Free to be Frigid
New York City theater can thank the Canadians for teaching us a few things. The FRIGID New York Festival, now in its second year, is the only festival in the city that picks its shows out of a hat, promises complete artistic freedom and gives 100 percent of the proceeds back to the artists. These principles were set down by an organization of protectors who safeguard fringe festival integrity: The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF).
To understand the dynamics and parties involved in FRIGID, its easiest to think of these organizations as people. FRIGID (the baby) was founded by Horse Trade (father) who got tips about having fringe babies from EXIT Theatre (fathers sister) who had founded its own San Francisco Fringe Festival (its own baby). Both Horse Trade and EXIT (father and his sister) used the guiding principles of CAFF (who is the grandmother of many, many fringe festivals all over North America), which taught openness and non-censorship when raising a child/building a festival.
The question is, if anyone can have a show in the festival and these plays arent selected by judges, how do we know well see good stuff?
How good a show is, is not for us to decide. Our job is to show art, explains Morgan Lindsey Tachco, a FRIGID festival producer. She adds that too much of New York theater is about what will make money and that the chance to fail should not be lost to monetary pressure.
This years festival received approximately 50 applications. The first 18 shows came on a first-come, first-served basis. The last 12 were picked out of a hat.
Erez Ziv, another producer at FRIGID, said he saw every show in last years festival. The quality was in no way any less than juried festivals that have been around for a long time. And what a jury sees on script may not be whats going to be on stage.
Rick Vorndran, whose irreverent show about Hillary Clinton, called Chosen, is in this years festival, thinks the laissez-faire system has worked well.
Most festivals are hit or miss, but the quality of shows at FRIGID was really impressive.
Vorndran thinks there are two reasons for this. The festivals 60-minute maximum length requirement forces participants to focus full-length plays into a single intense hour. He also cites that the non-juried aspect attracts only the most well-organized theater groups. Unlike juried festivals that give a two-month timeframe to apply, for first-come, first- served, companies really need to know what theyre doing and have everything together. Antonin Mon Artaud is another of the many quirky show titles in the festival. It is an irreverent performance-art-psychodrama on the madness of Artauds Theater of Cruelty by Argentinan writer Roi Escudero, who wanted to deliver the concept of Artaud in a way that was easy for everyone to understand without losing its essence.
Escudero says she missed FRIGIDs deadline its first year; but she sat at her computer, ready to push the click button when midnight struck on the day it started accepting submissions. She is happy with the great energy at FRIGID and says,
This is the first time I feel that I dont have to compromise and that I have absolute control of my work.
Feb. 27-March 9, Kraine Theater & Red Room (85 E. 4th St.) and Under St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place); $5-$15. Visit www.FRIGIDnewyork.info for show listings.