Lineup revealed for 2009 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival in Addison

by PegNews wire

WaterTower Theatre is pleased to announce the artists and schedules for the 2009 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. A 10-day celebration of theatre, dance, music and art, the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival features performances by arts organizations from the local area and region. The Festival will run March 5 – 15, 2009. Performances will be held at the Addison Theatre Centre, which contains three performance venues: the Festival Main Stage (seating approximately 200), the Studio Theatre (seating approximately 70), and the Stone Cottage (seating approximately 50).

The 2004 Dallas/Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum awarded the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival with a special citation for providing performance opportunities to new works and new production companies. Average attendance for the festival exceeds 4,200 patrons over 10 days.

Headlining the 2009 festival will be Toronto based artist Charlie Ross and his acclaimed one man show One Man Star Wars Trilogy.

One Man Star Wars Trilogy is a one-hour, high energy, nonstop blast through the first three Star Wars films. Charles Ross, the writer and solo performer, spent too much of his childhood in a galaxy far, far away - adulthood has been similar. Ross plays all the characters, recreates the effects, sings the music, flies the ships, and fights both sides of the battles. Since first performing his One Man Star Wars Trilogy in Toronto in January of 2001, Ross has brought countless audiences, both large and small, to their feet with his surprisingly unique shows.

Festival passes, which include one admission to each festival event, are currently available for $60 by calling the WaterTower Theatre Box Office at 972-450-6232. Single tickets go on sale February 17 and can be purchased online or by calling 972-450-6232. Click the following for a complete festival schedule.

A brief synopsis of events and a complete schedule follows, and you can click on a title for showtimes and dates:

• WaterTower Theatre presents One Man Star Wars Trilogy. Written and performed by Charlie Ross. A one-hour, high energy, nonstop blast through the first three Star Wars films. The catch is, there's only one cast member. Charles Ross, the writer and solo performer, spent too much of his childhood in a galaxy far, far away- adulthood has been similar. Ross plays all the characters, recreates the effects, sings the music, flies the ships, and fights both sides of the battles.
• Andy & Joleen Mullins presents Takin' A Break from Sex. In Takin’ a Break from Sex, Andy and Joleen Mullins have taken marriage, friendship, mid-life crisis, and absurdities of relationships, along with some silliness, and have written them into original comedic sketches that range from clever to brazen. This married comedy couple invites you to sit back and enjoy their fun romp through scenes emphasizing that opposite sex perceptions are a myriad of crazy conversations and hilarious situations.
• Bill Bowers presents Under a Montana Moon. Bill Bowers' critically acclaimed Under A Montana Moon is a Collection of Silent Stories, which all take place under a western sky. Performed without words and within a tapestry of sound, Bill takes his audience on a moving, magic journey through the American West. Under A Montana Moon uses the Art of Silence to investigate the Heart of Silence - in the land of cowboys and bronco busters, of painter Jackson Pollock and martyr Matthew Shepard. One of the most acclaimed mimes in America, Bill Bowers' eloquent movement evokes the deepest truths of the human condition. Often compared to Chaplin and Keaton, Bowers has truly created a style all his own.
• Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth presents The One Hundreds: Phrases 1-100. Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth and guests will perform Twyla Tharp's The One Hundreds: Phrases 1-100. When Tharp originally developed this dance in 1970, she wanted to address three questions she faced as a performing dancer: 1) how accurate is my memory? 2) how good is my coordination? 3) how strong is my sense of beginnings, middles and endings? Tharp created 100 eleven-second phrases in answer to these questions. Combining imagery from traditional dance techniques, sports, and popular culture, and all performed in silence -- this series of phrases is like a series of "short stories" with a variety of references and entry points for different viewers.
• David Schmader presents Straight. Straight is David Schmader's hilarious and subversive solo play about the world of conversion therapy, where gays and lesbians are reputedly "cured" of their homosexuality and made "straight." Plunging into the heart of this highly charged territory—from going undercover at "ex-gay" support groups in Seattle to an intensive crash course in Christian heterosexuality deep in the heart of Texas—writer/performer Schmader blends an essayist's insight with the spark of stand-up comedy to get to the bottom of what it means to be "straight."
• Diwa Theater Company presents Cowboy versus Samurai. Travis Park is a high school English teacher and the only Korean-American man living in a dusty cowboy town known as Breakneck, Wyoming. And when a gorgeous, whip-smart Asian-American woman moves into town, he immediately falls for her; the only problem is that she only dates white men. In this savagely funny and often moving comic re-telling of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, one man must choose allegiance the Asian-American and the American within himself – between Cowboy versus Samurai – in a pursuit of a love that may only be as real as the love letters he writes for someone else.
• Flying Man Productions presents Green. A brilliant young man may have found the solution to cheap universal energy . . . if only he can prevent it from slipping into the wrong hands. Green tells the story of the dire quest for sustainability and the forces determined to preserve the status quo. Flying Man Productions presents this new play as its inaugural performance.
• Jocelyn Wiebe presents [sic]. Melissa James Gibson's brisk, quirky play [sic] shows three young urbanites in a quarter-life crisis. Babette, an aspiring novelist, Theo, a frustrated composer, and Frank, an auctioneer-in-training share more than just an apartment building—they share their lives. Intelligent, witty, and occasionally bickersome, these three friends rely on each other as they navigate the limbo between their promising years right out of college and the rest of their lives.
• Leslie Dworkin presents Nearer. Nearer is a haunting dance duet, exploring the meaning of loss, issues of identity and memory, and the tension between letting go and moving on. At times explosive, and at times detailed and mysterious, the dance is a textured journey into the unknown. The delicate and magical sound of toy piano will be played live onstage for this performance, and is supplemented by an unusual mixed soundscore.

• The Mad Mamas present Last Lists of My Mad Mother. Alzheimer's Disease has to be one of the cruelest human afflictions, in its effects both on sufferers and their loved ones. But Last Lists of My Mad Mother magnificently reveals the humor within this tragedy, without taking away from its gravity. Veteran Dallas actresses Jeanne Evans, Pam Dougherty and Lisa Fairchild travel together through Ma's fleeting awareness and inevitable decline as she gradually withdraws into her own, unfathomable never world.

• Muscle Memory Dance Company presents Breaking News: Dancing with the Media. Muscle Memory Dance Theatre presents Breaking News: Dancing with the Media, a modern dance commentary on the catchy, one-sentence Sound Bites of American journalism. M2DT's 5 choreographers weave together perspectives on news sources from television, newspapers, radio, magazines, to website blogs, podcasts, and billboards. Breaking News: Dancing with the Media is an evening length modern dancework that examines the societal consequences of Americans consuming fast paced, info-tainment news culture to stay informed.
• Ninety Eight Theatre Company presents Fairytale Blues. Imagine if you will, Richard Pryor, drunk on the corner of New York City's 42nd Street belting out the Blues in a rabbit suit. That, my friend, is Fairytale Blues, an old fairytale colored with: wife stealin', dry humpin', breast fondlin', filthy mouthiness of a horn player by the name of Lil' Boy Blu, who fumbles upon Rosie Bo Peep from the Bronx, chasing her dream of fame and fortune to the land of Hollywood Hills where she meets a host of eccentric fairy tale creatures who enlighten her journey. Is Hollywood Hills everything that she imagined it to be?
• NY Goofs presents The Chairs. The New York Goofs take on theatre of the absurd using clown logic and physical comedy. Join them as an old couple sharing stories of the “almost” in their lives prepare for a multitude of guests invisible, but nevertheless requiring seats resulting in a crowded empty stage where a mute Orator will deliver a message to save humanity. This face of the tragic persuasion has combined the madcap and maddening since it was first performed in 1952. In Ionesco’s poignant and playful The Chairs, enlightenment hides behind entertainment as the geriatric Punch and Judy couple anticipate this great culmination of their lives.
• Out on a Limb Dance Company presents Number 2. Out on a Limb presents a collection of works that evoke humor, reflection, dynamism, and discovery. The first act will premiere a serene trio Counting Sheep, as well as, a guest choreographer and Out on a Limb dancer, Rachel Bruce Johnson's (artistic director, The Bell House) Don't…Away. The second act features a full-length work that offers a personal perspective of a story through a series of relationships, events, and interactions.
• Project X presents Some People. Some People is about an ordinary Dallas suburb. The husband, wife and kid, relatives, neighbors, and friends—some people who hear voices, stare off into space thinking of nothing, and have no idea how they got there. No matter how they try the world makes no sense. Is it a dream? A comic routine? What’s going on? As time and space fold and spin something happens to some people we know. Things are different…and they like it.
• Rite of Passage Theatre Company presents Holy Mother of God. Cal Tatum can’t seem to catch a break. Not only is he dealing with numerous failed attempts to become a screenwriter, but he’s also struggling to cope with the untimely death of his younger sister, Whitney. While his sister’s fiancé, Thommy, finds solace in his frequent conversations with the Holy Virgin Mother (literally), Cal’s journey to find peace and resolution ends in a more subtle, but equally unorthodox way.
• Rocketship Productions presents The Play about The Coach. A New York Magazine “pick of the week,” The Play About the Coach takes the audience courtside into the final minutes of an NCAA tournament game. As the clock ticks away, a coach tries to pull his team to victory while his own world comes crashing down around him.
• SceneShop presents The Interrogation of Vince Banyon. For its fifth entry in Out of the Loop, SceneShop stages the world premiere of a new work by well-regarded Fort Worth writer and visual artist Grayson Harper. In The Interrogation of Vince Banyon, a charismatic drifter is questioned by two no-nonsense detectives. As they pepper the evasive suspect for answers, it becomes clear a girl is at the center of the situation... but what, exactly, is the crime?
• Second Thought Theatre presents Pvt. Wars. Set in a veterans hospital post Vietnam War, Pvt. Wars follows the abundant, and sometimes absurd, exploits of Silvio, Gately, and Natwick. This uplifting portrayal of everyday life in the wake of war artfully blends humor and pain, triumph and uncertainty. Laughs of every type are sure to abound in James McClure’s acidly funny portrayal of three young men working to resolve their own private wars.
• StageWorks presents Hopelessly Puccini. Hopelessly Puccini is a “date movie onstage” which believes every audience should have a chance to see themselves live, laugh, and love in the theater. It is a romantic comedy about four men and the snowed-in weekend they share. Past history collides with the present and youth with age as the four explore where they’ve been, where they are, and where they hope to be on the subject of love.
• Theatre Britain presents Vincent River. Snow couldn’t cover up the carnage and time can’t heal the wounds. Two disparate souls search for salvation and an answer to the simplest and most impossible of questions: Why?
• The Victims present Deconstructing.... The Victims are bringing highly theatrical unscripted comedic mayhem to the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival with their show Deconstructing… Each night The Victims will create a totally improvised show based on the true stories of a very special guest.

• Uncommon Ground presents i google myself. i google myself is the unusual story of three very different men with the same name brought together by an internet search engine. What starts as a curiosity turns into an obsession that makes these three men’s worlds violently collide. The play is an insightful and entertaining window into our society’s preoccupation with fame and recognition, and how internet innovations like blogs and online chats promote one’s quest to be known, even as the same technology can lead to a debilitating isolation that increases the need for connection.

Posted by Shawn