By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
For the past six years, “lake effect” has had a new meaning with several local theater companies coming together to host a month-long celebration of local theater called the Lake Effect Fringe Festival.
Running through March 2, the event features a plethora of productions ranging from musicals to improv.
“You are going to see works that are not produced in the larger theaters in town or works by local playwrights,” said Mary Beth Qullin, one of the organizers. “There is a lot of comedy or improv that goes on during the Festival. It is something different almost every weekend.”
The Lake Effect Fringe Festival features smaller productions of two character shows, musicals and improvisational pieces with the audience almost sitting in the round with seating on three sides of the stage.
“We have a very vibrant theater company, but this is a way to kind of bring to the forefront some of the small more edgy groups that not many people know about,” Quillin said.
TJ Corbert, of Hole In the Wall Theatre Company, said he bugged organizers to let his company perform at the annual event, because you couldn’t get more “fringer” than with the Hole in the Wall Theatre Company. The company performs commedia dell’arte, a form of theater characterized by masked types. The style began in Italy in the 16th century and was the first time actors — and actresses — make a living through the theater by traveling from town-to-town performing improvised shows based on sketches or scenarios.
“It is similar to Looney Tunes in that you might see Yosemite Sam, where in one he might be a sheriff and in another one he might be a sultan,” Corbett said. “But he is always Yosemite Sam. He behaves a certain way. He has that certain personality.”
On Feb. 24 and 25 — which by the way Feb. 25 is Commedia dell’Arte Day — Hole in the Wall Theatre Company will present the original comedy “Yes, We’re Closed,” one of the first shows the company ever produced. The story centers around a shopkeeper who is suddenly locked out of his store with the money he owns to a vicious loan shark locked inside and the entire neighborhood getting pulled into the madness. Hole in the Wall Theatre Company also is hosting the 10 Minute Play Festival on Feb. 22 and 23 featuring short plays written by local playwrights.
Qullin is actually one member of the two-person theater team GEM Theatrics. Her husband, Gary E. Mitchell and her will present “2 Across: A Comedy of Crosswords and Romance,” by Jerry Mayer, who worked on such TV shows as “M*A*S*H,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Tabitha,” “Punky Brewster,” and “The Facts of Life.” The GEM Theatrics production is this weekend, Feb. 16 – 18.
All performances take place at Dog Story Theater, 7 Jefferson Ave. SE. For more about the Lake Effect Fringe Festival, visit lakeeffectfringe.com.
