FringeNYC 2006
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FringeNYC 2006
August 11 – 27
A Family Reunion!
In celebration of the Tenth Annual New York International Fringe Festival, we’re holding the biggest family reunion ever! We invite all of the members of our very extended, very non-traditional family to join us. Some of the family is pictured on our cover in a family photo – George, who has been a part of FringeNYC for more years than I can remember, who agreed to represent the Seniors who are involved with FringeNYC; Krista, who has been our production manager for nine years, and is there to represent the talented, tireless venue directors, stage managers, and technical folks; Martin, one of our beloved playwrights from FringeNYC 2005 representing the writers; Eva, a dancer and choreographer who is as big a part of FringeNYC as she is a fan; Taty, our volunteer coordinator at the center of it all, representing our one thousand volunteers; David, a director friend who has found a home at FringeNYC on more than one occasion; Maeve, who purchased the first lunatic pass we ever sold at FringeNYC 1997 and hasn’t missed a festival in ten years; Kevin and Susan, actors, who’ve made magical moments at this festival; and Rayn and Vivien, representing our FringeJR and FringeHIGH programs, a big part of FringeNYC’s future. And then there’s McKenna – the scrappy spirit of FringeNYC and one of a few four-legged volunteer staffers.
The only one missing from the photo is YOU! You are FringeNYC. And at our Tenth Annual festival, we celebrate you. Tenth Annual. I cannot believe I just said that. It sounds so very strange to me. I cannot believe that we’ve done nine of these festivals and that we’re now launching our tenth. That’s a testament to the thousands of people that have come before us. And I firmly believe that what we do here today honors those people. What we do here today is because of those all-night conversations that four of us had at the Galaxy diner down the street from our loft space on 45th Street. What we do here today is because of the hours spent at the Bar … Association library to figure out how we could write a contractual clause that didn’t jeopardize our not-for-profit status. Today we recognize that day that I snuck out of Richard Frankel Productions while he was at an ad meeting for a big Broadway show so I could get down to Councilwoman Freed’s office at City Hall to meet with the Sanitation Department and community board. Today is about the hours that Shelley, who is now our Board President, and many other dedicated volunteers walked the streets of the Lower East Side getting signatures from residents in support of the festival. Today is the tears shed when we couldn’t get THE BLACK RIDER into the country. And the tears shed when they were here and sold out the Harry de Jur theatre at Henry Street Settlement. Today can happen because in 1998, when the truck pulled up with 90,000 tickets we sorted them all into envelopes because folks, computerized box offices and online ticket sales didn’t exist. At least not for us. Today can happen because in 1997, after we finished the scheduling – a few of us went out for breakfast – and then while I went to work Dave and John called the participants – all of them – and said, “Hey we’ve finished scheduling the festival and I have your performance dates and times. Do you have a pencil?” and read them their performance schedule over the phone because folks, nobody had email yet. That’s just a few examples of how far we’ve come – and how far we can go. And that’s because over the past decade, an enormous group of really, really talented people working in every field imaginable have freely given of their time, talent, energy and strength to make this festival happen. And that’s a really wonderful family to be a part of.
Elena K. Holy (crazy Aunt Elena)
Producing Artistic Director
2006