(Edinburgh, Scotland) At the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, NYC theater is On Demand! A special collection of intrepid Indie theater companies are representing the Big Apple in the world’s largest fringe festival without ever going there. And viewers don’t have to leave home, either. Travel is still a barrier, and some audiences are just not ready, so the desire for online performance is alive and thriving. These NYC shows invite audiences from around the world to come, no stay and see the show.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe was all online last year, and many of its venues pioneered this new virtual performance world. This year, these terrific New York City plays and performances are on board and taking the ride to Scotland. And the target audience for the 2021 Fringe has never been wider. Anyone with a connection can visit the festival and see a show by one of NYC’s most versatile & exciting theater companies without ever packing a bag. Watch one now and until August 26, 2021.
NYC SHOWS YOU CAN SEE IN THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE RIGHT NOW, OR AT YOUR CONVENIENCE:
Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies – Jessica Sherr
1939: Bette returns home knowing she’s to lose, as the press leaked the Oscar winners. Bette takes us on a bumpy ride, as the tenacious actress fights her way to the top. Witness Bette triumph over misogyny, to win roles and compensation on par with male counterparts. Through conversations with her mother, her friendship with Olivia de Havilland, her four failed marriages, and her feelings of regret about her groundbreaking court case, we experience Bette’s most defining moments; Bette at her most vulnerable. See what happens when someone who always wins… loses. ‘Magnificently witty’ (List).
Hitler’s Tasters (August 19 + 20) – Sarah Norris, New Light Theater Project
A dark comedy about the young women who have the “honor” of being Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. Based on true events, Hitler’s Tasters explores the way girls navigate sexuality, friendship, patriotism, and poison during the Third Reich. Using an anachronistic retelling of a historical footnote, Hitler’s Tasters considers what girls discuss as they wait to see if they will survive another meal. Hitler’s Tasters premiered to a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe 2019 and was named ‘Best of’ by The Stage. For more information and Summer Tour 2021 details, at HitlersTastersThePlay.
Language Games – Ralph Lewis, Peculiar Works Project
Absurdist take on philosophy and language. A present-day student and activist, Sheela join Ludwig Wittgenstein, Paul Shepard, and Walter Benjamin for a spirited game of mahjong. As they play, her energy conjures Joseph Beuys as a mythological hare. Invisible to the players, he interjects cultural incantations, while the players contemplate how language evolved from naming animals to representing them with signs, and how myths serve the human need to imagine. Physical chair-play creates an escalating rhythm as tensions build… As the chair-e-ography builds to a crescendo, Sheela pushes back against male aggression and wins the game.
Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal – Melissa Center
Melissa Center is… Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal. No really – she is! What starts out as her Jewish mom’s pesky fantasy (and mild-to-moderate… OK, major obsession) turns into a full-on mission as Melissa, single, struggling, and cough cough approaching 40, searches for love (and Jake Gyllenhaal). There will be Jewish moms (or just the one). There will be bad dates. There will be music. There will be stalking. There will be laughter… and some tears. There will be a wedding. There will be Jake. (And, in some way shape, or form, Melissa Center will do them all).
Open – Megan Hill & Crystal Skillman presented by NYC’s Flying Carpet and The Tank
An LGBTQ love story. A woman called The Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, yet is attempting something more impossible than illusion – rescuing her girlfriend from death. ‘Open brings attention to a pair of downtown’s most bracing talents… ‘Wonderful; critics pick’ (New York Times). ‘The show transforms into an exploration of how romance opens you up and leaves you both stronger and more vulnerable’ (TDF Stages). Features Megan Hill, directed by Fringe favorite Jessi D Hill. From the geek girl mind of Crystal Skillman, a playwright with ‘downtown renown/midtown polish (New York Times).
Planet of the Grapes – Live from NYC – Peter Michael Marino
The Victorian era’s toy theater movement collides with digital theater in this critically acclaimed, epic, table-top, sci-fi adventure. An astronaut crew crash lands on an unfamiliar planet in the distant future and are enslaved by a society where grapes have evolved into speaking creatures with human-like intelligence. “It’s a madhouse!”
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano – Tlaloc Rivas, Los Rivax Project
Based on the award-winning young adult novel by Sonia Manzano and including original music and songs by Sartje Pickett, this new play by Tlaloc Rivas tells the story of Evelyn, a young Latinx girl keeping two secrets from her family – her true feelings about growing up in Spanish Harlem, and her attitude about her grandmother who’s come from Puerto Rico to live with them. But through a series of events as sudden as an earthquake, Evelyn learns important truths about her Latinx identity, her family, and the history-makers who shaped the Nuyorican identity forever.
A Sip With Vodka: A Russian Guide to Becoming a Real Housewife and Making it in America – Sarah Lazarus, Slaz Productions
A hilarious and heartfelt story about a Russian immigrant named Natasha who moves with her son to NYC in the hopes of becoming a Real Housewife and cabaret star. Along her journey, she meets a lonely Manhattan dweller named Lyle (Tai LeClaire from Peacock’s Rutherford Falls) and crashes at his apartment. Natasha discovers that fame and happiness might look a little different than she anticipated… Features iconic Real Housewives played by Thorgy Thor and Phi Phi Ohara/Jaremi Carey from Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
Saturday, August 28 at 7 pm BST (2 pm EST), you are invited to join NYC@THE FRINGE, virtually, for a 1-hour Artist Talk and 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe wrap-up from the perspective of New York City theater-makers who created shows in this year’s event. And please feel free to share this invitation with your audience. Beforehand, they can see an NYC show in The Fringe online, and join the artist afterward to discuss their work and their Covid-fringing experience—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Hosted by C digital, the online program of C ARTS, in, this Artist Talk will cover both the creation and the presentation of long-distance shows in the world’s largest fringe festival. All shows are available On Demand, so see as many as you like this week, OR pick a show before the Artist Talk, and register for it on Saturday, prior to the following showtimes:
BST – SHOW – EST
5:30pm – Hitler’s Tasters (90 minutes) – 12:30pm
5:45pm – Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies (75 minutes) – 12:45pm
5:50pm – Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal (70 minutes) – 12:50pm
5:55pm – Open (65 minutes) – 12:55pm
6:00pm – Planet of the Grapes (60 minutes) – 1:00pm
6:00pm – The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (55 minutes) – 1:00pm
6:35pm – A Sip With Vodka (25 minutes) – 1:30pm
6:40pm – Language Games (20 minutes) – 1:30pm
To join the artists live at 7 pm/2 pm, just reply to this email for the Talk’s Zoom link. See the attached for more information about each show. The room will be open to questions for the artists, and comments about their work, immediately following a brief welcome by the C venues team. We look forward to speaking with you.
Tell us what you think of 8 Virtual Shows Representing NYC in 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. What are you thinking? What more information do you need? Do you have any suggestions? Or did this help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Instagram! Or join me on Twitter.
MORE STORIES FOR YOU
In Conversation with Michael Oblowitz Director of Confidential Informant
Confidential Informant stars Mel Gibson, Dominic Purcell, and Kate Bosworth
