Cops Shut Down FringeAL FRESCO Performance

Willy Loman had just been fired when the NYPD literally stopped the show Sunday evening at the New York International Fringe Festival. The Suitcase Players were about 10 minutes into their 15-minute version of Death of a Salesman—being performed on the sidewalk outside the Players Theatre on MacDougal Street as part of FringeAL FRESCO—when two policemen interrupted the actors and threatened them with citations.

Kevin Bartlett, the Fringe Festival's director of special events (which include FringeAL FRESCO), who was watching the show, told the company to stop performing.

FringeAL FRESCO is the free outdoor component of the Fringe Festival, which is taking place Aug. 13-29. FringeAL FRESCO shows are usually held in parks, but this year the festival decided to hold some performances outside Fringe theaters, to entertain people waiting to see the indoor productions, Bartlett told BWW. The Suitcase Players had performed without incident on Saturday outside the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, on Spruce Street.

It was shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Sunday when the two cops approached the Suitcase performers, standing in front of them and telling them they could be heard down the street. Naively reacting as they would to the usual outdoor distractions, the actors briefly tried to continue until the cops announced they would issue citations if the performance didn't cease. One officer said they could be cited for, among other things, blocking the sidewalk (although passers-by had been walking right past the performance). The policemen stood by until the company had packed up all its props and costumes and left the sidewalk. They were still threatening citations when I, an audience member, tried to speak with Bartlett after the actors had left. Interestingly, the cops didn't reappear minutes later when a man—who could clearly be heard down the street—crossed MacDougal Street ranting to no one in particular.

Bartlett said the city does not issue permits for sidewalk theater, but he hadn't anticipated problems because the AL FRESCO shows were going to be held right outside Fringe venues. The festival does obtain permits for the AL FRESCO shows that are held in parks (including this year's American Oligopoly), Bartlett said.

He said the Suitcase Players' performances—which also include quickie versions of Our Town and The Glass Menagerie—would be relocated. For the revised performance information, visit FringeCENTRAL at 127 Macdougal Street (between West 3rd and 4th streets), open daily from noon to 8 p.m. The new schedule for Suitcase Players will also be published in Fringe Propaganda, the festival's semiweekly newspaper, which is distributed at all Fringe venues.

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