Philly WTFringe and the Fudge Judge Sponsorship

[thehefner]

The heck... Philly Fringe festival doesn't provide performance spaces?? What's the point, then? Publicity and inclusion in the Fringe guide (larger ads with photos cost an additional $200)? Is that pretty much it?

Shit, if I have to go through the pain and trouble of finding a gig, would I just be better off just trying to perform in Philly when the Fringe isn't on, so I don't have to compete with several dozen other shows (for performance space alone, not to mention competition)?

Or will I get more attention and coverage by being a part of the Fringe?



slaversbane suggested that I contact Judge James McKenna (Maryland Traffic Court Judge, featured star of THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES, and wine-maker) to see if his vineyard would be interested in sponsoring THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES.

On one hand, I would have to suck up the courage to describe THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES to him, not to mention his "character," which has somewhat evolved past "actual" reality into "theatre" reality, if you know what I mean. He's an intimidating motherfucker, lest you forget.

But he's also incredibly awesome, one of the true great "characters" I have ever met, and his business inclusion in the show would give the whole affair a wonderful sense of circuitousness. Besides, who the hell else could I get to sponsor the show?

Maybe I'll hold off until I get a decent demo reel together or something. Hmm.

Comments

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Even without the venue, the Fringe is a pretty good way to leverage advertising dollars. They market the bejeezus out of it, at least in DC. Yeah, you're still competing with all of the other Fringe shows for attention, but at least you know that your ad is in front of essentially every theater-goer in town.

To do that advertising by yourself, you'd have to spend literally thousands of dollars, and you're competing against every other form of advertisement. There isn't any one place that gets into the hands of every theatergoer, at least not in DC. (New York has the Village Voice, where people actually say, "Hey, let's see some live entertainment tonight, what's on?")

I think it's pretty stupid of them not to get the venues in on the act; there are only so many viable venues and the DC Fest can create a new temporary venue in a much, much more cost-efficient way than you can. A small staff can leverage publicity and share efforts and create a dozen venues, while you'd have to spend the same amount of money and more man-hours to find and create even a single venue. And it would take even more work to share costs with other performers.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Very good points. Okay, I'll submit; just gonna suck it up and try to find a decent venue before they're all snapped up.

[ortugatay.livejournal.com]

Wow, Philly really doesn't provide venues? That seems so silly, considering that, oh, every other Fringe I've ever heard of gives you performance spaces as part of your fee. Weird.