BACKSTAGE

Off off Broadway: August openings infringe on Fringe?
(In Focus)

By SIMI HORWITZ

AUGUST 15, 2003

At first glance it seems like an oddball decision (from a marketing standpoint, anyway). To wit: opening an Off-Off-Broadway show at the same time--in some instances in the same neighborhood--as the New York International Fringe Festival. How could any production with a downtown sensibility expect to generate competitive interest? Consider this: before the curtain even went up on the Fringe Festival, as much as $100,000 in tickets may have been sold. So, what were the producers of those other shows thinking? Or was there no thinking? Was it a bad-luck (or not such a bad-luck) fluke? Or, on the contrary, was it a conscious choice?

The handful of productions slated to bow simultaneously with the Fringe oilier several explanations, most pointedly (and unabashedly) the expectation that they will indeed be the beneficiaries of plain old piggybacking.

"A lot of the audience for the Fringe is our audience, too," says Beck Lee, a spokesperson for "Carnival Knowledge," an edgy piece that celebrates the sideshow tradition. "We're targeting Gen-X hipsters who like shows that have a dark element. And that audience is already in the neighborhood at the Fringe Festival, where we are engaging in a little cross-promotion, 'Carnival Knowledge' creator and star, Todd Robbins, is performing at the Fringe in another show where he can market this one." "Carnival Knowledge" opens Sun., Aug. 17 at the SoHo Playhouse and is scheduled for an open-run.

There are several reasons why "Carnival Knowledge" isn't in the Fringe and, in fact, doesn't really belong, not least the fact that its audience--in addition to the aforementioned hipsters--are families with children, a non-Fringe contingent, Lee points out.

"Matt and Ben," which opened at P.S. 122 on Thurs., Aug. 7, is also enjoying a cross-promotional link, with the Fringe's built-in audience on hand and primed. After all, "Matt & Ben" walked off with the prize for "Best Overall Production" during its Sold out run at the 2002 Fringe. "Matt & Ben," a two-woman play, takes a satiric yet affectionate look at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before fame, fortune, and their Oscar-winning screenplay, "Good Will Hunting."

That said, "Matt & Ben" producer Victoria Lang insists, "We didn't set out to open the show at the same time as the Fringe. We liked the space--P.S. 122 is a great, fun downtown venue and perfect for the show--but we wanted to do it earlier in the summer. Logistics held us up.

"But, of course, there's an element of piggybacking," she concedes. "We're listed in the Fringe roundups and many people who may not have had a chance to see the show last year can see us now."

Stacey McMath clearly hopes that some of the Fringe crowd will come on uptown to the American Theatre of Actors on West 54th Street to see "Careful of Eights," a linking together of three Gertrude Stein melodramas. The play is a production of Polybe + Seats, a company co-founded by McMath, who believes the play will probably enjoy some Fringe fallout. Still, she notes, the location is removed and the show is up against myriad downtown competition.

"We wanted to be part of the Fringe, but didn't get in this year," McMath admits frankly. "At the same time, we really do like the uptown space, where we have more control than we would if we were part of the Fringe. And uptown, we stand out as a non-traditional production. We won't get lost. Downtown we'd be one of many, many experimental productions. Obviously, this is not the best time for us to be opening," McMath continues, "but for logistical reasons, we had to open before the summer was out."

Meredith Myers, the star of her one-person autobiographical show, "The Publicity Tour," says she knew nothing about the Fringe Festival when she chose Opaline on Avenue A as her venue. She decided to open in August "because that's the only time industry insiders will see me. The club, owned by my friend, best represents what I'm about. If Fringe audiences come to see me, that's great. But I don't expect it."