Winnipeg: half-time report

[thehefner]

On Sunday, I wrote the following update on my experience here at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival:

Winnipeg Day 6: 

Even with small houses, quiet audiences, mixed reviews, and swarms of rage-infected mosquitos, the atmosphere here... 

I've never been to a Fringe that just glows with positive energy like Winnipeg does. 

This place does not let me stay down for long. It's amazing.

The next day, I had a meltdown with a friend, a mono scare (I'm fairly certain I'm fine, but can afford the the $200+ to get tested), and I missed a pretty ladyfriend's show because I thought my car got stolen, which happens a LOT in Winnipeg. Turns out, it was just towed. So that just sucks rather than fucking sucks.

Say it with me, folks: How Hefnerian!

The towing fee, coupled with the parking ticket (which I will contest, for what good it'll do) have clinched the understanding that I won't break even at Winnipeg. All my first times at Fringe fests are money losses, but still, I hoped for better after all the hype I heard about Winnipeg being a money-maker. Hell, that's why I'm not performing at CapFringe, my home base, along with most of my pallies and pallettes! Well, that, and I don't have a new show yet.

I'm working on that, though, rest assured. But first, I need to give the Monologues an overhaul, now that I know what they're really about. Idly, I wonder if this new emphasis might bring in a bit more mass appeal, but at heart, I know I'll always be a niche, a cult artist at most. I'm still a Rude Mechanical at heart. We're the outsiders among outsiders, the fringe of the fringe. That's the kind of artist I'll always be, trying to explore things that... well, just aren't universal mainstream topics.

There are some shows here which pack houses, get rave reviews, standing ovations, deservedly. I've seen some goddamn brilliant shows, and they deserve all the buzz and praise they get. And yet... they don't quite speak for me. Oh, they move me, they inspire me, but they don't quite hit the Heffie sweet spot. Those shows are few and far between. But then, that's probably one reason I want to create these shows, because no one else is! I just don't know if I ever could create something for mass audiences. I just don't think that way. All I can do is keep working, keep learning and improving as I try to find my audience. My New Rudes around the world.

I still have three more shows, so who knows what can happen? Today, I had a noon show, five people, my smallest audience yet. I decided, "Fukkit!" and just relaxed, threw in new stuff, played with the show on the fly, and ended up with my best show yet! Winnipeg isn't over yet. This is a magical festival, bumps and all, and I anxiously look forward to the day I can come back and truly conquer this town.

Maybe by then, I'll actually know what to say to people to don't believe that I'm really Hugh Hefner's cousin. Today, I spent ten minutes with a woman who REFUSED to believe it. It's because I'm an actor, you see, we make this stuff up. I don't know why it even gets under my skin this much! I just hate this mindset that I'm capitalizing on Hugh Hefner's name or something. If they think I do it to get attention and rake in the cash, I gotta say, it ain't working!

Ah well. They're probably not my audience anyway. All I can do is keep at it and find them. Three more shows, then two more cities after that. I'm a long way from done, folks.

In the meantime, fellow acting types, I highly suggest you think about Winnipeg. Also Edmonton, that's the biggest in North America, just under Edinburgh. There's no life like Fringe life, and the ups make all the downs well worthwhile!

Comments

[lairdofdarkness.livejournal.com]

The wonderful MJ Hibbett once twittered "After the gig I had a drink with the audience, he was called Steve"
(My memory is hazy so I may have the name wrong)
He also has a song (which for the life of me I cant remember the name of) where he speaks about making the most of everything and in it he mentions playing a gig to very few people but enjoying it all the same.

I have a feeling that is what you are doing. Think not that you only have 5 people in the audience, think instead that 5 people came out to see you perform. Makes things so much easier to deal with (in my opinion anyway)
Once they develop a JLA transport tube, I must start getting over to your shows, until then I will await your journey to Scotch land.

and for those who are wondering who the hell MJ Hibbett is....he sang the wonderful Alan Moore song from last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gu-uhudZS4

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't doubt what I'm going through is an all-too-typical scenario for performers/artists/performance artists. Particularly those who, like me, are thin-skinned and neurotic as hell. But yeah, that's a better way to look at it indeed. Plays in with the mantra I've been trying to keep in mind from a Broadway song I heard recently: "I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing."

Yes, someday, I shall be there!!! Although it's fairly clear that I shouldn't be trying to do Edinburgh with the shows I currently have under my belt. I've got a couple other possibilities in the oven that, methinks, would be better choices. Because I simply must get out there one of these days.

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

I just love everything you've written here. I'm surprised by Edmonton, though - we in Ontario like to think of ourselves as a cultural hub and the prairies simply the waste(grass?)land that they appear form a distance.

But then, I was born in Manitoba, so maybe I should be showing a little more Prairie Pride.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Both Edmonton and Winnipeg are starved for culture, so the Fringes are huge deals. I understand Indianapolis has the potential for that too! Compare this to the Fringe festivals in cultural hotspots like NYC and Montreal: a Fringe Festival is pretty much superfluous! "Oh, hey, wacky performance art. Buskers here do that shit for free!"

*shudder* I could never, ever live out on the prairies. Flat, flat land is a nightmare to me, same here as it was in Texas. I grew up near Appalachia, man. Give me hills at LEAST.

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

Wholeheartedly agreed. South-Central Ontario is green and hilly and sometimes quite a lot like Scotland, I'm told, and I'm quite happy here. The more trees the better.

[emma-elicit.livejournal.com]

So, you were in my dream the other night. I won't go into details here, because that might get... awkward, but I wanted you to know. Also - *hugs* etc. You're braver than I am to go out there with your show. I do selfishly hope that you'll come back to the Rudes one day so that we can be in a show together. That would make my life.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Someday, maybe! I'd love to, if I can fit it in and if I get a good enough role cough cough Hamlet cough

[emma-elicit.livejournal.com]

I think you would be a magnificent Hamlet, as long as I can play Ophelia. That would be one hell of a play.

[yancentric.livejournal.com]

Not related to this post at all, but I don't have your email..

Started checking out Green Lantern for the first time after one of your posts referencing the new Red Lanterns and a similarity you saw with 28 Days Later that no one else had noticed yet. Just read the interview this month where Johns claims the Reds are based on those movies. Good call catching that and good call on the recommendation -- I'm enjoying it so far :)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Heya Yancy! Long time no anything!

He said that? Hey, awesome! Validation!

Glad you're digging it! It's not perfect by any means, but it's certainly been some of the most fun I've had with comics in a very long time.

I hope the last show made up for the crappy day....somewhat!

[lillaluv.livejournal.com]

The parking in downtown is terrible, and the fact that they're doing a ton of construction near the main Fringe site sucks!

I hope that last audience made up for it a little bit, at any rate.

Thanks for making the last night of the Fringe a blast! Love chatting with someone who shares my view of Brian Cox and Manhunter. :-)