25 years of Orlando Fringe Festival memories: 1994, the 3rd festival
Remembering 25 years of Orlando Fringe: 1994
by Matthew J. Palm
The Artistic Type
March 23, 2016, 4:45 pm
n 1994, at the third Orlando Fringe Festival, a reporter for the Sentinel rather primly reported that (gasp!) sex seemed to be the order of the day:
A top selection of many festival-goers: “Alone With All My Sex.” “A voyeuristic vision of exquisite beauty,” the program proclaimed. “The raw mind-set of an average man consumed by his sexual obsessions.”
More shocking to those of us who have attended recent festivals: There was a feeling that the gay community was underserved by Fringe offerings. So who stepped up to the plate? Local bon vivant Michael Wanzie, of course.
Wanzie premiered his play, “In Close Quarters,” in which two men are trapped in an underground bunker. One of them is gay, one is straight, and the two have to learn to deal with each other in that confined space.
Wanzie told the Orlando Sentinel the show is about “the transcendence of the human spirit up from the limitations of the earthly roles and cultures that mold them.” Wanzie, an Orlando actor-playwright, has since become such a Fringe icon he was roasted at the special 25th-season fundraiser in February. And in honor of the Fringe’s silver jubilee, he will revive “In Close Quarters” at this year’s festival.
Wanzie’s show was one of more than 50 acts presented in 1994. Performers came from far and wide – and at least one found Orlando a little provincial:
“I don’t think they’re used to this kind of thing. Some of the acts are quite shocking to them,” said New York magician Chappy Brazil, who stuck a needle through his tongue during his act. “I’m very sarcastic. I don’t think sarcasm goes over as well in this environment as it does in New York.”
Who attended? A survey by the Fringe showed most festival-goers were between 35 and 54 with an annual income of $30,000.
“We are hitting the mainstream more often than we thought we were,” said festival public-relations director Steve Fussell. Attendance was estimated at about 50,000 patrons. But proceeds dropped sharply, likely due to rainy weather that kept theatergoers away.
The Fringe ran concurrently with the Orlando Shakespeare Festival and the Orlando Sentinel Book Fair. Sentinel columnist Mike Berry took in a little of the downtown action and was amused by what he saw. He wrote: “Saturday was the kind of day where a man simultaneously juggling and eating moldy bread was mainstream stuff.”
Remembering 25 years of Orlando Fringe: 1994
by Matthew J. Palm
The Artistic Type
March 23, 2016, 4:45 pm
n 1994, at the third Orlando Fringe Festival, a reporter for the Sentinel rather primly reported that (gasp!) sex seemed to be the order of the day:
A top selection of many festival-goers: “Alone With All My Sex.” “A voyeuristic vision of exquisite beauty,” the program proclaimed. “The raw mind-set of an average man consumed by his sexual obsessions.”
More shocking to those of us who have attended recent festivals: There was a feeling that the gay community was underserved by Fringe offerings. So who stepped up to the plate? Local bon vivant Michael Wanzie, of course.
Wanzie premiered his play, “In Close Quarters,” in which two men are trapped in an underground bunker. One of them is gay, one is straight, and the two have to learn to deal with each other in that confined space.
Wanzie told the Orlando Sentinel the show is about “the transcendence of the human spirit up from the limitations of the earthly roles and cultures that mold them.” Wanzie, an Orlando actor-playwright, has since become such a Fringe icon he was roasted at the special 25th-season fundraiser in February. And in honor of the Fringe’s silver jubilee, he will revive “In Close Quarters” at this year’s festival.
Wanzie’s show was one of more than 50 acts presented in 1994. Performers came from far and wide – and at least one found Orlando a little provincial:
“I don’t think they’re used to this kind of thing. Some of the acts are quite shocking to them,” said New York magician Chappy Brazil, who stuck a needle through his tongue during his act. “I’m very sarcastic. I don’t think sarcasm goes over as well in this environment as it does in New York.”
Who attended? A survey by the Fringe showed most festival-goers were between 35 and 54 with an annual income of $30,000.
“We are hitting the mainstream more often than we thought we were,” said festival public-relations director Steve Fussell. Attendance was estimated at about 50,000 patrons. But proceeds dropped sharply, likely due to rainy weather that kept theatergoers away.
The Fringe ran concurrently with the Orlando Shakespeare Festival and the Orlando Sentinel Book Fair. Sentinel columnist Mike Berry took in a little of the downtown action and was amused by what he saw. He wrote: “Saturday was the kind of day where a man simultaneously juggling and eating moldy bread was mainstream stuff.”
Copyright © 2016, Orlando Sentinel (original article)