FringeHIGH (definition): a collection of boundary-stretching plays guaranteed to captivate and entertain NYC teens.
New ideas, new perspectives, pushing the limits, that’s FringeNYC. FringeHIGH is a group of shows chosen from the regular FringeNYC roster that will resonate with young adults. Topics for this year’s FringeHIGH shows include: love (true and otherwise), race and racism, magic and science fiction, the battle of the sexes, and growing up (a girl in America, a boy soldier in Uganda, a 6 foot redhead in the jungles of Indonesia). Check out the descriptions on this page, or click on the title of each show for more information.
Tickets can be purchased on-line, by phone, or in person at FringeCENTRAL. In addition, a limited number of tickets are available through High 5 Tickets to the Arts at $5 each or less (go to www.highfivetix.org in July)!!
As an extra added bonus, one performance of each FringeHIGH show will have a talk-back! What’s a talk-back? A talk-back is your chance to meet with members of the cast or creative team (like the director or the author). You can ask them questions, and get an insider’s view. Talk-backs will be open to all audience members, and will be held immediately after certain performances (talk-back performances listed below - for a listing of all performances, click on the show title).
So check it out, and then come to a FringeHIGH show at FringeNYC for an out-of-bounds experience!
FringeHIGH 2009 selections:
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Show Title and Description: |
Talk-back follows: |
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Alchemist of Light
It's 1914 -- NOT a good year for a has-been French filmmaker to plan his comeback around a famous GERMAN story. But Georges Melies, the "Cinemagician" who made science fiction films in the 1900s, has some tricks up his sleeve. |
FRI 8/21 @ 7*
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The Aperture
Inaugural winner of the Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwright Award. In the woods outside of Baltimore, Alex McGregor is staging fake photos of war torn Uganda. Notoriety follows until her subject - a boy soldier refugee - reverts, committing a horrible crime. |
WED 8/19 @ 5*
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BUBS A One Man Musical
In BUBS, one actor playing multiple roles and a versatile back-up band weave together nearly every genre of American popular music. Exuberantly blending humor and pathos, BUBS tracks the volatile relationship of an earnest songwriter and his dissolute father. |
SAT 8/15 @ 6* |
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Crossings
A fast-paced, imaginative docudrama, chronicling the immigrant experience from both sides of the border. Based on interviews of recent immigrants, Crossings is a moving and intimate portrait of NYC's newcomers performed by an all-immigrant cast about journeys to the "Promised Land." |
FRI 8/14 @ 5*
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Damon and Debra
On a stalled subway train shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Damon, a distrustful young African American male, meets Debra, a feisty, middle-aged white woman. Race, relationships, and startling personal revelations pave the way for a provocative interaction. |
TUES 8/25 @ 5:45*
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Don't Be Scared! It's Only A Play
A solo show linking individual neurons, terror, memoir, amnesia, and lab rats that you will never forget. Until you do. Audience participation presumed. The terror level has been elevated to fuchsia. Your mind will blow this show. |
WED 8/26 @ 6:45*
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Fancy Footwork
Biff! Bam! Pow! Nothin' like a good hard fight. Will Washed-up champ "Tornado" Tom make a comeback? Or will the young challenger win? Each thinks he's King of the Ring. But who's pulling the strings behind the scenes. |
FRI 8/28 @ 2*
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GirlPower: Voices of a Generation
Girlpower is an empowering, ensemble-driven collection of words written and performed by teenagers. Through monologues and spoken word, the young women share their perspectives on love, identity, relationships, the future, and finding power through theatre. |
MON 8/17 @ 7*
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M: An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth for three actors
"Something wicked this way comes" as the Three Witches morph into every character using black magic and prophetic visions to spin the tale of Macbeth in this abridged adaptation of Shakespeare's timeless tragedy. |
THUR 8/20 @ 4:15*
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MARS: Population 1
Utter isolation. Limitless exploration. As he runs out of air, the first man to land on Mars comes face to face with his own sanity, humanity, and SPACE-MADNESS, in this innovative Sci-Fi experience that will awe your imagination. |
MON 8/24 @ 5*
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
Not the fluffy fairytale you thought- 8 actors magically morphing from a caustic duke to a mischievous sprite, all out of 1 suitcase. This Alabama Company takes a breath at the top and doesn't exhale until the curtain comes down, y'all! |
TUES 8/25 @ 2*
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Muffin Man
A whimsical musical about a barista in love with the Muffin Man. Goofy customers, over-enthusiastic parents and best friends are all in a days work for Lyla. Can she tell the Muffin Man how she feels? |
THUR 8/27 @ 4:15*
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ONES BY 2: FALLUJAH and THE INVENTION OF ZERO
Two insightful award winning one-acts, written by teens, which mine the heart of our times. A: Jack can’t get out of bed since returning from Fallujah. Can Annie get him going? B: It appears that 1+1=...ZERO. |
TUES 8/18 @ 7:15*
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Penumbra
A one man Hip Hop musical about growing up in the Bronx and discovering manhood in the absence of a father who, his son finally learns, is in prison. Described as "Bold, daring, and fearless…truly innovative,” by HBO Def Poetry’s Producer. |
THUR 8/20 @ 7*
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Quarterlife Cycle
After growing up a six-foot-tall redhead in the Indonesian jungle, and graduating college in America, Amy has hit her quarterlife crisis. With a lot of awkward and a few tears, she uses metaphor to tell her story: earth/home, water/beauty, fire/love, wind/loss. |
THUR 8/27 @ 7*
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The Taming of the Shrew
Who's taming whom? The battle of the sexes, wits and wills rages on. Reckoning with our 21st century demons. Struggles for attention, money, respect. Rivaling siblings, conniving servants. Cross-dressing. Shakespeare's unmistakable, masterful language. Performed by an all ages cast. |
MON 8/17 @ 3*
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Testify
Displacement in Darfur, unrequited love, warfare, devastation, compassion, & desire; Testify takes you there and everywhere in between. Dancing the blues, women unleash the deep places of their hearts. Jagged and angular movements illustrate the physical embodiment of emotional truth. |
WED 8/26 @ 4:15*
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The Unlikely Adventure of Race McCloud, Private Eye
To find his missing secret-agent family, the second-most clueless detective in Westside City (and his super-genius niece Cookie) must face off against vampires, a Sphinx, "Perfect" Troopers, a masked vigilante and more in this comic-book style comedy/adventure. |
FRI 8/21 @ 3*
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Victoria and Frederick for President
Barrack and Hillary were not the first. In 1872, Victoria Woodhull ran for president and nominated Frederick Douglass as Vice President. A multimedia retelling of a story and a moment that has taken generations to come again. Starring Mel Johnson. |
WED 8/19 @ 7:30*
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The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour
Black president or not, racism continues to make a comeback. And Kamau is here to make (non)sense of it all, using multi-media and personal stories. According to Comedy Central, Kamau told the very first Obama joke way back in 2005. |
MON 8/24 @ 7:15*
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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FringeHIGH FLYER FOR DISTRIBUTION AT YOUR SCHOOL OR ORGANIZATION! |
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