Why Fringe Festivals Matter

Hi All!

As most of you know, Wishbone is working hard to send SPANDEX to Edinburgh Fringe Festival this fall. Many of our friends and family are donating generously so that we can travel overseas to one of the biggest fringe festivals in the world. We could not be more grateful for the support. I realized that it might be important to talk about why going to Edinburgh Fringe Festival matters to us as a company. To do that, I wanted to briefly discuss the significance of  participating in arts festivals in general, and why Fringe festivals continue to matter to communities and artists. 


Edinburgh Fringe has been around since the 1940's, bringing all sorts of theatre, musical acts, comedians, and street performers to it's city ever since. It's not about the big names or even what will make a lot of money. Fringe festivals like Edinburgh, exist around the world because creative arts still matter to communities on a personal level. There is nothing like seeing something live, in front of your face. We spend so much time not interacting with other people. Live festivals certainly survive on live audiences, and increasingly, performers are asking for participation. 

Fringe festivals are an opportunity for artists to experiment and explore. I have seen some of the best shows at the Chicago Fringe Festival, for example, mainly because they pushed the limits of traditional theatre. 

Check out this video of highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. See the amount of audience interaction and all of the people experiencing street performance wherever they walk through the city. It is incredibly exciting and inspiring. 

David Binder, a theatre producer, gave an awesome TED talk about festivals. I certainly encourage you to google it. In the talk David says, "festivals promote diversity, bring neighbors to dialogue, offer opportunities for civic pride, increase creativity, and improve our general psychological well-being. In short, festivals make cities better places to live."  I could not agree with him more. 

Wishbone is looking forward to the amount of art we will experience in Scotland. We will be able to share SPANDEX with new faces, but more importantly experience new ideas, perspectives and beauty that live performance can bring. 


If you are in Chicago, we invite you to come to a benefit for SPANDEX (filled with live entertainment and fun!!) at Black Rock Pub on June 5th, please check out the Facebook invite below and come along!  

https://www.facebook.com/events/136702583191835/ 

It's suggested donation, only. So seriously, we'd just like to see your face, with no financial pressure. Also, please check out our Indiegogo campaign on the tab to the right! We thank everyone again for their continued support! 


Thanks,

~Laurie



The photograph above is from cultureweekly.com.

SPANDEX Goes to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

We are extremely excited to announce that Wishbone is going to take SPANDEX to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this fall! Yes, I am partly just happy that all my friends will be coming to see me! But mostly, I am overjoyed to take part in the largest arts festival in the world! Edinburgh has a reputation for having a wonderful variety of theatre, dance, comedy, music, and other art. We are all very eager to experience that art and the culture of the city that started this wonderful festival.

We are very happy that we will be able to continue to play with those characters that we so enjoyed creating. I am very proud of SPANDEX, but there is still much to do before we leave. Please go to our Indiegogo Campaign and consider making a contribution for our project. Help send SPANDEX to fringe this year!! If not, then please keep following us on Facebook and on this site. We will be updating everyone on this exciting new journey!


Please visit our Indiegogo Campaign to donate!


Thank you!!!
Wishbone Theatre Collective

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit

It's been a while since I have blogged about life over in the UK, but I had an experience that I really wanted to write about. It all started when I went to see a play called, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, last weekend in Newcastle. I was able to go with a group of people on our human rights defenders scheme at the University of York. The human rights defenders come from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds and have dedicated their lives to defending the human rights of others. They truly inspire me. Not only do they do such serious work, but over the past few weeks they have been participating in interactive artistic workshops where they explore story and express themselves through creative writing, drama and music. It's amazing to me what art can do when you have open, thoughtful people to participate in it.

It's interesting. So many theaters in Chicago are jumping through hoops to get a diverse audience, and here I was in Newcastle sitting with people from 15 different countries. That's a tangent really, but the play has so many themes that are important to a diverse audience, especially those thinking about the state of the world ( and who doesn't from time to time, right?).

The playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, is unable to leave Iran, so he sent his words abroad without him to many different theaters in many different countries. The play needs no set and no director. But it does need actors willing to do a cold reading on stage in front of a packed house, not knowing much about what could possibly happen to them onstage. I am certainly not going to spoil anything for those who will have a chance to see it, but the playwright challenges both the audience and the actor in various ways without being pretentious. There are many stories throughout the play that question our perception on history, our concept of identity, and even trust in the play itself. I mean, the actor is blindly reading this unknown playwright's story. The audience is trusting the story enough to interact on stage by acting like rabbits, ostriches, and mixing potentially poisonous powders into the actor's drinks. Well, obviously the producer liked it right? So someone has checked this play and knows that it's a message that their theatre is proud of, or have they? Obviously the bottle brought onstage isn't real poison, right? Those things seem obvious...sort of. How much do we trust this playwright? How much do we trust anyone? 

I thoroughly enjoyed this play in so many ways, but there are some key things that I left with. First of all, the past really does have a way of impacting our future. Once a rabbit is painted red it stands out. You watch his every move. Secondly, it takes a great amount of trust and openness for art to work. The audience in this Newcastle location were ready to play. They were open to hear what the playwright had to say and to the experience of interacting with strangers onstage. I think this is absolutely beautiful. There did not seem to be a lot of judgement, but people were taking it all in with laughs and quiet thought. Lastly, words have enormous power. They can travel from Iran to the UK by an envelope and a lot of faith. With the ability we have in our time to connect globally, our words can reach many different places and many different people. It makes me think that it is so important to be careful with those words. 

If you get a chance to see this play at some point, then I recommend it!

Love,
Laurie


http://www.live.org.uk/whats-book/white-rabbit-red-rabbit

Call For Submissions: Merrythoughts Masquerade

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Thank You for Your Support!

Thank you everyone who came to see Ten Things I Facebook Like About You! Wishbone would also like to thank the amazing cast and Mullens for their support!

Ten Things I Facebook Like about YOU!

A big thanks to those you came out to Sketchfest! For those who didn't or for those who would like to laugh again, please check us out at Mullen's on Clark at 8pm January 17th, 24th, 31st and February 7th. 

For tickets, it's $7 at the door, or get your tickets early HERE! 

SKETCHFEST!!

CHECK OUT WISHBONE THEATRE COLLECTIVE AT THE 12th ANNUAL CHICAGO SKETCH COMEDY FESTIVAL!!!

WHEN: SUNDAY, JANUARY 13th at 8pm!!

WHERE: STAGE 773 1225 W. BELMONT AVE

HOW DO I GET TICKETS: Go to www.chicagosketchfest.com