Last February, the Tampa International Fringe Festival drew names out of a sombrero on the patio of New World Brewery to determine which shows would be part of the fest’s inaugural season.
New World has now been reduced to rubble, thanks to the Ybor dreams of developers, but the lack of venue didn’t stop TiFf. They just moved the drawing for the 2018 fest a few blocks east — and upstairs — to the balcony-cum-billiard lounge of the popular Ybor bar Bad Monkey. (Since the drawing took place Monday, which was coooold, it’s a good thing it wasn’t outside.)
This time, the lottery drawing had a distinctly Ybor-ian tinge — the winning numbers (each one corresponding to a show applying for the Fringe) were printed on white cue balls, just like a game of bolita. No betting, but it was all about luck. The small group in the lounge and the much larger audience on Facebook Live had to wait and hope that their number (and their cueball) would come up, and that their show would be picked for the fest, which is expanding from one to two weekends in 2018: Thursday, May 3 through Saturday, May 12. As with the first season, the shows will be staged in assorted venues across Ybor, including the Silver Meteor Gallery, HCC Ybor and Crowbar, with a possible outdoor performance hub in Centennial Park.
The interest in TiFf has more than doubled, at least judging by the applicants. Forty-four shows applied for 29 slots in Fringe 2017. This time around, co-founder Will Glenn reports, the fest attracted close to 80 applications for 30 slots: 13 international applicants (for 7 slots); 28 national (for 8 slots); and 37 local (for 15 slots).
That meant the odds were steep in every category, so those who made the trip to Bad Monkey ran a pretty good risk of being disappointed in person. Those courageous folks included such well-known locals as Michael Raabe, the award-winning musical director for freeFall and American Stage, who was there to see if his cabaret act with singer Sara DelBeato, Hep Cats Now and Forever, would be picked. Veteran actor/director/teacher/playwright Jim Rayfield was present, too, hoping his one-man show starring Chris Jackson as aviator Charles Lindbergh would get a slot. Monica Cross, who runs the black box theater at New College, came up from Sarasota with cohort Maren Ericsson to represent their company, Arcane Arts; they were waiting to see if they’d get good news about The Wayward Sisters, their adaptation of Macbeth. And Tonya Mesrobian, of Lakeland’s new Rogue Stage company, was looking to extend a run of luck: Callbacks, a play by her husband, Thom Mesrobian, was a hit at the 2017 Fringe when they were calling themselves Acting Passionate Productions, so they applied again for a slot for their new show (title TBD) by their new company; Rogue Stage will be “Polk County’s first professional theater,” says Tonya.
So there was lots of anticipation around the pool table as volunteers — actors Emily Belvo and DeQuan Mitchell (Miranda and Ferdinand in Jobsite’s upcoming Tempest) and Steve Holler (lawyer, Ybor resident and dedicated Fringe fan) — pulled the cueballs out of a little box with a question mark on it.
“No matter how we look at it,” said Glenn before the drawing began, “we’re going to miss out on some terrific shows.” But that’s the central tenet of the Fringe, its press materials explain: “The lottery keeps the festival objective in its goals and offers every participant an equal chance of getting into one of our stages.” And if a show does get selected, the companies (who pay a $25-$35 fee to apply, and a $275 registration fee if selected) get to keep 100 percent of their box office earnings.
So who were the lucky ones? See sidebar for the complete list, but the titles are, as one might expect, wacky, eclectic and altogether intriguing, with artists coming from as far away as Japan (Theatre Group GUMBO’s Are You Lovin’ It?), Vancouver, Canada (Mind of a Snail Puppet Co.’s Caws & Effect) and Brooklyn (Brooklyn Culture Jam’s How to Stop the Empire While Keeping Your Day Job). Florida folks include Fringe returnee Kevin Michael Wesson and his Flashlight Play, and the formerly local actor Ami Sallee, now at the University of Georgia, who’s bringing her show, Ruthie in the Shadow.
And how did those brave lottery attendees do? Well, the Jim Rayfield/Chris Jackson project, Charles Lindbergh: A Life of Flight, made it. So did those Wayward Sisters from Sarasota. But Michael Raabe? Alas, his number didn’t come up. And neither did Rogue/Mesrobian’s. But they were still all smiles; the Rogue play has already been accepted for the Orlando Fringe, which takes place the week after Tampa’s, and Michael Raabe is pretty much always busy and always welcome anywhere, so his Hep Cats will no doubt find a home.
The list below is subject to change. Some companies may decide they’re not ready for Fringe-time after all, and substitutes will be drawn from a waiting list (chosen according to date of application). But it’s a safe bet whatever the final lineup looks like, “there will be work we never imagined before.” That’s the TiFf promise, and judging from its first, Best of the Bay-winning season I’d say that vow will prove 100 percent accurate.
Last year, they sold 1,535 tickets, with an additional 350 in attendance at “ancillary events.” If you’re looking for entertainment you’ve never imagined before, join the ranks of ticket-buyers in May 2018.
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2017.
