Philly Fringe: Bending all the genres

Philly Fringe curated shows: Dancing through the arts

By John Timpane

Fringe festivals are where all the arts get together and have babies. Genres get busted, mixed like cocktails, grafted, married, and hybridized. And what children emerge!: dancing music, theatrical song, juggling tap, virtual Shakespeare, live-streamed performance-art rhumba Camus set in Pottstown or Africa or on Mars.

The 2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival - its 20th anniversary iteration runs from Thursday through Sept. 24 - is running over with mixology. By delightful definition, Fringe shows aim to be not what you expect. Among the dozens and dozens of acts throughout Philly and environs are 16 curated shows by invited national and international experimental artists. Below, we look at these 16 works - each with its own genre-busting, redefining power. (For a survey of the noncurated Fringe works, see the accompanying article.)

The Fringe is magnificently shot through with dance - but dance-as-theater-as-music. The festival's opening-night show Thursday is Citizen (Sept. 8-10, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $17-$29) by Brooklyn's Reggie Wilson and the Fist & Heel Performance Group.

French dancer/choreographer Boris Charmatz offers Levée des conflits (Sept. 9-10, $15-$29, Drexel University Armory, 33rd Street and Lancaster Avenue), in which 24 dancers perform interlocking movements in the midst of a circle made by the audience.

Zimbabwean choreographer Nora Chipaumire presents portrait of myself as my father (Perelman Building Terrace, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2525 Pennsylvania Ave., $15-$29), a three-dancer show of aggression and love.

Room 21 by Jace Clayton (a.k.a. DJ /rupture) appears in this category for convenience. In fact, Room 21 (Sept. 9, Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, $10) is a musical/theatrical/movement response to Room 21 of the Barnes. Attendees are invited to roam the performance just as they would a museum.

Pandaemonium by the Nichole Canuso Dance Company (Sept. 14-18, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $15-$29) operates on the metaphor of the desert, a place of spaces and separations. Canuso calls it "a genre-bending project, created collaboratively, which fits well into the atmosphere of the Fringe Festival, where that type of work is celebrated and supported." Why the desert? "We began with a concept of being alone and together at the same time," she says. They also explore "certain parts of one's self that awaken in an open landscape - like the desert - which can be difficult to access when returning to crowded or chaotic surroundings."

Le Cargo by choreographer Faustin Linyekula and Studios Kabako of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Sept. 24, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $15-$29) is equal parts memoir, play, and dance installation.

Gala (Sept. 13-15, Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., $15-$29) by French dance master Jérôme Bel, avatar of the "non-dance" movement, gathers folks of all ages, professions, and talent levels, and, according to the festival catalog, creates "a spectacle where the act of dancing - or trying to dance - is celebrated."

You see the titles of two famed works, but neither is its usual self. Macbeth (Sept. 24-25, Prince Theater, $15-$48) is a version of Verdi's opera co-presented by Opera Philadelphia and the South African troupe Third World Bunfight. Condensed to 100 minutes, it sets the opera in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and interweaves Verdi's music with African rhythms. Julius Caesar. Spared Parts (Sept. 22-24, Navy Yard, Building 694, $15-$38) calls itself a "dramatic intervention on W. Shakespeare." Created by Italian director Romeo Castellucci and the Socíetas Raffaello Sanzio, it breaks the play into fragments set against one another and reimagined amid hospital imagery.

Notes of a Native Song (Sept. 8-11, Wilma Theater, $15-$35), created by Heidi Rodenwald and the artist named Stew, is a "concert novel," a rock/blues musical arising from a rereading of the work and legacy of James Baldwin. How did they get from Baldwin's prose to a rock musical? Stew says, "We were looking for a way to rescue him from respectability. His writing is so musical - it's American oratory, it's church and Henry James . . . having something to say and standing on a soapbox and saying it in a poetic way. When you believe, it comes across. That's what Baldwin does line by line, what Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and great writers and artists do. They preach."

And, of course, there are works for which it's hard to say exactly what will happen. In CATCH takes BOK (Sept. 17, Bok, 1901 S. Ninth St. $14-$20) self-described as "a party with a show in the middle of it," the Obie-winning CATCH dance series of New York throws together beer, audience interaction, stand-up, and reckless love.

The Sincerity Project (Sept. 8-18, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Pl., $15-$38) is a 24-year project in which every two years the same seven performers get together and enact their lives.

habitus (Sept. 6-Oct. 10, Pier 9, 121 N. Columbus Blvd., free) by installation artist Ann Hamilton employs a "field of spinning curtains" propelled by visitors using a pulley system.

The works of new-music choral group the Crossing and Brooklyn composer Ted Hearne are well-known around here. But in Sound from the Bench (Sept. 11, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $15-$29), Hearne creates something new: a series of "political appropriations," fragments of Supreme Court decisions, Iraq war accounts, and ventriloquism handbooks, all woven together by Philly poet Jena Osman and sung by the Crossing. Conductor Donald Nally says Hearne "somehow achieves something timely and timeless, touching on wealth redistribution, recognition of the weakest among us . . . he manages to create art out of that. The paradoxes of our society show up in his music."

Speaking of his musical The Elementary Spacetime Show (Sept. 10-24, Arts Bank, University of the Arts, 601 S. Broad St., $15-$29), César Alvarez says that "teenagers killing themselves is a terrible problem in society and a very difficult thing to talk about, but this piece is totally unbridled in its willingness to go there. It goes there with absurdity, hilarity, and joy, and also all the sadness and terror this topic brings." A teen girl attempts suicide and lands in a "ridiculous, absurd" talk show in which she can see life from outside. "It's important that this piece be populated with teenagers, and it is," says Alvarez. "We hope people coming to it will feel that they have been noticed, and that there is a place in the world where other people know and feel the same."

And the whole shebang concludes with Dito van Reigersberg's baby, the famed Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret (Sept. 24, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $14-$35), which keeps the genres shaken, stirred, and mixed well right to the end.

jt@phillynews.com

215-854-4406@jtimpane

Here are some of the best noncurated FringeArts events for 2016.

Fringe in the Market (all festival long at Reading Terminal Market). Who doesn't love shopping for smoked meat, designer condiments, and anarchistic books while Azuka Theatre, Simpatico Theatre, Revolution Shakespeare, and more pop up and perform? Expect the unexpected and enjoy the fresh turkey. (51 N. 12th St.; #fringeinthemarket on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter)

Tales of the Grotesque and Mysterious

(Sept. 15-24, JUNK). The Philly performance art ensemble known as the Phenomenal Animals hosts an interactive event around the works of fantastical, sad hometown hero Edgar Allan Poe. (2040 Christian St., $15, 609-577-1384, www.phenomenalanimals.com)

The Berserker Residents' I F-----g Dare You (Sept. 9-17, Skinner Studio at Plays & Players Theatre). Young Philadelphia improvisational performance arts giants Justin Jain, David Johnson, and Bradley K. Wrenn improvise tales of the macabre and the absurd. This time around, they'll also highlight the silly but starkly poetic solo works of Lee Minora as part of their mirthful mix. (1714 Delancey Pl., third floor, $10, 215-735-0630, www.playsandplayers.org)

One-Man Apocalypse Now

(Sept. 9-24, Heart of Darkness Warehouse). Directed by Fringe fave Mary Tuomanen, Chris Davis - the man behind stand-up comic solo shows such as Drunk Lion - brings his lust for power and devastation to Southwest Philly. He treats Joseph Conrad's tale with just enough laughs to make war seem funny and Marlon Brando seem irrelevant. (5213 Grays Ave., $20, www. realchrisdavis.com)

Reality Check (Sept. 9-17, Asian Arts Initiative). ETC Theater - the writing-directing team of Todd and Emily Cardin - creates a Truman Show-like tale of scripted daily life as a reality television documentary takes the genre down a few pegs. (1219 Vine St., $15, 215-557-0455, www.asianartsinitiative.org)

Eugène Ionesco's The Chairs (Sept. 6-25, Studio 5 at Walnut Street Theatre). It's great that someone is doing Ionesco's quietly tragic farce about two old people playing games in a postapocalyptic world - and even greater that it's the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, Philly's premiere essayers of avant-garde classics. They do weird right. (825 Walnut St., $25, www.idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org)

Hot Dog (Sept. 16, The Iron Factory). Sassy is the team of Amanda Sirois and Maev Lowe, who dress like wieners and make food-based comedy involving priests and walruses. Learn more about Sassy by following them on Instagram. That's how the noncurated Fringe has grown - the inclusion of digital media. (118 Fontain St., $5, www.instagram.com/sassytheatre)

Get Pegged Cabaret (Sept. 14 at La Peg) FringeArts' eatery, La Peg, gets reimagined as a Paris-meets-Pluto noir boite with John Jarboe (artistic director of Bearded Ladies Cabaret) calling on Sapphira Crystal, Rebecca Kanach, and other pals in bizarre, daring, queer performance art and music. (140 N. Columbus Blvd., 215-413-9006, free, www.fringearts.com)

Wroughtland (Sept. 9-24, the Latvian Society) Gunnar Montana and his muse Shadou Mintrone take audiences through dark, sensual, and twisted fairy-tale lands where the red riding hoods are black and stained with blood and the happily-ever-after is long past its expiration date. On Sept. 23, you can share champagne cocktails with cast and crew. (531 N. Seventh St., $30-$40, 267-273-1414, www.latviansociety.com)

In the Clearing (Sept. 9 and 10, Christ Church Neighborhood House). Birds on a Wire Dance Theater is a Philadelphia female artist collaborative company named after a Leonard Cohen song. They create fairy-tale forests and all the delights and dangers that come with them. You are encouraged to pack a picnic basket and bring your own blanket to partake of the magic to come, accompanied by the sound design of Cory Neale. (20 N. American St., $17, 215-922-1695, www.neighborhood-house.com)

Making the Fringe Great Again! (Sept. 9-23, L'Etage Cabaret). WaitStaff Sketch Comedy is a veteran local troupe that has been bugging the Fringe with its antics since 2002. This year, it offers not only Trumped-up political satire, but also its always hilarious take on The Real Housewives of South Philly. (624 S. Sixth St., $20, www.thewaitstaff.com)

The House at the End of the World

(Sept. 16-21, Cinemug Cafe). When is a zombie theater piece not a zombie theater piece? When the troupe known as Plant Me Here does it, dressed in white, with silent screams and stoic motions on film accompanied by a live ensemble. (1607 S. Broad St., $15, #pmhendoftheworld)

Her: The Female Experience from Birth to Death (Sept. 10, The White Space at Pig Iron). Pig Iron Theatre itself isn't in this year's Philly Fringe - but this event with Basement Poetry has to come close. It's a group of Philly poets utilizing elements of motion and music to tell stories of a day in the life of the female body. (1417 N. Second St., $2-$15, www.facebook.com/BasementPoems)