- CLICK HERE FOR
A RUNNING DISCRIPTION OF ALL THE FRINGE PLAYS
- CLICK ON PLAY FOR INFO ON THAT PLAY
- 21/One: Twenty-One Shows in
One Hour
3 Plays About Your Mom
Antarctica
ARE YA WORKING?
Being Something: Living "Young"
and Growing "Old" in Oakland
Bound and Gagged
Brilliant Disguise
Brother #1
Cervix With A Smile
Chinese Clown Cabaret
CornTato
Divided We Fall
Do The Clam
El Camino Loco
- Fear of a Brown Planet
Fresh Meat
Go Kibbitz
go!
Got Lucky
Green Bamboo Hermitage
Here to There
LOUNGE-ZILLA!
Love Scenes
- Magnificence of the Disaster
MEDIAVOID
Name You Can Trust
nEO-sURREALISTS
Paper Dolls
Playing in the Dark
- Politics on the Edge
Revolving Madness on the Fringe
of Sanity
SHIFTINGS
Show me where it hurts
- Slow Moves, Rich Tales
Southern Discomfort
Sperm Warfare
Thersites
Waiting for the Relevance
WALKING BACK TO BROOKLYN
Werewolf, The
When You Stand Alone
Yellow Tunic, The
You May Now Kiss.... My Sass
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- CLICK ON PLAY FOR MORE INFO AND PERFORMANCE
SCHEDULE
- 21/One: Twenty-One Shows in
One Hour
- Poets, Yuppies, Hippies, Lovers, Dreamers, and the Homeless all collide
in a collage of twenty-one distinctive pieces. Each piece dedicates itself
to a separate and unique district of one of America's most happening and
diverse cities: San Francisco. Returning to a collaborative troupe style
form where all artists work together in the writing, directing, and performing
aspects of the creation process, Boxcar Theatre is on the fringe of developmental
theatre. So, take a ride on the Boxcar, Theatre on the move!
3 Plays About Your Mom
- If you think your mother is bad, what does she think of you? A trio
of local playwrights dish their unique perspectives in three comedic one-acts
that takes a look at mothers and motherhood. Observe a modern day mother
in her natural habitat. Learn how a Greek Goddess copes with an adolescent
daughter. Witness family dysfunction at the dinner table. You ain't seen
nothin' yet. Directed by Molly Aaronson-Gelb.
Antarctica
- Antarctica. Well there are penguins. And snow. Antarctica- you know.
And these two friends, Winnie and Magda. Wait. Let me rephrase. Two life-long,
synergistically inseparable, goddess-like friends. Who met in high school.
In the suburbs? No, scratch that. In Antarctica. Are explorers in Antarctica.
You know, the place with the penguins (I told you before). Adventure! Romance!
Parkas! Snowshoes! Anything else? Tragedy. You can't leave out tragedy.
ARE YA WORKING?
- This Polish/Irish American distills twenty years of schlepping in the
trenches of the working world into one hilarious performance of stories,
poems and rants. "Karwoski's sincerity and charm wins us over"-
SF Bay Guardian. Inspired by his grandmother's chronic question "Are
ya working?" Karwoski celebrates the rich tapestry of his Catholic,
working-class upbringing and reveals how it forged his reality as The Uber
Schlepper. "Go see it. Big Thumbs up"-Terminal City Vancouver"a
big man with big talent ….funny, enlightening and sober" - Winnipeg
Free Press
Being Something: Living "Young"
and Growing "Old" in Oakland
- "There's a palpable feeling of joy coming from the performers...enormously
entertaining"-Oakland Tribune. From picking over the remains of a
life at an estate sale to a dreamlike myth about a 12-year-old girl who
becomes a star in the sky, Being Something reveals a city's hidden worlds.
Set in Oakland, poignant and funny, this innovative music drama challenges
our assumptions about urban life in musical and theatrical explorations.
Bound and Gagged
- A car crashes on a lonely stretch of highway heading to Vegas. One
semi-fabulous survivor is found, trussed like a Thanksgiving turkey and
gagged like an environmentalist at a Republican convention. What can and
what cannot be said is told in six stories by the award-winning writers
of Rumpus, a Bay Area playwriting group. A mini-Fringe of short independent
plays. Isolated but connected. Bound but loose. Gagged but expressive.
Think potpourri without the smell.
Brilliant Disguise
- Brilliant Disguise is a comedy that tells the story of Claire, a woman
who is the only person in her world who has the guts to fall in love, her
lover who tries not to fall in love with the woman he loves, and her best
friend Browne, a woman who wants them both.
Brother #1
- An explosion. Debris. Three characters begin to assemble the funeral
pyre of Pol Pot, one of the last century's most notorious tyrants. They
laugh, they talk, they engage in exotic folk dances, as this absurdist
comedy explores the madness of genocide and the possibility of redemption.
According to Theatre Bay Area Magazine, Calaveras Rep's work ranges "from
gloriously absurd comedy to compelling docudrama."
Cervix With A Smile
- Fringe fave Elisa DeCarlo explores the highs and lows, in and outs
of sex, gender and power all with a touch of perversion. Best of the Fringe
1997, with NEW material! This hilarious and disturbing show-de-force features
songs and character monologues including: Dream Date with Jesus, and Donald
Rumsfeld, You Blow Me Away. "A powerhouse performer with immense character
skills--hilarious, with devastating satirical accuracy." SF Bay Guardian
"For a plain old good time, call Elisa DeCarlo!" SF Examiner.
Chinese Clown Cabaret
- A cabaret of eclectic musical acts starring Jane Chen and her real-life
mother, Tair Chen. Together, the duo creates a world of goofiness, spontaneity,
and emotional depth, as they explore what a relationship between mother
and daughter could really be about. Last year's show won Best Clown Show
in the 2004 SFFringe."one of those rare shows that helps you to feel
how neat it is just to be alive" -SF Fringe Audience Review
CornTato
- What happens when one of America's biggest corporations is desperate
for a hit? Enter a potent blend of snack food and genetic experiment known
only as "CornTato." This tasty combo of corn and potato (with
natural flavor!) quickly becomes America's Favorite Snack Food, but not
without perilous and ridiculous consequences. Can it be stopped?
Divided We Fall
- Urban American Street Commedia Troupe the SF BUFFOONS expose the ugly
truth and themselves to a country gone mad. When all is lost, send in the
clowns and get out of the way. A raucous sexy late night cabaret celebrating
love and mayhem in a lock down world. "A rare effort that invests
an old theatrical tradition with rich new blood, unsettling and uncompromising,
their boldness has no limits."- NYC Fringe
Do The Clam
- A foamy energizing farce following the worsening of everything when
God and his brothers are fired from their jobs preventing preposterousness
overtaking reality. An on-the-button blooper of googling-eyes, wordplay,
and monsters, and gangs. Lotsa kissing.
El Camino Loco
- A multi-media rock show meets one-woman physical, comedic travelogue
brought to you by the band WKYM/RADIO. Kym Priess plays Coca the Loca,
San Francisco's own Best of the Bay homeless Latina icon. Coca sings rock
songs with The Sticky Goldstars, her imaginary band, for any and all audiences
happening upon her turf, reliving her tale of road trips, road love and
road kill. Along with her fierce survival instincts, Coca’s story
reveals her daily life on the periphery: homelessness, mental illness,
medications, and rock n’ roll delusions. El Camino Loco was
featured to a sold-out crowd at the Camp Betty Campout Music/Arts Festival
in Laytonville, CA this past July. For more info visit www.wkymradio.com
- Fear of a Brown Planet
- This is a remounting of Nile Séguin's critically acclaimed one-man
show that was a hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival of 2004. It follows
Nile, a brown writer and stand-up comic, as he makes his way through the
black and white entertainment industry. "Funny, intelligent and always
uncompromising." - Now Magazine "Delivers more laughs than most
comedy clubs." - Eye Magazine
Fresh Meat
- A 60-minute non-stop powerhouse of smart, off-the-wall, multimedia
sketch comedy. Stereotypes and societal norms fall apart in the hands of
this daring and edgy comedy team. One serving of Fresh Meat has 100% daily
value of relationships, cultural rituals, masculinity, digital age disasters,
and a pinch of childhood frailty. Laugh at the absurdity of it all. No
pressure, no commitment, no protection, no carbs. Fresh Meat, a raw look
at the life that surrounds us.
Go Kibbitz
- On the eve of his flight from Germany in 1933, Albert Einstein visits
his friend, legendary Chess master Emanuel Lasker. Outside the Berlin apartment
the police are everywhere. Inside, where it's safe, Einstein is introduced
to Lasker's cousin, Edward, a Chess and Go master. As it grows ever darker
and more dangerous in the streets, the three discuss leaving Germany. It
isn't safe to stay, but they wonder where in the world to Go. Featuring
(left to right) Gene Thompson, Brian O'Connor and Paul Gerrior.
go!
- go! The daily challenge. Can you get through the day in one piece?
Will you make it? What will it cost you? Are you game? Start. identification.
On Your Mark. identify. Get Set. identity. Are you willing to gamble for
bigger and better, be (at) your opponent before time runs out, sacrifice
a moment for what's behind Door #3? If you stop, do you lose and no longer
exist. Are you game?? Go!
Got Lucky
- The world's first piece of Musical Theatre to focus on the fine tradition
of Niagara Falls barrel jumping. That, and sibling rivalry. Oh and cremation
- there's cremation in there too. Focusing on the never-do-well brother
of the world's most charismatic and forgiving ghost, this is a show for
those of us who love Music, Drama, and Extreme Sports recreated on a small
stage. A treat for the whole family - except the kids. They'll hate it.
Green Bamboo Hermitage
- On the eve of the Japanese Occupation, a young couple flees Shanghai
for the home of an eccentric aunt. There, they become enmeshed in the story
of her tragic romance and how she came to be a widow before she was ever
a bride. To the sounds of traditional opera and 1930's jazz, Green Bamboo
Hermitage witnesses a clash of classical and nouveau in China's struggle
for a modern identity. A 20th century ghost story from the director of
last year's chilling psychodrama, Cincinnati.
Here to There
- All she wants to do is go to sleep. But Susan's going to be up for
a while. Here To There follows one insomniac's scattered journey, as she
lies awake in bed, flooded by memories and questions, trying to cross over
from the waking world to sleep. It is an exploration into one of the most
inevitable human experiences: change. Anyone who has ever felt the agony
and confusion of being in the middle of a transition will be able to recognize
and laugh at Susan's struggle to find out what keeps her awake.
LOUNGE-ZILLA!
- An bawdy spoof of really bad lounge acts hailed as "an atomic
blast of twisted songs, politically-incorrect humor and an outrageous 3D
finale that must be seen to be believed!" Best Comedy & Musical
'04 National GLBT Theatre Festival. Best Of Fest nominee at the Orlando
Fringe Festival. "Laugh so hard you nearly wet your pants!" -Seattle
Gay News. "A+! The most out-of-control cabaret act in town is here...so
be prepared to laugh!" -EdgeBoston.com
Love Scenes
- A sexy, touching, laugh-out-loud funny look at gay New Yorkers falling
in and out of love includes a twenty-year-old hustler falling for his kinky
mentor, a fifty-something martini drinker whose partner wants to have an
open sexual relationship, and a drag diva ending her search for a rich
husband to settle for true love. "Nothing short of brilliant."
-Theatre Reviews Limited. "Vivid, touching, and infused with humor
and insight." -nytheatre.com. "How more one-person shows should
be." -Off-Off Broadway Review. "He'll break your heart if you
listen to him." -Next Magazine. "Frisky and fun." -HX
- Magnificence of the Disaster
- "What's a disaster if you don't have time to marvel in it."
Those are words of a true southerner. Rebecca's truly southern tale is
full of wreckage, eccentricity, and possesses a southern gothic quality.
While grabbling with race, class and violence, Rebecca finds the humor
and humanity to explore her family tragedies. Where does this story take
place: Memphis, Tennessee, the home of Elvis and a whole lot of eccentric
people caught in their southern history.
MEDIAVOID
- Mediavoid strives to show, in a humorous way, the subtle ways in which
issues such as: sexual exploitation of women under the disguise of "empowerment",
glorification of war and greed for power in the name of "freedom",
the absurdly inhuman quality of the bureaucratic system and psychological
manipulation of consumers in order to sell products are manifested in our
everyday experiences. These ideas are so deeply embedded in our daily lives
that most of us have become desensitized to them. Our perspectives have
become distorted. The juxtaposition of absurd exaggeration of everyday
issues makes this show hilarious and fun to participate in (there is "audience
participation")!
Name You Can Trust
- The struggle for the collection of human souls has grown increasingly
unrewarding, encouraging two spirits to break out on their own. Convincing
humans to sell their souls to unknown parties, however, is another issue
entirely. What do you do when you're the third party spoiler in the battle
between good and evil?
nEO-sURREALISTS
- Our company was a hit at last year's festival, and I say so. That is
the essence of my briefs. Join the neo's as we create inspired lunacy at
the last minute and out of thin air. Join us on our whiskey fueled human
torpedo, striking at inappropriate times of day! Please spellcheck this,
my fingers have fallen off.
Paper Dolls
- Paper Dolls is an unflinching look at how a segment of the gay community
in San Francisco dealt with the AIDS crisis in the mid 80's. Besecker's
play The Way Light Strikes Filled Mason Jars won Best of Fringe in '02
and his play Crimes And Variations played in '03 to critical acclaim.
Playing in the Dark
- "There's plenty of other people in the world. There's only one
me." These three explorations of hedonism and its implications illustrate
life at the limit of experience. The influence of Becket and early Mamet
can be seen in the stark scenery and hard-bitten dialogue. Jean Mazzei's
casting and direction are superb, especially on the small stage where the
observer and observed are so intimate.
- Politics on the Edge
- Burkhas, Butoh, diamonds, collapsed towers, xenophobia, racial profiling,
choppers, family, taxi cabs, and resistance... Behind the chatter of pundits,
what's the truth of the world post 9/11? CHOP -- the nail that stands out
gets hit hardest. November, 2001 -- can anything be mundane after everything
has changed? Geography Lesson -- the ties that bind us, in a smaller world
than we know.
Revolving Madness on the Fringe
of Sanity
- We are Revolving Madness, a new improvisational troupe, based in San
Francisco. We perform unstructured, unplanned, long-form improvisation.
We don't do satire, we don't play games, we don't take suggestions from
the audience. We call what we do "serialized improvisation,"
as we work with a stable of recurring characters - about fifty at present
count, although new characters are created all the time in both rehearsal
and performance. The result is performance that is alternately hilarious,
poignant, and grotesque, as we follow various characters and relationships
through the trials of everyday life. John Cleese called us "A funny,
talented bunch of ruffians".
SHIFTINGS
- "A glittering look at this highly stylized, physical art form…Merwyn
is always intelligent…moving and inspiring, humorous…non-traditional
and experimental." - Newport Daily News. Joan Merwyn Physical Theater
takes audiences on a journey to the edges of humanity. Through abstract
interpretations of disturbing subjects, this trilogy of solos is an intense
and captivating experience. This experimental work metaphorically explores
the subjects of contemporary greed, adolescence and urban isolation. Joan
Merwyn's performances contain a flare for the absurd, while being provocative,
humorous and entertaining. "Merwyn uses the sense of 'performance'
to it's fullest"- Phoenix, NYC
Show me where it hurts
- Take a whirlwind train ride through the 1930's Depression era on a
musical adventure teeming with irony and satire and framed by recent and
futuristic political travesties. Is history ill fated to repeat itself
or will these visionary hobos transform the iron jaws of economic death?
Karen Ripley has been a bay area favorite for two decades. Annie Larson's
1999 Fringe show received the "Most Sold Out Performances Award."
Both have been performing together to standing ovations from Chico to Michigan.
- Slow Moves, Rich Tales
- An eclectic evening of dance/theatre work by London based artists Sally
Dean, Polly Hudson, Florence Peake, and Nikki Thomlinson. Saw/sore/soar:
a dance looking at change; a reflection on willing habits into new forms.
Stories from the flesh: Two women trace ghostly imprints of desire left
on their bodies. Waiting for Richard: a woman emerges as if from a moving
painting; a silent yet seductive nightmare.
Southern Discomfort
- SHOW CANCELLED
Sperm Warfare
- Set in the sperm sample room of a fertility clinic, this comedy takes
a hard look at how the biological clock impacts relationships in sometimes
role-reversing ways. As a 39-year-old determined wife rubs her frustrated
husband the wrong way and a sensuous young nurse makes matters worse, husband
and wife are forced to define themselves anew.
Thersites
- Thersites returns from the Trojan War full of blustering blunder to
face his archenemy and his destiny. A 500-year-old text is resurrected
with video projection, swordplay, satire, and a little S & M. Sprinkled
with modern references to the War on Terror and the Culture War, Thersites
is an instant timeless classic and a lesson for boasters.
Waiting for the Relevance
- Fresh from triumphant runs at the 2004 Toronto and Minneapolis Fringe
Festivals comes new scenes, songs, and stories from the cluttered mind
of a new modern day satirist. Using a mosaic of storytelling, monologues,
comedy and music, Bernie Lee creates a saga of an energetic actor who is
always in the wrong place at the wrong time wearing the wrong suit and
tie. But, he who waits…. "Overlooked and underrated. Clever material,
excellent delivery, great enthusiasm. See it or else!"- Eye Weekly
On-line- Toronto
WALKING BACK TO BROOKLYN
- The true story of a twelve- year-old who runs away from home and decides
to walk to Brooklyn from Montreal, Canada, in 1957. During this journey
Little Murray must confront a series of weighty issues including sex, racism,
class struggle, and the most challenging issue of all-his impending bar
mitzvah. This autobiosolo performance was developed with Mark Travis (Bronx
Tale). Laurel Ollstein, known for her one-woman show based on Dorothy Parker's
life, Laughter Hope and a Sock in the Eye directs.
Werewolf, The
- Denis is the last in a long line of intelligent wolves living unnoticed
in woods north of Paris. But when he is bitten by a werewolf he wakes on
the day of the next full moon to find that he has become human. How will
he survive the world of men? Boris Vian's surreal fairy tale translated
and adapted by John Rackham and performed by an international cast.
When You Stand Alone
- Imagine John Lennon is sending you secret messages from his grave and
what he is saying could save your life. Imagine that you have spent your
life in a small town and fifteen years in an unhappy marriage and today
you will walk out of your life and into fantasy. "One of the best
shows of 2005...can make you laugh hysterically in one moment and flip
you into tears the next. This show will stay with you long after you leave
the theatre. A must see! Do not miss this rare performance." - York
Times
Yellow Tunic, The
- Poet, Playwright, Revolutionary, Futurist! This solo performance incarnates
the beauty and brutality of Vladimir Mayakovsky's life and work. Mayakovsky's
immediate and visceral language combine with a highly charged physicality
to reveal this cornerstone of the Russian avant-garde. In love, he favored
the impossible. His verse rang bells of alarm to the old order. Uncle Joe
warned that "indifference to his memory and to his work is a crime."
Don't stand accused!
You May Now Kiss.... My Sass
- Someone wants to get married and even though his radical feminist mother
doesn't approve, he's going for it. Will the cake ever get frosted? Will
the ice sculptures arrive on time? Are queers supposed to give each other
stag parties? Discover the answers to all these questions and more in this
exploration of the paradoxes and trials surrounding the political struggle
for gay marriage. A show that attempts to answer the perennial question:
if Boy Scouts can tie the knot, why can't I? Come on down and sing with
the choir!
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