Seeing Your Show at the Hollywood Fringe Festival

[cahwyguy]

This time of year, I get many request from producers and friends in the theatre industry to see their Fringe shows. I joke that these folks seem to think I’m a critic, when I’m really just a cybersecurity expert and roadgeek who is a professional audience, and who writes up every live performance I go to for my friends. But publicity is publicity, and if they think I’m a critic, oh well….

However, if I’m a critic, I’m not a paid critic. I write up the shows that I choose to see. For Fringe, that means that starting in April or May I start reviewing the shows registered at Fringe, and start building my schedule. About mid-May, I purchase my tickets, always cursing the fact that I can’t afford to see the shows I want to see, and that I can’t fit all the shows I want to see into my schedule. Oh, and about that schedule: I work full time, living in Northridge, commuting to El Segundo. This means that I cannot see shows in Hollywood on weeknights or during the week, and making a Friday evening show is very difficult. Further, I tend to go to shows with my wife, meaning that not only must I find the show and subject matter of interest, but she must as well. As a result, we tend not to see what I would deem “dark” shows — intense subject matter, often triggery. There are occasional times where I might be able to work such shows into my schedule, but it is rare.

So will I see your show, and would I like free tickets to it? Seeing the show depends on whether there is an available slot in my weekend schedule, and whether my wife is interested in seeing it if she is with me. As for free tickets, my real world job imposes ethics rules that limit the ability to provide gifts as they may create the appearance of conflict of interest. So, whereas I might like free tickets, my ethics typically preclude me from accepting them. I will accept what I would pay on Goldstar, that is, half-price or discounted tickets.

So what is my schedule for Fringe. It will be posted and updated in each writeup I do after this one (as I ticketed this week), but for reference:

• Saturday, June 2: 1:30pm 19 Years Later: A Harry Potter Parody (Hobgoblin); 4pm From Toilet to TInseltown (Hobgoblin); 6pm The Bitch is Back: An Elton John Cabaret (Three Clubs); 8pm They’ll Be Some Changes Made Today (Hobgoblin).
• Sunday, June 3: 4:00pm Ingersoll Speaks: Again (Studio C); 6:00pm The Universe (101) (Complex/Dorie).
• Saturday, June 9: 6:00pm The Story of My Life (Hobgoblin); 8:00pm The Color Purple (Hollywood Pantages)
• Sunday, June 10: 1:30pm How To Be Lazy and Not Feel Guilty (Complex/OMR); 3:00pm Ageless Wonders: A Grown-Up Kids Guide to Growing Newer (Complex/OMR)
• Saturday, June 16: 2:00pm Trojan Woman (Lounge/1); 3:45pm Pain in my Aspergers (Lounge/2)
• Sunday, June 17: 1:30pm Hoodwinked (LA LGBT Center/Main); 2:30pm Attack of the Retro Sci-Fi Futurist (Complex/Ruby)
• Saturday, June 23: Currently open.
• Sunday, June 24: 3:00pm A Reasonable Fear of Tubas (Actors Company/Let Live); 4:00pm Beatniks (Actors Company/Let Live)

There were a few shows I thought about working in, but couldn’t due to price:

• Sun 6/3 2:30pm Musicals and Mimosas at Three Clubs; 7:00pm Sex and the Musical at Three Clubs;
• Sun 6/10: 4:30pm Sex Rated G at Complex/Ruby; 6:00pm The Dangerous Cures of Dr. B at LA LGBT Center.
• Sat 6/16: 12:00pm Moose and Darlene’s Cosmic Do-Over at Studio/Stage.
• Sun 6/17: 4:30pm Public Comment: A New Musical at Actors Company/Let Live.

Other shows I thought about seeing, but couldn’t work in due to schedule included: Fort Huachuca at Complex/OMR; Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair at New American Theatre; Earworm at McCadden Theatre; #METOO at Studio C; A Very Die Hard Christmas at Studio/Stage; Fat Chance at the Hudson; and Rayn: An Electronic Burlesque Experience at Thymele Arts. I was also interested in Doctor Nympho and the Sex Zombies at the Three Clubs because an actress I like is in the cast, but no times worked out (the available weekend times were too later; weeknights didn’t work; and other weekend times had conflicts).

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Seeing Your Show at the Hollywood Fringe Festival by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.