It was an early summer outing in the center of once-fabled Tinseltown. For 11 days one could wander the streets of Hollywood among tourists and street denizens, go to 17 venues within walking distance of each other, another 14 that were a bit of a trek, see as many shows as feasible in a day and still only catch part of the festivities.

Shows usually started around noon with new attractions every 30 minutes or so until midnight, most ranging between 30 and 90 minutes which allowed time for snacks or stops at the Fringe Central wine and beer bar behind the former Egyptian Arena Theatre, now called Theatre of Arts, on Las Palmas south of Sunset Boulevard.

Fringe Central was the hub of the Festival and usually where you would find Ben Hill, executive director and one of the founders. According to Hill, there were 780 performances divided among 186 shows and exhibits. He is pleased with the results. “The festival surpassed my personal expectations in so many ways,” he states.

“Of course,” he continues, “we were a bit nervous as to how folks would react to our efforts, how audiences would materialize, if artists would enjoy themselves and feel it was all worthwhile. In the end, we were stunned by the outpouring of emotion and gratitude expressed by our newly formed fringe community.”

The performance categories were Cabaret & Circus, Comedy, Dance & Physical Theatre, Music, Musicals & Operas, Theatre and Visual Art. Easily outdistancing the others was theatre with over 80 entries, the majority being one-person shows.

Jay Ryan is "The Packer"

I saw 18 shows within the seven days I attended, all of them new to me and some from other parts of the world. While local participation was heavy, I did not go to shows I had seen before or could see after the Fringe. All but three of what I saw was one-person shows.

T-O-T-A-L-L-Y, winner of the Top of the Fringe Award as well as Fringe Award for Theatre, got the early buzz and packed Theatre of NOTE at most performances. As candidly written and performed by Kimleigh Smith, it is a powerful journey from naïve teenage cheerleader to a woman of inner strength, told with brave honesty and athletic agility. It was crystal-clear why her honed talent drew audiences like a magnet, under the expert direction of Paula Killen. A future home is being sought to continue Smith’s totally engrossing story.

Equal to her versatility is Jay Ryan as The Packer, imported from New Zealand and another audience favorite. Ryan transforms into at least eight characters, half of them women, as he guides us through dark paths of the bawdy underlife on this Pacific island. Written by Dianna Fuemana and directed by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, it is a transcendent journey guided by the skilled and versatile Ryan.

Burton, yes that Sir Richard, received the Fringe International Award. It was my favorite Fringe show, not only due to the excellent characterization by Burton’s fellow Welshman Rhodri Miles but perhaps because it was one of the few which was not based on the performer’s own experiences. It is written by Gwynne Edwards and directed by Hugh Thomas, who together have crafted a finely-tuned framework based on Burton’s own words. Miles, a dead-ringer for Burton at age 46 which is when the play takes place, has the magnificent vocal timbre and subtle physical nuances that take his portrayal beyond imitation or mimicry to the rare stratosphere of genuine interpretation of a famous person. Miles has put his mark on his subject in such a manner those who subsequently play Burton will lack in comparison. (Theatre of NOTE and Theatre Asylum have joined forces to present three
added shows of Burton on Thur.-Sat., July 1-3, at 8 pm. Admission:$15; Seniors and Students: $10. Half price tickets available at goldstar.com. Theatre Aslyum, 6320, Santa Monica Blvd.,Hollywood; 323.962.1632. Online
purchase: brownpapertickets.com/event/118427 or 800.838.3006.)

Others of note included Growing Up with Uncle Miltie at the Complex, Patt Benson’s loving remembrance of her associations with Berle in New York, Las Vegas and Hollywood; The Meanest Guy That Ever Lived, at Hudson Guild, also a tribute by Lily Spottiswoode to her grandfather Jack Palance which she has worked on for only a few months; and My Penis…In and Out of Trouble at Theatre Asylum, Antonio Sacre’s chronological account from age two to 46 of, you guessed it, events exploring his sexuality. An afternoon double-bill of Back to Babylon and Brownsville Bred, again at NOTE, had much in common. Gregg Tome, who grew up in Babylon on Long Island, recounts his youthful experiences, and Elaine Del Valle, raised in the New York ghetto of Brownsville which had the highest crime rate in the city, tells her moving story. Both faced what seemed to be insurmountable odds and tragedy but end up winners. It’s a general theme of one-person shows.

In that same vein I also saw Stacy Mayer’s The Funeral Crasher, Barbara Cole’s Surviving Chrysalis, Paul Cosentino’s Bad Connections? and Lambeth Sterling’s Love & Sex in the Earth’s Spin Cycle while veering on a different course were Leof Kingsford-Smith’s Mission of Flowers, the true story of 1930 aviator Bill Lancaster, and, undoubtedly the winner of the longest Fringe title, Therese Diekhans’ The Most Dangerous Woman in America: Machine Guns, Coal Dust and the Making of the American Dream. No, it’s not about Sarah Palin but Mother Mary Harris Jones, a crusader for higher wages for the common laborer during the industrial age.

Rhodri Miles as "Burton"

I must mention as most intriguing title, Feeling Sorry for Roman Polanski, which was neither a one-person show nor really about the notorious director. Billed as “a comedy of Polanski proportions,” it is written by Sue Cargill, directed by Michael A. Stock and acted by Michael Whitney, Danielle Fink and Joel Brady. I wish I had been able to see more shows with diverse programming but these were the ones that jumped out of the catalog at me.

Local recognizable companies that offered their own productions included Absolute Theatre, Moving Arts, needtheatre, Open Fist, Theatre of NOTE and The Unusual Suspects. Most theatres in the Hollywood area played host to out-of-town shows. Many Fringe shows may find future life… or may return next year. What is the possibility of a Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2011?

Already called successful, it is the largest fringe in California and ranks third in the nation behind New York and Philadelphia. Hill says, “I do think it was a success based upon our own qualifications. If people want to do this next year and establish a fringe tradition, then that would equal success. If people felt they had experienced a true sense of community and the warm embrace of each other’s creative spirits, it would be successful. And finally, if people had fun, it would be successful.

“Participants were very active attending each other’s shows. We called this phenom the show swap: If you come to mine, I will go to yours. At our encouragement and their own generous souls, participants were on the whole very supportive and respectful of one another. I spoke with patrons who were seeing upwards of seven shows a day, spending very little money and having a blast. The most successful show-hoppers traveled by bike, an excellent and eco-friendly way to fringe.

“As for attendance,” he says, “we witnessed a steady increase over the 11 days of the Fringe. [Attendance figures and receipts will be available next week.] As people learned how to fringe, as coverage and reviews grew, and as promotional efforts from the participants were honed, houses started to fill. Many participants who played to sparse houses at the very beginning were thrilled to see packed houses by our final weekend. This steady increase bodes very well for next year.

“It’s been a spiritual, emotional and physically demanding ride but perhaps the finest and most joyful experience of my life. My gratitude to the entire community is such that I can hardly contain the gushing. I look forward to the post-mortems we plan to host in the weeks ahead and the imminent planning for 2011.”

Feature image:  Kimleigh Smith is “T-O-T-A-L-L-Y” the top Fringe winner.

Article by Lee Melville