The invisible festival

Even though the 2005 fest ended a week ago, several people have expressed interest in keeping the blog going year-round. Fine by me, since I still had some thoughts to share regarding the last few days of events. Maybe you do, too. If so, post 'em here!

Walking around Allentown between performances on that glorious second weekend of the festival, I had plenty of time to reflect on what was so unique about this 11-day extravaganza. As we all know, WNY has no shortage of summer festivals, celebrating everything from gay pride to Italian heritage to corn on the cob. But unlike all the other festivities, inFRINGEment was sort of invisible, in the sense that you had to look around to find it. No white tents, no fried dough stands, no massive crowds.

That thought occured to me as I was trying (unsuccessfully) to find Arzu Ozkal's "Self de/fence" during one of the times it was scheduled to take place. This wasn't the kind of piece where you could report to a given venue at a given hour; it was more the sort of thing you just kind of stumbled upon. I stumbled upon plenty of other things instead, like



this bit of Hiroshima Day sidewalk art. Not officially part of the festival, but it fit in beautifully, particularly when I watched a group of people standing by one of the several stencils in the neighborhood debating what it was and what it meant.

The weekend before, by chance, I happened to be performing a wedding in Days Park (long story). A couple of days later, a friend told me she'd seen it on the Buffalo Rising blog. Turns out the person who wrote the entry had stumbled upon the wedding by chance: "At first we thought it was some sort of production... like a play, or a poetry reading." So, in a sense, that ceremony became part of the festival, too.

And if you were anywhere around Allen Street during the run of



Car Stories, you heard the constant cries of "I WILL NOT ATTRACT ATTENTION TO MYSELF" every half hour or so. (Not sure I have the line right, even though I heard it enough times to memorize it before I saw the show myself and got to yell it with my fellow audience members.) The first time I caught the screaming off in the distance, there was a debate about whether or not it was "part of" the festival, too. "Probably just some fratboy assholes," someone insisted.

Throw in various people blowing bubbles, quoting Shakespeare, conducting tours of the afterlife or doing tequila shots in an alley, offering aura readings, and the usual sights and sounds of Allentown, and you have a remarkable convergence of the planned and the unplanned. In a way, I kind of love the fact that large numbers of people out and about had no idea the festival was going on, while another group of devoted inFRINGErs was busily comparing notes about what to see next. It was all part of the mix.

Wrapup meeting Monday, Aug 15 @ Rust Belt @ 8: all are welcome!

from the Poobah:
Congratulations to everyone who made the 2005 buffalo
infringement festival possible -- artists, producers,
volunteers, venue-holders, sponsors, everybody -- it
couldn't have happened without you.

Now that the festival is over and the dust has had a
little time to settle, the infringement organizing
committee will be holding a final wrap-up meeting to
discuss what we've learned from this year's festival
and make plans for the future. This is a golden
opportunity to pool all the lessons we've learned the
hard way and apply them to whatever plans we want to
make from here.

That's why we'd like to invite everyone who was
involved with the festival in ANY capacity to come to
this meeting and share your perspective on our
adventure in infringement. Come tell us what YOU
think -- positive or negative -- about all that
happened. If we're to grow from this experience, we
need as much input as possible.

The final wrap-up meeting will be held Monday, August
15th, at 8pm at Rust Belt Books (202 Allen Street).
Hope to see you there!

Promo: Closing Party tonight (Sunday)

from the Grand Poobah:

The festival's shows all end by 7pm this Sunday. After that, we'll be wrapping things up with a closing night party at Nietzsche's, and everyone's invited. The party starts off at 8pm on Sunday and goes till the cows come home. Just as she did for our Kick-off party last week, local singer/guitarist Lea Prentiss is bringing out her amazing retinue of singers, poets, and musicians to regale the masses. We hope you'll join in on the revelry and help us wrap up this festival with a bang!

Ron again: We've all been off on separate, sometimes intersecting, adventures for the last 11 days. Here's a perfect opportunity to bring performers and audience members together at last.

(BTW, the blog ain't over, for a while at least. Watch here for closing thoughts, and POST YOUR OWN, TOO. (Still plenty of room for reviews of shows you saw and liked/didn't like/etc.) And be sure to check the "Latest Festival News" section of the main site for updates about possible wrapup activities. If you ask me, I say a postfestival gathering is in order a little later on, to celebrate what happened this year and ... shudder... start planning for next time.

Cavalcade of amazement: Saturday field report, continued

I've lived in Buffalo for over twenty years now, and I'm pretty sure today ranks as one of the most delightful afternoons and evenings I've ever spent in this town. First, the Real Dream Cabaret did our third show of four (pictures of which are posted here), then, as noted elsewhere, I spent a little time with Julie Perini's Hydration project (documented here).

Next, I set off in search of Arzu Ozkal Telhan's roaming street performance, Self-De/fence. I never quite found her, so you'll just have to pretend that this



is a picture of her in action, since it looks a teensy bit like her specially designed wearable fence. Abandoned that search, saw Gary Corbin at Allen Dance Studio (described in a separate post), made a reservation for Car Stories for Sunday, then walked over to Coit House for a bit of Virtual Reality MicroTheatre. Somewhere in there I had a bite to eat at the Hardware Cafe and watched some of the aura readings across the street:



The scene on Allen Street Saturday night was glorious. I haven't lived in Allentown in years, but I kinda doubt this is a usual occurence: people clustered around Rust Belt for the shows there, crowds inside Nietzsche's which spilled outside and intersected with Kate Parzych's Fluxus-style piece, Constellations, which called for collective bubble-blowing:



Right next door there was an opening at College Street Gallery.Meanwhile, MC Vendetta was across the street outside the Hardware Cafe doing another of her excellent spoken-word shows (now with a mic and backing tracks, unlike the previous 2 times I'd seen her). And just a few feet away, a nice-sized crowd sat in Days Park watching Squeaky Wheel's evening of short animated films (which continues in Martin Luther King Park, by the way):



Fiiiiiinally, Scott Kurchak, a carload of his cronies, several folks I recruited at the last minute, miscellaneous strangers, and I kicked off the premiere production of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (more like Shakespeare in the Parking SPACE, but nobody seemed to mind). Lit by car headlights and flashlights, this was about 90% spontaneous and 100% fun. Dave Pape took way better pictures and posted them here, but I'll share my meager snapshot just because I can:



I've had days like this in New York, scurrying from one show to another, but never quite this many in one evening. I was in hog heaven. The street scene reminded me (on a MUCH smaller scale) of public festivals I've been to in Toronto and New Orleans, but it had a distinctly Buffalo flavor. Low-key but heartfelt. Friends and strangers galore. I heard many of them remark about how incredible all this was.

So, what did you do this weekend? Post your inFRINGEment (and/or other) stories here.

And, I dunno, but I keep thinking as the festival continues that the city has really turned a corner somehow, culturally speaking; it doesn't feel like the same place it was 10 or 15 years ago. That was a good place, too, but this one feels like it's come of age, or is in the process of catching up with the times or something. No county funding? City and county governed by control boards? If you ask me, that's only part of the story. The Allentown I spent the day in didn't look like it was on life support at all; it looked like a thriving urban hotspot to me. Now all we need is to get that word out to more people, locally and otherwise.

Gary Corbin, FOUR ONE-LEGGED MEN

One of my biggest regrets about this year's festival (and I don't have many) is that the overload of events has meant that some shows have ended up with very small audiences. (In my experience, one-person shows by male performers are the hardest sell around, and have been for years.) That's especially unfortunate in the case of Gary Corbin, who came in from NYC to present his solo ...four one-legged men!. My own schedule meant that I didn't get to see his show until Saturday, but I met him a few weeks before the festival started and was immediately struck by his energy and his dedication. (He's also just plain incredibly sweet.)

The one comment I heard from someone who saw the show before me was "It's really ... intense." Corbin had told me the basic outline of the work, so I figured I had a pretty good idea about it going in, but I was still floored. This is raw, unvarnished theater of the best kind.

It's exactly what it sounds like: brief character sketches, basically first-person short stories, about four men from four different eras who have only one thing in common: they (like Corbin himself) have only one leg. Each of them has arrived at this condition in a different way, and they've each dealt with it differently. One, for instance, is a married guy in the 1950s, whose marriage is falling apart partly because he cares more for his mother-in-law than his wife. (Here, he's impersonating one of the wife's friends:)



Another is a gay man, reminiscing about his adventures at a bathhouse in the 70s:



Here's another picture of that character, because I like 'em both:



There's also a present-day man whose visit to the nursing home where his adoptive parent now lives forms a kind of frame for the show. But most devastating of all is the final character, a Vietnam-era vet who dreamt of being a dancer before getting drafted. I get goosebumps as I replay in my head the very last moments of the play, which are both heartbreaking and totally inspirational. Trust me, you've never seen anything like it.

Corbin's vignettes are remarkably detailed; we get very specific bits and pieces of each man's experience. The whole show is an act of exposure: he's dressed for the dead of winter in the first scene, and with each successive sketch, a few more layers come off, in more ways than one. (In)visibility is a recurring theme: this is a chance to look straight at the kind of people we often try to ignore away.

I'm pretty sure the show is headed for Off Broadway in October, and if there's any justice in the world, it'll cause a sensation there. You've only got one more chance to see it here--Sunday at 5:30 at the Allen Street Dance Studio--and it would be wonderful to send him off with a packed house.

Field Report: Hydration

I'm sending this via my superduper phone from Julie Perini's apartment, about to take a nap between the Real Dream show I just did and the evening's events--Gary Corbin, Car Stories, & more. Meanwhile, Julie & co are sharing hydration and conversation (about community, liquids, and happiness, among other subjects) with passersby:

In the process, she's getting to know her neighbors, interacting with strangers and friends... And I'm infringing on her space with my nap, as someone points out.

PS from later in the evening... Here's the view from Julie's window (taken shortly after Saturday's hydrating ended):




And here's lingering evidence of the piece a few houses down from the hydration station:




Still time to catch a few drops on Sunday afternoon, 3-4:30 (maybe 5) pm!

Promo: Torn Space Benefit @ Soundlab

info courtesy of Craig Reynolds and Soundlab

***A Benefit for TORN SPACE Theater Company***

Featuring live sets by Knife Crazy and The Frame up, DJ sets by Jon Solo and MJB Corporation & an appearance by Spiritwind Internal Arts, a local dance/improv music collective that focuses on traditional Asian dances.

Starts at 9 p.m., goes on for a while. Click here for directions to Soundlab.
Suggested donation $7, but they'll take whatever you can offer ...

The company’s 2005 production, "Muriel Vanderbuilt Goes Walking" (written by Dan Shanahan) was recently accepted to the Fringe Festival in NYC. Though a great accomplishment, the non for profit company will incur many costs such as accommodations for cast and additional crew and a complete set rebuild.

The Torn Space theater company, founded by Dan Shanahan in the spring of 2000, is committed to utilizing the talents of local artists to create contemporary drama not otherwise produced in the WNY area. Since its conception, the company has been developing shows at the Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle on Buffalo’s East Side, which in turn rejuvenated the venue and surrounding neighborhood.

Good times for a good cause.

Random comments

This seems like a good spot to leave room for any of you to post further thoughts on the festival--as a whole, or individual shows, or anything else that's on your mind. (You can do it anonymously if you want, and you don't have to join Blogger if that's the route you choose.) Don't be shy--click on the word "comments" below and speak your mind!

Behind the scenes/promo: REAL DREAM CABARET

I've been so busy spreading the word about other people's shows here that I haven't had time to say anything about the one I'm most closely involved in: The Real Dream Cabaret's Super Intense Decision Show, which runs tonight through Sunday afternoon at Squeaky Wheel (175 Elmwood). Opening night has come and gone now, so maybe instead of plugging the show in the usual way, I'll give you a brief peek behind the scenes and encourage you to come see one of our remaining performances this weekend. Clicking one of the links above will give you all the info you need.

First, let me state the obvious: Squeaky Wheel is an oven in August, particularly if you're wearing several layers of costume. (I dread to think what my colleague's "Gay Sasquatch" outfit is going to smell like, come Sunday afternoon.) But we have found ways to incorporate the heat factor into the Super Intense Decisions the audience must make, and I don't think the end result is all that unbearable, even on what may have been the hottest night of the year. We originally joked about doing the entire show from a wading pool filled with ice cubes. We didn't end up going quite that far, but it's still mighty tempting.

Tonight was a typical RDC opening night: rough, sometimes painfully so from our perspective, but not a total disaster. Okay, so three people did bolt out the door at a key moment, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves as they did, and it made sense given what was happening onstage at the time. (Hope that doesn't scare anyone away--but hey, we take this "super intense" thing quite seriously.) With a show as audience-driven as this one, it's hard to know how things are going until they're... gone. And one of my favorite things about our way of working is the ability to fine tune from night to night. Granted, tomorrow night's audience may not make the same decisions as tonight's did, and that can change the course of the show pretty dramatically.

The live show this time is built around the DVD project we've been working on for at least a year now. (Like our live performances but even more so, the DVD is radically different every time you watch.) It was great to see the video finally complete, and if all goes well we'll have copies to peddle soon enough, meaning that folks can enjoy the RDC house style in their own homes.

With air conditioning, if they so decide.

If you have comments on the show, please post them here.

Promo: MAMA SONGS

posted by Annette Daniels Taylor. If you see the show, please post your comments on it here.

HIP-HOP THEATER COMES TO BUFFALO!

ANNETTE DANIELS TAYLOR PERFORMS MAMA SONGS AT THE 2005 BUFFALO INFRINGEMENT FESTIVAL WITH DJ REAZON.

FRIDAY AUGUST 5, 9:00-10:00P; SATURDAY AUGUST 6, 9:00-10:00P

ADMISSION IS ONLY $2.00
AT THE ALLEN STREET DANCE STUDIO, 85 Allen

Mama Songs is a theatrical hip hop performance piece. A sparse set, handful of props, music and sound effects, two performers: singer/storyteller and a DJ.

Originally commissioned by the Arts In Education Institute of Western New York, Mama Songs is a musical-memory –hip-hop-love poem of story songs inspired by stories about Cora Lee, a mother; Cilla mae, a grandmother, and Reatha .

While growing up in the forgotten New York City borough of Staten Island and annual trips to North Carolina to visit her grandparents, Annette Daniels Taylor regularly heard stories about her family's past. Sometimes she wrote them down, sometimes she didn’t, but she always tried to remember because they were important to her.

“Mama Songs is my mother’s story more than anyone else's; most of the stories are about her: what she, my father, or grandparents would tell me. I enjoy translating the stories into poems or songs; it’s very challenging to try and capture a big emotion into a few lines, a few words.”

Dj Reazon aka Jason Redding is a native to Buffalo and cofounder of Flawless Records, a local independent hip-hop label. In Mama Songs DJ Reazon layers sound with blues, funk, soul, gospel, rock and jazz beats to compliment Annette’s voice and range of emotions. Annette wanted to work with DJ Reazon because, she says, “He could create the sound I wanted for the piece.”

“After I saw Annette in A Symphony Down In My Soul I told her that I wanted to work with her. When she asked me about doing this I was excited but a little nervous because I had never worked in theater before, but after we recorded the cd and I really heard which poems she turned into songs, I was able to do what I do. It was easy producing music with her because she lets me do what I do and everyone that hears the Mama Songs cd or sees the show loves it!”

Mama Songss will be touring schools throughout Western New York this November, with a free public performance at Niagara Falls High School in December, and another at The Albright Knox Art Gallery on December 30 as part of their Friday night Gusto at the Gallery series.

MY LIFE AS AN APE

This entry was sent in by Tom Markham. When you see the show--or any InFRINGEment offering--please share your thoughts with the rest of us!

just wanted to compliment Scott Andrew Kurchak's fantastic performance last night!
with sweat dripping off him..his hard work and focus was truly amazing...what a great show!!!
congrats!

Okay, Ron again: I'm gonna post my Blurry Photo Du Jour here, because I don't think I can include it in the Comment I'm adding to this post. Here 'tis:

Promo: SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT

This is a project that grew directly out of the planning sessions for the festival. Both the venue and the name of the event come from local mover/shaker Mark Goldman, and we took it from there. This one is NOT a carefully planned performance but more of an experiment in audience-driven improvisation and participation. Could be five minutes long, could go an hour. Everything depends on what YOU bring to the experience. We've heard from lots of people who love the title; now let's see what actually happens.

Heare ye, heare ye!
The Buffalo InFRINGEment Festival doth present…

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT



Bringeth thine own scripts, props, and costumes—or useth ours!

Saturday, Aug 6, 10:00-11:00 PM (after the movies in Days Park)
Sunday, Aug 7, 2:00-3:00 PM

Outside the Allen Street Hardware Store Café
245 Allen Street
(Note! This is a slight change of venue, just down the street from the original location. Okay, so it's not really a parking lot anymore: theater is all about imagination, isn't it?)

BRING YOUR OWN BARD!
IT’S SELF-SERVE SHAKESPEARE!

MOTHER DIS-COURAGE

One of the reasons I was most excited about the festival was the chance to finally see work by some of the many small independent theater companies in town I've been hearing about. One of those was the Subversive Theatre Collective. Its founder and artistic director, Kurt Schneiderman, is also the unofficial Grand Poobah of the festival, and I've gotten to know him pretty well over the last several months of planning meetings, which made me even more eager to see a show of his own design after missing every one of them for the last few years.

And now, at last, I've seen one--surely not the last I plan see, either. I made it to Mother Dis-Courage last Saturday, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The show is fast, funny, and smart, staged with ingenious economy given the small budget and venue. (Small is good! Small is beautiful! Small is where the action is!)



As always, you'll have to forgive the crappy image quality of my snapshot. Pictured from left to right we have Michael Karr (here, the talking/kazoo-playing head of a hospital staffer, but more prominently featured elsewhere as the ghosts of both George Orwell and John Lennon), Mary Mobius as the title character, Rick Lattimer as her son (stepping in a mere week before opening night!), and Sarah Orloff as Britney Spears, the narrator of the show.

Actually, Britney shares narration duties--and, uh, poetry--with the ghost of Bertolt Brecht (Keith Elkins). As the title suggests, the play is a riff on Mother Courage, but you certainly don't need to know that play to enjoy this one. For that matter, it steals just as heavily and openly from A Christmas Carol (a lovely theft indeed in these 90-degree days), with ample references to Orwell's novels, pop songs, and current events. The more you know where they're coming from, the more likely you are to laugh at what they do with it all--and the more likely to appreciate the ongoing commentary on the effectiveness of political theater in the face of real-world horrors.

The broad acting style owes less to Brecht than to the agit-prop street theater of the sixties (and maybe the SNL-style TV satire of the seventies and later), but it absolutely fits the tenor and pace of the script. Many of the performers are familiar from (slightly) larger, better-known companies in town, and it's exciting to see them in this context.

Unlike Mother Courage, this show probably won't live on half a century after its inception; its of-the-moment pop-culture references will probably seem dated or indecipherable in a couple of years. But that's not the point: this one is of its moment, and that moment is now. As I write, there are two more chances to catch it in town (before it heads to the NYC inFRINGEment fest in September), so don't let the moment slip away.

Promo: COLLECTIVE SIMULATED SYNAESTHESIA (note change of venue)

Contributed by Stephanie Rothenberg. If you attend, please post feedback below. If you have more detailed info on another inFRINGEment event, please post it yourself or e-mail announcement to ronehmke@hotmail.com.

In case you missed it last time at Niagara Falls--

Now is your chance to get a free divine data mining diagnosis from PAN-O-MATIC at Infringement Buffalo '05!.

Developed by PAN-O-MATIC, Collective Simulated Synaesthesia (CSS) uses the body’s own frequencies to recalibrate its internal rhythm and create a healthy external field. The procedure offsets the harmful effects of pervasive radiation frequencies emitted from computers, hand-held devices, satellites, and power grids. CSS is a simple, natural and safe procedure that takes less than 5 minutes. Results may vary and can include improved sensitivity to color, increased tonality
and sound reception, and more accurate spatial organization. First time users have even noticed significant changes when standing in close range of their cellular devices and electronic equipment after recalibration.

For more specific information about the procedure, please click here to visit our web site.

Stop by during these times for a free, 5-minute session. All procedures conducted outdoors to maximize the earth's ionic plasma:
Thursday, Aug 4 @ 8:30-10:00/ Hardware Cafe (College/Allen)
Friday, Aug 5 @ 7:30-9:00 / Squeaky Wheel (175 Elmwood)
Saturday, Aug 6 @ 7:00-8:00 / Hardware and 8:00-9:00 / Days Park

Be sure to stick around for the grand finale which happens the last 15 minutes of each evening session. Your data will be compiled and output into the atmosphere in operatic form.

Promo: Virtual Reality MicroTheatre

Info provided by Josephine Anstey. If you visit the MicroTheatre, please post your responses in the comments section below.

This is a festival within a festival featuring interactive virtual reality works of fiction and drama. ((Click here for links to desciptions of individual pieces.)The 3D stereo graphics are projected on a wall size screen and the participants interact with virtual worlds and computer controlled (AI) characters. Each show is for a very small (micro) audience of 1-10 people; three or four different works will run, each 15-20 minutes long; audience members will interact with the virtual experiences. Two shows daily. First come first served.

Coit House: 414 Virginia, at Elmwood
Two Shows Nightly at 6:00 & 8:30
Thursday, Aug 4
Friday, Aug 5
Saturday, Aug 6
(The advertised Sunday show has been cancelled.)

Suggested Admission $4

THE CROSSING

As I write this, Tim McPeek is presumably in the eleventh hour of a 26-hour performance in the back room of Rust Belt Books. I fully intended to check it out and write something about it here tonight, but the rehearsal I was in ran late and I didn't make it. But hey: I--and you--still have till 6 p.m. Wednesday to walk in the back door of RBB and peek in on Tim's super-slow-motion journey from one side of the room to the other.

One of several reasons I've been looking forward to The Crossing is its sense of time. Most (though not all) of the other festival events are an hour or less, which can lend an air of consumerism to the proceedings. (For instance, last week I was distracted during one show because I didn't want to miss the next one, mere minutes later.) Here's an event that doesn't play by the usual rules/conventions of theatergoing, and that's pretty exciting... in a slow, subtle kind of way.