Trying to make Asheville into Edgeville: Fringe Festival performer Jenni Oldham is a longtime dancer with ACDT.
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Erin Braasch wants people to do the weirdest things. Demented things. Strange things. Deeply uncomfortable, highly personal things. And she wants them to do them on stage, in public.
It’s her passion to make people expose themselves.
No, she’s not some professional sadist. As the head coordinator of the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, Braasch is required to push performers into realms of expression they’d normally avoid. More than just a showcase of local performance artists, the 5-year-old festival — cribbed from famous fringe fetes worldwide — is an experiment in producing an edgier, more risk-taking creative community.
“We’ve come to say that the festival’s performances are based on the artists’ personal boundaries,” says Braasch. “That helps each artist define it for themselves.”
And thus a visual artist who toils on her meticulously detailed paintings in seclusion may find herself working with a collaborator under an intense time limit — only to have to destroy their creation at the end. Normally unencumbered dancers are given suits that make them move awkwardly. Actors may be forced to surrender their voices and their faces, yet still be bound to tell a story.
The idea — and the fun — lies in the challenge.
Perhaps surprisingly, rather than having to hunt for talent, the coordinators of the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre-sponsored event have instead been swamped with interested performers, all willing (in varying degrees) to poke at the sore spots of their respective boundaries.
“When the festival was started in 2003, it was a one-venue, one-weekend event at the Be Be Theatre,” recalls Braasch. “But the interest from artists was so overwhelming that they ended up with a three-to-four-hour-long show.”
The next year, the festival had grown to include five venues and more than 20 shows. Performance workshops — or “Fringe Laboratories,” as ACDT calls them — began to meld unlikely combinations of performers to see what strange chemistry might be unlocked.
According to one performer, some very odd things have bubbled to the surface.
In general, we’re not talking really disturbing stuff. Mostly, it’s just weird. Take the 2004 performance of festival organizer Jim Julien, which involved eating pudding and holding up signs which served (in a rather Wile E. Coyote kind of way) as thought balloons. Or the time he got nearly naked, covering himself in body paint and skulking around the Be Be for three hours while other shows took place.
Although plenty of locals have bought tickets to these avant-garde outings, it’s worth asking if the festival — as an experiment — has been a success.
If the shows don’t become more shocking over time, has “fringe” been accomplished?
“For some of the other organizers and myself, we’re nowhere near where we could be in terms of edginess,” Braasch admits.
Blame small-city prudishness or artists still clinging to limits — whatever the reason, would-be performers still keep coming to Braasch. And she’s still pushing.
Fringe Festival schedule and tickets
The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival happens Thursday, Jan. 25, through Sunday, Jan. 28, in various locations. Tickets are $12 per show ($10/students with ID); each ticket is good for $2 off any other Fringe performance. A $40 Fringe Freak Pass gets you into six shows. At press time, the lineup was yet to be completed. See ashevillefringe.org for descriptions of acts and for more information.
Thursday, Jan. 25
6 p.m.: “Essence of Creation,” Beledi Dance Theatre, converted church/residence, Forsythe Street, off Broadway
8 p.m.: “Fringapalooza mia cara!,” The Orange Peel (101 Biltmore Ave.)
(Ongoing installation/performance: _Fall,” Dustin Spagnola and Kathy Meyers, behind the Wedge building, 115 Roberts St. in the River District)
Friday, Jan. 26
6 p.m.: “Essence of Creation,” Beledi Dance Theatre, converted church/residence, Forsythe Street, off Broadway
7:30 p.m.: “The Hibiscus and Turnip Show,” Be Be Theatre (20 Commerce St.)
7:30 p.m.: “The ‘Damn it, Read the Manual’ Show”: 35below (35 E. Walnut St.)
10 p.m.: “The Shiny New Pluton Show,” Future of Tradition (129 Roberts St.)
10 p.m.: “The ‘This Monkey Got a Name’ Show,” Be Be Theatre (20 Commerce St.)
(Ongoing installation/performance: “Fall,” Dustin Spagnola and Kathy Meyers, behind the Wedge building, 115 Roberts St. in the River District)
Saturday, Jan. 27
6 p.m.: “Essence of Creation,” Beledi Dance Theatre, converted church/residence, Forsythe Street, off Broadway
7:30 p.m.: “The Hibiscus and Turnip Show,” Be Be Theatre (20 Commerce St.)
7:30 p.m.: “The ‘Damn it, Read the Manual’ Show”: 35below (35 E. Walnut St.)
10 p.m.: “The Shiny New Pluton Show,” Future of Tradition (129 Roberts St.)
10 p.m.: “The ‘This Monkey Got a Name’ Show,” Be Be Theatre (20 Commerce St.)
(Ongoing installation/performance: “Fall,” Dustin Spagnola and Kathy Meyers, behind the Wedge building, 115 Roberts St. in the River District)
Sunday, Jan. 28
7:30 p.m.: “The ‘Damn it, Read the Manual’ Show”: 35below (35 E. Walnut St.)
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