Episode # 153 - FringeNYC Roundtable
nytheatre.com editor Martin Denton sat down with six FringeNYC veterans to discuss this year’s festival in a lively roundtable discussion on this episode. In addition to Martin, the participants are:
- Fred Backus, actor in Another Day on Willow St. at this year’s festival, and an actor in three previous FringeNYCs (he won an award for Horse Country in 1999)
- Leslie Bramm, author of this year’s Marvelous Shrine and a participant in several previous FringeNYCs, including the very first one back in 1997
- Pamela Butler, director of Marvelous Shrine and also a longtime FringeNYC participant and adjudicator
- Maggie Cino, actor/creator who starred in Antarctica this year and has been involved with the FringeNYC since the beginning in various capacities (venue director, producer, adjudicator, etc.)
- Frank Anthony Polito, who produced, wrote, and starred in this year’s show Another Day on Willow St., and has been involved in the festival since 2000
- Robin Reed, producer and co-star of Scout’s Honor at this year’s FringeNYC, and an active participant in all festivals since 2001
All six of these folks are also members of the nytheatre.com reviewing squad, and so they’ve all reviewed FringeNYC shows in past years in addition to being participants in the festival. So their perspective is unique and also rather broad: they’ve seen the festival from just about all possible angles, and they’ve been around since the festival’s early years.
The conversation is, as you might expect, far-ranging: everything from the growth of the FringeNYC audience to the changes in venue quality over the years to the “Urinetown” effect (referring to the success of the 1999 FringeNYC musical that went on to Broadway) to the sometimes distorted view/coverage of the festival in mainstream media.
Episode Links:
Download the podcast