THEATRE + COMEDY

FrenetiCore presents Interstate Fringe. What happens when two Fringe Festivals connect on I-10? Interstate Fringe! It's a new mini-festival featuring four shows that rocked the New Orleans and Houston Fringe Festivals. The complete lineup will be presented each night for two dates only in Houston, Friday and Saturday March 25 and 26 at 8 pm at Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation Blvd. in Houston. Tickets are $15 online and at the door for $18.

Audiences will want to catch two hugely successful shows from the New Orleans Fringe, including the outrageously funny "Our Man" by Goat in the Road Productions and the passionate, beautiful and clever "The Divine Feminine" by Chard Gonzalez Dance Theatre. Houston Fringe is bringing two of their own audience favorites with "Yes, Cassandra", the wrenching introspections of the doomed priestess, and "Rogue Improv", inventive, side-splitting one-of-kind group improv like you have never seen before.

All four pieces will be presented both Friday and Saturday nights.

Interstate Fringe is a new partnership between the New Orleans Fringe and Houston Fringe to create touring opportunities for local performing groups and to treat audiences to successful Fringe shows from other cities. The weekend of March 18 and 19, the same lineup will appear in New Orleans, hosted by NoFringe.

"We know that artists want more opportunities to tour, and audiences always want to see new work. Building on the existing network of Fringes is an organic way to create those connections," says New Orleans Fringe Performance Coordinator Emilie Whelan.

Interstate Fringe will be a mini-festival of all types of original, boundary-blurring theater, including comedy, dance, drama, improv and more. "Our Man" is a hilarious, sharp-as-tacks performance where two men in a small glass box narrate the life and accomplishments of one of the nation’s most controversial leaders, "The Gipper". Through clever and comical half truths and brutal mudslinging tactics, the two find themselves arguing their way from small towns in the Midwest to Europe on the front lines of WWII, all the while deciding whether or not to elect their only possession, an old wooden tennis racquet, their President.

"The Divine Feminine" features Chard Gonzalez Dance Theatre's cast of amazing performers as they take you on a ride through conflict and mayhem due to the seduction of a goddess, the wrath of a bitter queen, the marvel of a heroine plus other divine women and their boy-toys.

"Yes, Cassandra" performed by Brandy Holmes, is a re-envisioning of Aeschylus’ Trojan War from the perspective of Cassandra…She sees her family slain and the Trojan War lost. She sees King Agamemnon take her as a concubine and sail back to his homeland. She sees the brutal murder of Agamemnon and herself at the hand of his wife, Clytemnestra. She sees, she knows, she falls into madness while trying to come to terms with her own mortality. If you could know the exact moment and cause of your death, would you want to?

"Rogue Improv" takes spontaneous suggestions from the audience, using them as the inspiration to create a completely improvised, unscripted, 30 minute continuous theatrical universe. You will laugh out loud from their free butterfly kisses, connections, layers of meaning, and enjoyment of character.

For more details and tickets in New Orleans visit www.nofringe.org  and in Houston visit www.freneticore.net. 

The New Orleans Fringe is a 501(c)3 non-profit that was founded by local arts organizers to nurture fearless theater in New Orleans and to benefit artists, venues, neighborhoods and local businesses. This program is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. This program is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans. The grant is administered through the Arts Council of New Orleans.

The Houston Fringe Festival is presented by FrenetiCore, a non-profit organization that creates and promotes original dance, film, theater, and music in Houston, Texas.