A mandatory meeting rarely improves a weekend. At the Newburgh Fringe Festival, however, the agenda includes electro-punk music, corporate burnout, and the possibility of watching office workers come spectacularly unglued. “Mandatory Meeting,” from Ears With Eyes, is among the attractions at the festival’s second edition, October 16–18—a three-day invitation to wander downtown and encounter something you probably wouldn’t find in your usual theater subscription.
Presented by Safe Harbors of the Hudson with Hit House Creative and Diamond Grade Media, this year’s festival was announced with 65 productions and more than 100 performances. The venues include the Ritz Theater Stagehouse, Lobby at the Ritz, Safe Harbors Green, ADS Warehouse, Baristas on Broadway, and Grit Works. Last year’s debut drew 700 people, according to cofounder Shane Killoran, encouraging organizers to expand the available performance spaces and accommodate a bigger field of applicants.
What pleased Killoran most was the willingness of experienced theater makers and complete beginners to share that first festival’s stages. “Just knowing we created a space where people felt supported to take risks,” she says, was the payoff. That openness continues to guide the programming: “If you have a vision and a dream and an idea and you wanna make it happen, we will do everything and have been doing everything we can to accommodate that.”
One recognizable name taking up the invitation is Lewis Black. The comedian contributed two one-act plays, “Crossing the Crab Nebula” and “The Deal,” which Hit House Creative is producing as staged readings directed by Kalista Parrish on October 17. In the first, a drifter and a young hitchhiker travel a desert highway toward California, pursued by visions and ghosts. In the second, two businessmen contemplate the advantages of eliminating the public altogether. Anyone familiar with Black’s exasperation at American life can imagine the appeal of that premise.
Workplace dysfunction also powers “Mandatory Meeting,” scheduled for October 16 and 17. Ears With Eyes combines electronic music and performance art in a cubicle-bound satire of corporate culture, workaholism, and mental health. The setup involves workers grinding away for a company while a conference call from hell drones in the background. Songs about scheduling bathroom breaks suggest that the employee wellness initiative has encountered some difficulties.
Returning October 17, Uncanny Valley Puppet Slam brings its cabaret for grown-ups to the Ritz Stagehouse, with puppeteers from the Hudson Valley and beyond. Killoran says the slam’s established following helped organizers think strategically about last year’s schedule: placing lesser-known artists’ shows around a popular attraction could encourage audiences to discover something unexpected.
Another discovery comes with a Newburgh backstory. “Campy Cult Cinema 3000” pairs a screening of Eden Cried, which premiered at the Ritz in 1967, with live commentary by its star, Newburgh native Carol Hollenbeck, and puppeteers Cabot Parsons and Cam Garrity. Newburgh Free Academy students will also get a turn, creating a short play during a 24-hour workshop culminating in a Sunday performance.
For Killoran, the growing appetite for improv, storytelling, and other intimate performances reflects both the expense of producing conventional theater and a desire to gather around a live narrative. The Fringe offers plenty of opportunities to satisfy that appetite—and, at $15 per performance, room to take a chance on an unfamiliar name.
The Newburgh Fringe Festival runs October 16–18 at venues throughout downtown Newburgh. Tickets and the full schedule are available at NewburghFringeFestival.org.
