Theatre on the Edge: Woodstock Fringe 2007 Festival of Theatre and Song
By Jay Blotcher

Since we are talking via telephone, I have no idea whether Wallace Norman, Producing Artistic Director of the Woodstock Fringe 2007 Festival of Theatre & Song, is decked out in a beret, a serious goatee and a piano scarf. If not, the man ought to sport such gear, to complement the heartfelt and lofty pronouncements Norman makes about the lively arts – pronouncements which led him €ve years ago to cofound this program which has suddenly become a local theatrical tradition.

”It’s a signi€ cant effort,” Norman said of Woodstock Fringe, “and I did it with the intention of [the event] growing and becoming important.”

Such words tumble effortlessly from Norman’s lips. Grandiose or not, however, the man’s convictions have weight. Woodstock Fringe returns August 5 through September 2 to the historic Byrdcliffe Theatre, with a noble purpose: to showcase living, breathing playwrights and singers. In this regard, Woodstock Fringe stands alone with Vassar’s Powerhouse and Stageworks in Hudson, serving up new work, in stark contrast to the raft of laudable but done-to-death crowd-pleasers —The Pajama Game, anyone?—that have become a cornerstone of summertime community theatre.

This year, Woodstock Fringe returns with its offerings of drama, comedy, cabaret and staged readings. Much may enchant audience members; some will not. But one thing is certain: adventurous theatregoers and patrons of the arts keep returning for this highwire act, knowing that even the mis€ res will beguile.

Each successive season brings vindication for Norman and the €ve committee members who join him to select work from hundreds of script submissions, he said. (Norman refers to the process as “playreading orgies” which require intense retreats for the group.) Since year one, “our interest in new work has been strengthened—validated—in that there is an audience for new plays.” Woodstock Fringe is supported by a playwrights unit in Manhattan, a network of 40 people dedicated to developing new scripts. If the €nal selections occasionally suggest that Norman is cheerleading for a struggling New York City friend, well, chalk that up to executive privilege. Norman admits that he has been known to select works without the feedback of his colleagues.

However, the sheer variety of pieces slated for Fringe 2007— Norman and his committee are eclectic if nothing else—should guarantee a rush for the box of€ce again this year, as well as the burbling admiration of local theatre critics.

The extent of Fringe audience allegiance was driven home last year for Norman, during the “First Looks” program, which offers free staged readings of new plays. It was a bone-chilling day of rain, more common for the autumn than for a day in August. But people turned out to sit in the unheated Byrdcliffe Theatre “and huddled under blankets,” Norman said. “We thought that anyone sane would have stayed home.”

An opening bene€t party will be held on Sunday, August 5, featuring an encore performance of Incognito, a personal exploration of identity by Chicago actor Michael Sidney Fosberg, who explains how he located his biological father and the ensuing revelations that question notions of race, ethnicity and personal personae.

Backwards is a mind—and time—bending drama by Alice Austen in which four strangers on a train are linked by the cruel fate of unforeseen tragedy. Played in reverse like Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Backwards delves into the vagaries of human behavior and our gift for self-sabotage, as well as the metaphysics of chance. It stars Noni Connor, Vicky Devany, Michael Fosberg and Steve Jones, and is directed by Nicola Sheara. (8 perfs. Aug 9-19.)

Almost Obscene is a one-man show written and performed by provocateur Joe Raiola, whose bona €des as a troublemaker are borne out by his day job as a senior editor at Mad magazine. The current madness of the Bush administration—war, global warming, the Religious Right—provides Raiola with a bounty of material and he picks shamelessly from the ripest fruit. While his tart observations are nothing new for any dyed-in-the-wool liberal, it’s always comforting to hear your deepest beliefs reaf€rmed from the stage. This performance should be required viewing for right-wingers who have yet to renounce their ways. (3 perfs. Aug 17-26.)

The musical trio The Princes of Serendip will hopefully prove better than their dubious name. Or perhaps not. Such is the high-wire quality of Woodstock Fringe. This trio, which has performed together for more than a decade, will perform the song-poetry of T.G. Vanini—and here I capitulate to Norman’s description— “whose dense, unexpected imagery and haunting harmonies engage the listener in an intense exploration of a wide range of feelings in a world of enchantment and whimsy.” The Princes are Vanini, a Professor of mathematics at Baruch College, vocalist Julie Parisi Kirby and pianist Don Yacullo.(2 perfs. Aug 10-11.)

Greetings from Yorkville is a return performance that Norman and company can crow about. Since having its premiere at the 2004 Fringe, this musical about two musicians carving out a living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, will debut at the SoHo Playhouse in October. Anya Turner and Robert Grusecki return to reprise this bittersweet autobiographical work.(5 perfs. Aug 15-Aug 23.)

Debra Ehrhardt brings to life the volatile tinderbox of her island birthplace in the one-woman show Jamaica Farewell. Dramatizing the political chaos that raged during her childhood in the 70’s, Ehrhardt portrays a multitude of voices and characters in her recreation of a time when revolution brought unspeakable cruelty. The horror of her memories is leavened with equally-dark humor. But this is also the inspiring story of her escape to America. (7 perfs. Aug 24-Sept 2.)

This season, First Looks presents staged readings of two new works: the black comedy Nuts & Bolts by Charles R. Traeger and A Necessary Madness, a meditation on youth and youthful dreams by Peter McCoy. (Aug 25 and Sept 1)

Wallace Norman is not above utilizing Woodstock Fringe for his own work. And why not? Oh Virgil! A Theatrical Portrait, written by Norman and Larry Alan Smith, pays honor to the mercurial, challenging works of 20th century renegade composer Virgil Thomson. Brilliant and dif€cult, Thomson collaborated with avant-garde artists such as Gertrude Stein, Orson Welles, John Houseman and Frederick Ashton, ultimately confounding the status quo. The world eventually caught up with his genius and gave Thomson a Pulitzer Prize. Oh Virgil! takes place in the celebrated Chelsea Hotel, where drug addicts and madmen hobnobbed with prophets and where Thomson was a longtime resident. From his bed, Thomson holds forth on the personalities with whom he danced across the 20th century and what demons drove him to his lofty artistic goals. This is a workshop performance. (4 perfs. Aug 25-Sept 2.)