EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Main lineup announced for 2016 Scranton Fringe Festival
The 2015 Scranton Fringe Festival consisted of 48 productions in 12 venues over four days, with 1,800 individual tickets sold and 3,000 unique individuals in attendance. This year, the festival looks to top that with 54 acts from nine states and two countries on Sept. 29-Oct. 2, adding workshops, a short film festival, and more to be announced.
Many more facts and figures were announced yesterday to a packed crowd of artist and patrons at Scranton Fringe Festival Headquarters in The Ritz Theater building in downtown Scranton, and NEPA Scene was there to shoot video of the main presentation. The festival also launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise $4,500 to help defray the costs of the massive four-day event.
This lineup is subject to change, and the information below, provided exclusively to NEPA Scene first, is not comprehensive of all of the programming, but serves as a general outline of what to expect from this year’s event. When a full program of events is finalized and announced, it will be published right here on nepascene.com.
Featured Acts
Big Gay StorySlam
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by the Scranton Fringe Festival
Now under our year-round “umbrella,” Scranton StorySlam is back for the 2016 Scranton Fringe Festival with another Big Gay StorySlam! The Scranton StorySlam features some of the Electric City’s most colorful characters in a head-to-head storytelling competition. Storytellers each have five minutes to tell a true story from memory, in the tradition of oldfashioned storytelling. Various members of the LGBT community and its allies will come together in this community-driven event!
“Keepers”
(from West New York, New Jersey)
Presented by What’s the Benefit? Inc.
Book by Molly C. Blau, Paul Daniel (Cloeter), Nicholas Nova, and Spence LaValee
Music and Lyrics by Paul Daniel (Cloeter) and Daniel Wolpow
“Keepers,” which made its 2010 debut at the legendary Studio 54 for a Broadway benefit performance, is a dynamic exploration of how lives are affected by adoption. An original musical based on reallife testimonials collected from people around the world, this show strives to bring attention to the multitude of voices behind adoption. “Keepers” was also performed in the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival.
“Like No One Ever Was: A Pokémon Musical”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Directed by Nick Hrutkay
Written by Conor O’Brien and Joe O’Connor
A comedic, heartfelt, and ridiculous love letter to a pillar of ‘90s nostalgia, “Like No One Ever Was” is an original musical parody that delves into the astounding billion-dollar franchise that is “Pokémon” and complicates it with the humor and ridiculousness that our generation has found since leaving our childhood behind.
“Shakespeare’s Will”
(from Highland, New York)
Presented by the North American Cultural Laboratory
By Vern Thiessen
Performed by Tannis Kowalchuk
Directed by Mimi McGurl
Music by Kurt Knuth
Tannis Kowalchuk performs the role of Anne Hathaway in NACL’s lively songfilled solo performance about the life of the wife of William Shakespeare. The play begins on the afternoon of Shakespeare’s funeral. Anne knows she must read her husband’s will, but before she does, the widow relives her life as mother, wife, and woman in 17th century StratfordUponAvon.
Theater
“All’s Well That Ends As You Like It” (from “Four Plays for Coarse Actors”)
Written by Michael Green
Directed by Heather Stuart
“Balancing Act:” 3 Short Plays
(from Spring Brook Township, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Singular Circus Productions
Written/directed by William Zeriniksi
“C’era Una Volta: Folktales from Italy”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by SIAMO NEPA
Directed by Stephanie Longo
Cody Clark: A Different Way of Thinking Magic Show
(from Louisville, Kentucky)
Performed by Cody Clark
“Escape from Applebee’s”
(from New York City, New York)
Written by Anthony Mercado
“The Eulogy”
Written and performed by Michael Burgos
(Falls Church, Virginia)
“The Fury”
(Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania)
Written by Tony Thomas
“Girls’ Night In”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Written and directed by Tom Flannery
“I’m Standing…”
(from New York City, New York)
Written and performed by Maggie Nutall
“Isabel(le)”
Presented by Living Spirit Productions
(from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
“James and the Giant Peach”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania and New York City, New York)
Presented by CaPAA of NEPA
Written by Timothy Allen McDonald
Based on the book by Roald Dahl
“The Outrageous Nancy Bisignani” and “Death in Texas”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by 411 Studio
Orally presented by Lou Bisignani
“The Playboy of the Western World”
(from Dickson City, Pennsylvania)
Written by John Millington Synge
Directed by Mark Mallecoccio
“The Poe Asylum”
(from Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Ghostlight Productions
“Psyche”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Created by Benjamin Eisenhower and Ann Marley
“Radical Fermentation”
(from Lakewood, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Pictures Moved By Strings
Created/directed by John Bromberg
“Relationship”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Written by Joe McGurl
“Retrospective: Journey to the Center of THE Salacious Pop Icon”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by the New Vintage Ensemble
Created by Simone Daniel and Jessica McDonough
“Scranton Decameron Goes to the Hospital”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Written and directed by Ted LoRusso
“Spring Awakening” (Workshop Production)
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by the CaPAA of NEPA
“Taking Linda”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Written by Art Walsh
“Toast!”
(from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Gaslight Theatre Company
Written by David Parmelee
Unpoppable Molly
(from Kansas City, Missouri)
By Molly “Balloons” Munyan
“Woman with Coffee” and “The Barber’s Moment”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Actor’s Circle
“The World Will Stop if We Make a Mistake”
Created by Patrick Holmes and Sarah Regan
Comedy/Improv
Club Funny Presents: The Black Box Players
(from Honesdale, Pennsylvania)
“Ellen Doyle Learns to Love (And Other Lies)”
(from Los Angeles, California)
Created by Ellen Doyle
“Farty of One”
(from New York City, New York)
Written/performed by Graceann Dorse
Here We Are in Spain’s Improv/Sketch Comedy Show
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Laugh Out Lepka’s Comedy Show
Presented by Laugh Out Lepka, LLC
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
“One Foot in a Pothole”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Featuring Donny Granza and Angelia Petrillo
Where the Trees Are Presents: Too Many Chairs
(from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Dance/Music
The Dorothy Matrix 8Bit Orchestra
(from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Sloopygoop
Adam Bailey
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Crank Ensemble East
(from San Francisco, California)
Daniel Amedee & Gold Light
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
“Happy Birthday Mr. Lunesta”
(from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Crystal Dreams
“Progressive Soiree”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Ballet Theatre of Scranton
Directed by Janine Baux
Rachel Clark
(from Factoryville, Pennsylvania)
“Shedding Skin”
(from Pocatello, Idaho)
Presented by Creative Moves
Created by Julie LeirVanSickle
Steven & Mara
(Kansas City, Missouri)
Tina Louise
(Green Lane, Pennsylvania)
Literary/Poetry/Spoken Word
“A Journey from Edirne”
(from Dunmore, Pennsylvania)
By Ibrahim Sanverer
“Exposed”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
By Lindsey Chalmers
“The Greatest Actor in the World”
(from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Written/read by Brandon Halsey
“I Want YOU! (Join the Hugging Army)”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
By Vanessa Leigh White Fernandes
“Professor Conundrum High on Math, Not Meth”
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by FreeSpeak and Some Productions
Scranton Fringe Teen Playwright Workshop Readings
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by the Scranton Fringe Festival in partnership with the Everhart Museum
The Writers’ Showcase at the Fringe
(from Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Presented by Brian Fanelli
