It’s time for the third annual Tampa International Fringe Festival, running May 2-11 at venues around Ybor City. If you haven’t yet patronized this wide-ranging array of weird, insightful, progressive and just plain oddball performances, you’re blowing it. Here are 10 reasons why you should go.
1. So. Many. Shows. Twenty-six shows in 10 days, to be exact, and they’re all in Ybor City. What kind of shows, you ask? Fringe has shows in close to every form of performing art imaginable. Cabaret, storytelling, stand-up comedy, improv, burlesque, one-act plays…the list goes on. I’ve heard it described as “the Netflix of theater.” Binge watching is definitely encouraged.
2. Cheap tickets. Theater can get expensive, but never at Tampa Fringe. Here ticket prices range from $9.25-17.25, including fees. If you want to see multiple shows, package deals keep the costs low. See three shows for $42 or five shows for $60.
3. Storytelling at its best. What I love most about Fringe are the stories, but I might be a little biased here (I am a writer, after all). This year, four promising storytelling shows were drawn from the hat: Dandy Darkly’s “All Aboard,” Ed Wolf’s “It’s Hard to Explain,” Cathy Schenkelberg’s “Squeeze my Cans,” and Marcus Ryan’s “Hablas Inglés.” They tell the stories of small-town America, the early days of the AIDS epidemic, escaping Scientology, and an epic journey through Latin America, respectively. I want to see them all.
4. An original play written and directed by a Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumna. While more established theaters and performing arts venues often focus on the classics, Fringe is all about the original and the timely. This year’s Tampa Fringe Festival has an original play from Parkland resident Gabby Cabrera influenced by the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Don’t miss it.
5. Comedy and movie night at Coppertail Brewing. Wednesday can be soooo boring. Escape to Coppertail Brewing next Wednesday night (May 8) for a stand-up comedy showcase followed by a free screening of The Goonies. The Comedy showcase — The Restful Bitchface Show — unites six Tampa Bay area comedians in a themed show about awkwardness and being misunderstood. Buy your ticket to “Restful Bitch Face” in advance.
6. At least a half dozen more reasons to laugh. Comedy rules supreme at Tampa Fringe. Stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, romantic comedy, dark comedy… you name it, Fringe has it. It’s hard to say who’s going to be funny before seeing the act, but I’ll tell you I’m personally interested in seeing Scott Swenson’s “Preach!” I’m a huge fan of Swenson’s work, from his Halloween installation The Vault to his stellar comedic performance as Charles Condomine in Stageworks’ 2018 production of Blithe Spirit. In “Preach!,” Swenson will be improvising irreverent sermons based on audience suggestions. I’m also curious about “Sexy Sexy Murder,” a satire on life in Tampa Bay, and “I Should’ve Just Married David Neilson in Kindergarten,” a comedy about dating.
7. Midnight Cabaret. This variety show was one of the highlights of the inaugural Tampa International Fringe Festival in 2017. Typically, multiple fringe performers will participate, performing a series of entertaining vignettes for the audience. It’s a great way to spend a Friday night (location TBA).
8. Burlesque. Burlesque is the kind of thing you’re more likely to see in a nightclub than a theater. In keeping with this tradition, “The Smutty Burlesque Nerd! Neo-Vaudeville by Vulva VaVoom” will be performed in Ybor City LGBT night club The Honey Pot during Tampa Fringe. According to the official blurb, the show features burlesque, comedy, song and dance, and “quite a bit of filth.”
9. Those ‘What the fuck just happened?’ moments. I’ve been to two Tampa Fringe festivals. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this: Crazy things can happen when you randomly draw names out of a hat and then give those people a stage and a microphone. Thus far I’ve seen people pretend to break into a theater, light a stage exclusively with flashlights, perform an entire play with sock puppets, dry hump a banjo, perform Hamlet drunk, pretend things are a cock, strip down to their skivvies, and hide a dildo in a shoebox. This year you can look forward to an opera-singing mouse (“Opera Mouse”), a man ranting about discount shrimp (“No, YOU Can’t Return Discount Shrimp”), and God only knows what else. That unpredictability is part of the fun.
10. The new Bob Ross costume and painting party. Speaking of ‘What the fuck just happened?’ moments, if you stroll into Bernini after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night (May 7), you might see a bunch of people painting dressed up as Bob Ross. That’s all.
For a complete listing of all 26 Tampa Fringe shows with short descriptions, show times and locations, check out our online slideshow.
This article appears in May 2-9, 2019.
