Bringing it All and Bringing it Beautifully: Fringe Wilmington

Our first Fringe Wilmington was, in many ways, a real success: we attracted some fabulous artists and performers to the area, and we showcased some of our local stars. A four-day event, running from October 1-4, the Fringe took advantage of some of Wilmington’s most exciting and also underused spaces. The New Wilmington Art Association, which occupies abandoned or empty venues, made an appearance in a warehouse on Market Street. City Theater Company, Writing Man Productions and others found themselves in OperaDelaware’s intimate black box theater. It was thrilling to see the arts spilling out everywhere!


Among the offerings were performances by a Brazilian Capoeira troupe, a poetic monologue on the closing of Newark’s Chrysler plant, a comedian’s riotous account of self-rediscovery, presentations of two Word Premier operas, a concert of Indian classical dance and music and several original dramatic productions. Perhaps we were too ambitious on our first attempt at a Fringe? Though it was well-publicized, attendance at the festival wasn’t quite what we had hoped it would be.


Michael Dutka’s opera Black Horses and The Stronger were commissioned by OperaDelaware, and performed at Saints Andrew and Matthew Episcopal Church. A winning array of singers handled Dutka’s daunting scores with ease. In Black Horses, soprano Elizabeth Zell sang beautifully and clearly the libretto adapted from Luigi Pirandello’s short story. Tenor Jeffrey Halili sang with a warm tone and possessed a natural comic talent. Alexis Cregger, in her operatic monologue in August Strindberg’s oddball play, was a pure pleasure to watch and hear. Her glorious soprano and prodigious musical talent are sure to lead her far. Martha Koeneman played Dutka’s beautiful, yet difficult music with ease, grace and musicality.


Usiloquy Dance designs brought their colorful exotic presentation to the baby grand at the Grand Opera House, The Bharatanatyam dance is a lyrical, poetic classical Indian art form that is thousands of years old. The dances are performed to original compositions, with costumes created by troupe member and costume maker Michelle Yeager. As an extra treat, Maitrayee Patel and Surya Nakella performed several songs in the Indian classical style. Their selections included compositions in Raag Bheempalasi. The duo performed their intertwining, often imitative melodies to the backdrop of a steady synthesizer beat.


If I had to pick a favorite performance, it would be Robin Gelfenbien’s My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey. Not only was Robin hysterical with her physical comedy, her riotous imitations of her frat-boy Wienermobile partner and doting aunt, she was also touching with her poignant tale self-rediscovery. She carried this solo show beautifully with her observational talent.

See www.fringewilmingtonde.com

Newark Arts Alliance Harvest Festival

Raindrops do not discourage Terry Foreman of the Newark Arts Alliance and the vendors who gathered on the Academy Building Lawn. Most of the exhibitors had tents, but illustrators Destinie Carbone (www.destiniecarbone.com) and Patrick Waugh (patrickwaugh.com) sat bravely in the rain, using their clear plastic to cover their wares.

I went on my bike because there is no place to park in Newark when UD is in session, and, besides, you had to get wet to see how the vendors felt. The Priapi Gardens and The Farm Stuff had arranged chrysanthemums and purple peppers and beautiful blooming cabbage plants into edible works of art.

Near them, Richard Aldorasi had set up a marbling station where he was able to guide people through a marbling of scarves. Quite a crowd enjoyed watching the process and Foreman reported on Sunday that he had a lot of scarfmakers.

With ten excellent jewelry vendors, it was quite a selection: Kate (http://www.katerobbins.info) and Andrea (andreaswhimsies.etsy.com) shared a booth where I saw a pale green stone called aventurine, a variety of microcrystalline quartz. Karen Hornor (Hidden Moon at beadit@comcast.net) has a special flexible jewelry she makes with neoprene and aluminum. Robanne Palmer (www.robannesbeads.com) has many glass drop earrings which you can also see at the NAA.

I bought cards from artist Karin Lang who had made several of her watercolors into cards and had cards with translucent covers that look like stained glass.

MaryJane Tyrie (Studio 960) was less worried about the rain damaging her fused glass than the others and the picture above is a lovely fused glass dish which was collecting rainwater – making the goldfish seem to be swimming.

Good attendance and good cheer seemed to make the skies clear – rewarding support of local artists.

See newarkartsalliance.org.

Fast Film Finale with Fringe Festival Festival Fanfare

The crowd already gathered in Theatre N was hip, happy and sporty – is this Philadelphia? Tina Betz and Rich Neumann, coordinators of Wilmington’s First Fringe Festival, were witty, arty, and articulate as they hosted the awards ceremony and screening of the top ten Fringe Fest films on Sunday, October 4. The winners were:

Brad Padoski’s eponymic opus was a comic infomercial about his personal music systems, or PMS. His klutzy choices of music are hilarious. Finally, Brad finds a girl who has PMS, that is, a personal music system of her own.

The Dead Art, a film with mimes Scott Michaels, Nate Davis and Brahmin Jackson, veered to the bizarre when a mime murders passers by and finally hangs himself.

Ric Edevane’s film, The Rockford Case, was a take-off on Mission Impossible. His use of a heartless command control operative gave a great comic touch.

Devoted by Sharon Baker portrayed a lonely woman toasting in birthdays and other holidays at a table set for two to an excellent violin score.

My personal favorite was Playing Games, a film made by the family of photographer Amy Theorin. Two boys roughhouse in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery until one disappears. The remaining brother must challenge a devilish sprite to a chess game to get his brother back. Kudos to Theorin’s fifteen-year-old neighbor who improvised the score on piano.

The filmmakers and the organizers and volunteers of the Fringe Festival should be proud of the great work they inspired with the contest – all ten of the top films are still in my head.