Fringe Goes Virtual...Again!
Your new favorite Fringe show might be on your computer screen… or even FaceTime.
This year, the Great Salt Lake Fringe is going hybrid, meaning we’ll have both virtual and in-person shows. This year’s 16 virtual shows include both local and out-of-state artists, and formats range from interactive websites, to on-demand videos, to a one-on-one FaceTime call—seriously!
VFF by Brian Feldman
The Fringe staff decided early on to make 2021 a hybrid festival after the great success of our all-virtual 2020 Fringe. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, we wanted to give artists and audiences options to participate in the ways that would be most comfortable and feasible!
Photo courtesy of Randy Ross
Performing artist Brian Feldman, bringing his interactive show “VFF” to the 2021 Great Salt Lake Fringe and six other Fringe Festivals, explained that he is “most looking forward to continuing to be able to connect with audiences one-on-one.” He added, “Unlike the majority of virtual shows out there, mine is obviously 100% LIVE and audience dependent (it simply cannot exist without one), fostering that genuine connection found in live theatrical experiences sorely lacking in many other passive virtual options.”
Fringe artist Randy Ross (“Tales of a Reluctant World Traveler”) has performed at the Great Salt Lake Fringe twice before, live and in-person in 2017 and live on Zoom in 2020. He finds a few silver linings in performing virtually—he’s done 25 Fringe Festivals in person and says “being on the road for six weeks at a time is always stressful… with virtual festivals, I can focus on the work and not on the accommodations or food or travel hassles.”
Susanne Pinedo. Photo: Melinda Hall
And for some of our artists, the opportunity to perform virtually allows them not only to reach new audiences here in Salt Lake City, but to collaborate with other artists across the country. Susanne Pinedo, a solo performer bringing “Bela Lugosi Meets Edna St. Vincent Millay” to the 2021 Fringe on-demand, shared that “it is so wonderful that an actress based in NJ/NYC and a playwright based in Orange County, California can also be part of a magnificent cornucopia of theatre, comedy, and arts that is produced by a festival in Salt Lake City, Utah.”
Some virtual offerings come from local artists, too. Richard Scharine, of “Tale of Tears,” explains that “last February the pandemic forced us to make the 12th annual Edward Lewis Festival (Edward was my partner in the founding of People Productions, Utah's first African-American theatre) virtual, and thanks to contributions by Pygmalion, SLAC, and WTC, we had more viewers on-line than we ever had in the Downtown City Library.”
Find these four shows and many more in the Great Salt Lake Virtual Fringe—explore all the shows on our website! Some shows are live, while others are on demand, and ticket prices vary (we always encourage tipping for free shows!). See individual listings for details.