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First-Ever Fringe Festival Brings Alternative And Experimental Performance Art To South Bend

After a year of shuttered theatres, clubs, and music venues, live performances are beginning their return to South Bend. The city is putting on its first-ever Fringe Festival this weekend.

There are hundreds of Fringe Festivals around the world, all stemming from the original Fringe held in Scotland in the 1940s. South Bend Fringe organizer Grace Lazarz said the point of the festival is to celebrate experimental and alternative performance arts. 

 

“I’m hoping that people enjoy that aspect," she said. "I think there’s a lot of interesting, original work that’s happening around here, but there’s not as much where it’s just kind of strange and out there.”

 

Lazarz said the selection process for Fringe Festivals is typically “unjuried and uncensored,” meaning every artist that applies has an equal chance of getting in. The acts planned for this weekend range from live painting to stand-up comedy to even burlesque. 

 

“In the schedule, you can see, ‘Oh yeah, that’s really Fringe-y,’ and some of it, you know, might be a little more traditional," Lazarz said. "But for the most part, I think people are being encouraged to just try something that they’ve had in their head for a while and see how it lands.”

 

Lazarz said the festival came about as a low-cost, pandemic-safe way to re-introduce live theatre. As such, it’s the first opportunity for many artists to perform in front of a live audience since the pandemic began. 

 

Kelli McBride is the founder of the Lark Comedy Institute in South Bend. Both her teen and adult improv troupes will be performing in the festival, and she said it’s been almost two years since they’ve done an in-person show.

 

“They’re chomping at the bit. They’re sick of performing for each other," McBride said. "It’s a real boost to get audience reactions, and they’re ready to go. Maybe a little nervous, but, you know.”

Especially for something as interactive as improv comedy, McBride said no Zoom performance could come close to a live show. She said the Fringe Festival is a welcome opportunity for comedians, musicians and actors to get in front of a real audience, whether they end up bombing or killing.

 

“There’s a definite energy you get from live performance that you really can’t duplicate," McBride said. "You try to get close, but there’s really nothing like it. It’s just an art in its own, really.”

 

Lazarz agrees, and said she hopes audience members will share in that excitement as they venture out for what might be their first live shows in a year.

 

“Theatre is not theatre if you don’t have an audience. If you’re just performing in a room by yourself, I think most people would not define that as theatre," she said. "The audience is an active player in most of these genres or mediums, so I’m hoping that people realize they’re an essential part of the experience.”

 

The South Bend Fringe Festival will run from Friday, May 7, to Sunday, May 9. Tickets are available online, and tipping artists through CashApp, Venmo or PayPal is encouraged.

 

UPDATE: Due to rain, Thursday's shows have been cancelled. The festival will now start Friday evening.

 

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

 

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.