of every one. Americans were so different that the Germans they left behind. They were well fed and moved with drive an purpose.

In the American high school the bell announcing the change of classes reminded the young girl of bomb warning sirens. Flashbacks happened in quick succession. I might have drawn Ingrid in a quiet moment as she face the audience but se was in constant motion, reenacting every horror and joy.  A kiss from an American boy brought back a memory of Soviet soldiers kicking in the front door and making themselves at home. Every woman knew what would happen. Eleanore tried to avoid the possibility by looking sickly. Her mother on the other hand, took pride in her beauty. When the inevitable moment came her mother shouted that they were all Americans. Amazingly the threat of raping American allies, diffused the situation.

The show is based on a published memoir by her grandmother. I really want to read it now to learn more.

Orlando Fringe: The Estate Sale

Posted on by Thor

The Orlando Fringe pre-show for The Estate Sale was pure genius. Kelly Dee had several folding tables set up with estate sale items for sale. Everything was for sale and people purchased items on mass. Genevieve seated in front of me had purchased more items than she knew how to carry.

This one woman show covered 40 years working with her mother in estate sales. Kelly left Central Florida multiple times to go to the big cities like New York and LA, but she kept getting drawn back.

Oh, and if you are wondering what she is holding in my sketch, that is an item everyone would want if they knew it existed. It is a beautifully carved dildo with an inlay  sculpture of Jesus Christ up the shaft. Lets face it every bed stand needs one.

I loved the big ceramic Owl lamp base. The home-studio I am renting has an owl sculpture on a garden wall in the front yard and it would be nice to be further surrounded by owls. I heard one the other night hooting from across the lake. I think it was hooping at the planes flying overhead.

As they say, one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure and Kelly shared her love and life lessons in this hilarious one woman show. I wish I could promote the show, but The Estate Sale has cum and gone. If you do happen to see a Jesus dildo at an estate sale, do let me know. I might be starting a collection. I give The Estate Sale 4 Big Jesus Dildos.

Orlando Fringe: Grease Too!

Posted on by Thor

I sat first in line for 1001 Red Flags early in the Fringe. As I waited, Megan Phillips came up and handed out the flyer to her show Grease Too! She then gave an exuberant pitch. She then sand one of the numbers as we waited. As I sketched other shows I was advised to see Grease Too twice by Fringe die hards.

Then I sketched a Visual Fringe Story Telling hour produced by Bobby Wesley of Orlando Story Club. Megan Phillips told a story during that program and it was intimate and visceral. She teared up letting us all know this was the first time she was relating the memories. By the end of her story I was welling up and felt a deep respect for her journey.

Back to Grease Too which was a high energy romp where she related her insights into two of the campiest films ever made. I had seen Grease 1 but never saw Grease Two. After her insanely fun commentary, I feel I have experiences both films from a vibrant new perspective.

Producer Bobby Wesley was seated beside me which put me at ease, because I am often concerned that the glow of my iPad screen might distract any audience around me.  A box of Oreos were being passes around during the show. I had one in line and one during the first act.

Megan had one knee high bobby sock on her left leg. I desperately wanted to paint a white bobby sock on her other leg but that leg was bare. Megan was playing a very young girl at the equivalent of a pajama movie viewing party. A persistent bully at school tried to make her feel small, but her love of these musicals let her spirit soar and she lifted our spirits along with her own.

As she was making her final announcements, the Fringe Festival producer Tempestt Halstead came in and announced that Megan’s show had won the blue venue patrons pick award. The audience went wild and Megan stood and jumped in place with her hands to her face. I feel so lucky to have been sketching as Megan felt the sharpest knives of memories stabbing their way back into her consciousness and then the absolute joy of being recognized for her joyous talents. Life is bursting at the seams as I quietly sit and sketch. As an artist my hear swelled.

Grease Too! has one more show tonight.

Sunday May 26, 12:20pm

The show is in the Blue Venue and rated 13 and up. It has a run time of 60 minutes and tickets are $15. There will also be another show scheduled since she won patron’s pick. Trust me you will have a blast and discover a new summer love.