Fringe Festival Lineup Announced
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Flower City Vaudeville performers are among the 180 performances announced Wednesday that will take the stage across 21 venues for the first ever first Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival.
Media and supporters got a preview of some of the local, national, and international performers that will be taking part in Rochester's first Fringe Fest.
Festival producer Erica Fee announced world renowned aerial dance company Project Bandaloop will turn one side of the 21-story HSBC Plaza into a dance floor on Thursday night of the festival.
The voices of the world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir will fill Kodak Hall at Eastman on Friday and comedian Patton Oswalt will make his Rochester debut Saturday evening.
But it's the more than 100 smaller comedy, theatre, music, poetry, visual arts, film, dance and variety acts that will define Fringe Fest.
"A fringe festival really allows artists the chance to try new work, to perform new work in front of new audiences, and it allows audiences to sample all different sorts of art, so whether they’re sampling a theatre play or they’re going to a comedy show, then they’re going to a gallery, they’re really able to experience the different performing arts and the visual arts all within a day or all within the five-day festival period,” said Fee.
"We have so much going on in this community already as far as the arts, that it’s great to have a sort of umbrella place where they can all be showcased,” said Thomas Warfield, director, RIT NTID Dance Program.
Title sponsor First Niagara said it chose to invest in Fringe because the festival fits the personality and culture of the company and supports its vision for downtown.
"We like to support innovation and creative thinking. We’re a little different, even our employee events are a little different. Everything’s not so formal. It’s about having fun, getting the spirit and the energies going and this just seemed like a nice fit,” said Suzanna Nasipak Chapman, First Niagara Financial Group.
The Rochester Fringe Festival runs Wednesday, September 19th, through Sunday, September 23rd. Tickets for most shows are on sale and range from $5 to $15.