Fringe Takes On the World

All Over The Map

by Patrick Rapa

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Published: Aug 29, 2007

No, Charles O. Anderson does not have the world on his shoulders, but he is a very busy man, what with all the dancing and choreographing and teaching. We like Professor Charles because he's a local guy whose story is classic Fringe (slash Live Arts). Last year, he workshopped his socially conscious dance piece Tar in the festival's In Progress series. This year he returns with the show in full bloom. It's thought-provoking and genre-blending. Janet Anderson will tell you all about it. Charles is a humble guy; we're grateful he was cool with us turning him into a Greek god for the cover.

We went with the Atlas theme because it seems like every year the fest gets more and more worldly. This year Nick Stuccio and Co. lured artists from Vietnam, Congo, Bulgaria — and a bunch of other places we see only on Google Earth — to Philly stages. Intrepid reporter Rachel Frankford did some virtual globe-skipping to bring you the story.

Bobbi Block is Philly's resident improv queen, having MacGyvered good theater out of thin air with groups like LunchLady Doris, Tongue & Groove and ComedySportz. But her new show, LEAP!, is her most challenging machination yet — making normally script-addicted actors walk onstage with nothing to say. Mark Cofta gets the formula for this "slightly sadistic artists' experiment," and then delivers a full Fringe improv primer.

Oh, Pig Iron. With their cool dance-clown experiments and those oddly charming streams-of-craziness. Every year they are on the cutting edge of the Fringe, and every year we find ourselves standing up and saying, look at these guys. This time around Steve Cohen does the honors, getting to the bottom of the group's unlikely collision with William Shakespeare.

If past performance is indicative of future results, then fest vet Thaddeus Phillips should have a bona fide hit on his hands with Flamingo/Winnebago. Phillips has previously wowed us with Red-Eye to Havre De Grace and The Earth's Sharp Edge, among others. This new one's kind of a nostalgic environmental travelogue that calls for 3-D glasses at some point. A.D. Amorosi asks the questions.

We've also got a hell of a lot of picks. Of course, since there are approximately 80 kabillion shows in Fringe and Live Arts this year, we'll be running some picks online, and some next week (and maybe the week after that ... ).

And don't forget: Our critics venture out to as many shows as they can and whip up reviews by noon the following day for our hyperactive Fringe review blog. Check out www.citypaper.net/fringe and join in the conversation.

(pat@citypaper.net)

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Off Script
Improv (No Lines!)
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Sticking To It
Global Warming
From Afar
Off Script
Improv (No Lines!)
Exquisite Corpse
Cooking With Gas
Fest Guesses