If you’ve never been to a fringe festival, well, then you’re either in for the time of your life or a wicked bad case of attendee’s remorse. You will either be blown away or thoroughly stupefied. Actually, you’ll probably be a little of both.
The Fresno Rogue Performing Arts Festivals in Fresno, California takes this Europe-inspired tradition, slaps on a new name, and delivers it to all lovers of off-the-mainstream entertainment. What’s a fringe festival? Simply, it’s a non-professional, typically non-juried art and theatre festival dedicated to alternative entertainment. Fringe festivals skim the outskirts looking for one-of-a-kind acts. The outliers, if you will.
The Fresno Rogue Festival (because “Fresno Fringe Festival” was too alliterative for those fussy Fresno folk) truly operates on every level: they’ve got main stages, auxiliary café venues, art galleries, and even Bring-Your-Own-Venue venues. For these brave do-it-yourselfers, the festival doesn’t even provide the space. BYO Venue acts must arrange their own space, act as box office, set prices, and manage everything themselves. That’s pretty rogue.
What can you expect to see at the festival? Plenty of stuff you won’t see anywhere else! Off-off-off-Broadway type theatre, avante garde dance, experimental film, multi-discipline performance art, puppetry, storytelling and just about anything else the participants can dream up. There’s no jury, no glad-handing – the Rogue is the very essence of “just be yourself”.
If at this point you’re thinking, “Hey, I don’t want to get ripped off watching 30 minutes of leotarded albinos doing interpretive dance to Iron & Wine’s The Creek Drank the Cradle!”, then maybe the Fresno Rogue Festival isn’t for you. Festival organizers stand behind the quality of their performers, and the growing attendance since 2002 backs them up, but fringe festivals are as much a state of mind as a set of shows. Get yourself in the Rogue spirit, and you will absolutely have a good time.
The 2010 Fresno Rogue Performing Arts Festival will take place from March 4 – 13, 2010. The festival is free to attend, and you pay per show (the performers keep 80-100%, depending on venue). For more information, check the Web site.
Need a hotel in Fresno? The Holiday Inn Fresno Hotel Downtown offers a convenient location to several common performance venues, free weekend parking, free Internet, and approachable rates. Have fun!
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2 Comments
Thank you so much for the great write up. I’ve loved being a part of the Fresno Rogue Festival for many years now and it’s always a great time! So MANY talented people make for an unforgettable experience. As one of the Rogue Gallery visual artists, I’ve really enjoyed the welcoming nature of everyone involved. This is the circus we all look forward to every year!
Thanks for writing, Aileen.
We’re glad to hear about the Festival’s continued success. I’ll take it over some been-there, done-that State Fair any year.
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