BWW Interviews: Josh Short of The Wilbury Group Talks 2nd Annual PROVIDENCE FRINGE FESTIVAL

According to the United States Association of Fringe Festivals, the idea of a Fringe started in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1947. Since the beginning of that most-famous Fringe, other festivals have sprouted up all over the United States, from Philly to San Diego and places in between. The Association describes a Fringe as "Focused on the performing arts...uncensored...easy to participate in...original...rapid-fire." This July, Providence will have it's second-ever Fringe festival, produced by one of our local theatre companies, The Wilbury Group, and its Artistic Director, Josh Short.

Short says the idea for the festival came up in a conversation between him and Michael Gennaro, Executive Director at Trinity Rep. "We were talking about the number of performance artists in Providence and everywhere else that had these great performance pieces but didn't necessarily belong to a "theater company" and their outlets were limited to renting the occasional stage or performing in friends' apartments and backyards. And then somehow the idea of 'wouldn't it be great if somebody could put together a festival that celebrated these artists' and the Fringe Festival was born."

While Short says he had festival planning experience, he hadn't worked on one of the other "official fringe festivals" in the past. "Working on those festivals gave me an appreciation for the work that goes into the festival, and also the value of being able to bring audiences such a wide array of an art form," he says. "Since doing this, I've gotten pretty friendly with a lot of the fringe festivals throughout the US, the people at the San Diego fringe fest were really instrumental in helping me get this thing off the ground in its first year and I spent some time with them seeing their festival and learning how they did things."

One of the unique qualities of a Fringe is that the venues are usually smaller spaces, often found in very unique or unusual locations. Short notes that an intimate feeling was important in selecting venues, as well as making sure the artists have the basic technical requirements. He adds, "But more than that we were most interested in partnering with venues that had an appreciation for the artists and the work. Some of the stuff - ok almost all of it - is a little off the beaten path and the venues have an appreciation for that."

Venues for this year's Providence Fringe will include, among others, AS220 Black Box Theater, The Avenue Concept, Chifferobe Atelier, Mathewson Street Theater, URI Providence Campus and The Wilbury Theater Group. One of the most unusual performance sites will be a room at The Dean Hotel. Short says, "We approached the guys at The Dean Hotel about doing some site-specific performances there and they, to our pleasant surprise, were totally into the idea. Andrew Polec, a recent Consortium grad, will be presenting his one man interpretation of the children's book Where the Wild Things Are in room 202 at The Dean Hotel every night of the festival."

Along with the unique settings for the performances, the Fringe also brings an eclectic and exciting group of artists. Short describes the process of selecting the more than 100 performers, saying, "It's an unjuried process, there was an open call out to all artists to submit their shows and then the plan was that 30 or so would be chosen randomly, via lottery, for the festival. We had an overwhelming response though and as we were looking through each show's submission we decided that we'd rather work to add venues and performance slots so that all of the artists could be included."

"There's such an incredible cross-section of artists in the festival this year," Short adds. "Some of them, like Big Nazo, are incredibly unusual but may be familiar to area audiences already. Some of them are recent graduates from area schools like RISD and the other colleges that maybe aren't as well known."

Fringe shows can often include risky or edgy material, including some which may be highly unexpected or even shocking. Short hopes that audiences will come with an open mind and a willingness to challenge themselves. He also hopes audiences will "remember that everything was on the fringe at one point. More Broadway plays and musicals then they realize started at fringe festivals and new play festivals from Edinburgh to the Humana Fest. Even Shakespeare was just a young starving artist doing unconventional plays in his time."

"If an audience member is unsure about it then I'd ask them to check out the shows and find something that sounds like something they'd be interested in," Short says. "There are Choose-your-own-adventure shows with puppets, improvised musicals, brand new plays, dance pieces and more. Challenge yourself to see what else theatre can be besides the proscenium style, carefully inoffensive, 'fresh from Broadway' work that you may have gotten used to."

While having a local Fringe Festival is great for audiences, it is also beneficial to local artists and performers. Short explains how, saying, "I hope it encourages artists to continue to create their own work, and I hope that by providing them with an outlet to perform it (at low to almost no cost to them) it gives them some of the support they need to continue to create, perform, and live here. Providence wasn't recently rated the 'coolest city in America' because of the number of Broadway musicals that stop here on tour, it's cool because of the artists who choose to call it home. I hope this festival gives them another reason to stay."

"I hope that local audiences, critics, and artists will see it as the opportunity to expand their understanding of what theatre is and what else it can be that it is," Short says of what he hopes the audience experience will be at this year's Fringe. "I hope they'll challenge themselves to see shows that they wouldn't otherwise see and I hope that when they walk away they'll do more than talk about whether they thought something was 'good' or not, I hope they'll have an appreciation for the artists that put their heart and soul into pushing forward a medium that means very much to me. And I know that if they're willing to step outside of their comfort zone just a little bit they'll be pleasantly surprised."

The 2015 Providence Fringe will run from July 21 to July 25. For a list of artists, venues and performances, check out the website at www.fringepvd.org.

Pictured: Josh Short. Photo by Nile Hawver.