Chicago Fringe Festival 2012: Day 3 Lineup

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The Alembic - Anonymously Yours - Scientist Turned Comedian Tim Lee - No Stopping, No Warping, No Dying - Where Is My Mind? - As We Like It - Breaking Rank! - Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-Latino - Kinetic Concoction - Pink Milk - Moksori/Voice - Bruiser: Tales from a Traumatized Tomboy - Handshake Uppercut - Put It In The Scrapbook - CRAZYTOWN: My First Psychopath - A Day for Grace - Shadows and Lust - En El Corazon - The Roast of Cinderella - The Tipped & The Tipsy - Storms Under Her Skin - Lie Light - In My Own Defense - 55 Minutes of Sex, Drugs and Audience Participation - The Granny Diaries - UnMasked - Cathedral City - Dawn on a Splintered Heart - Crash Stories - Sorry to Disappoint Me - Hunting Middle Class - The 3 Citrons

CFF Staff Profile: Anne Cauley

Hello Fringers!

(I’m just going to assume, if you are reading this blog, that you have attended, performed in or volunteered for the Fringe. If you don’t consider yourself a Fringer, I hope you fix that between Aug. 30 and Sept. 9, 2012!)

I am Anne Cauley, the Volunteer Director for Chicago Fringe Festival.

Marketing manager Tim here, to say that Anne wears
MANY hats in her role with Chicago Fringe ...

That means that I help to organize all the volunteers for the festival. In fact, the entire staff working on the Fringe year-round is entirely made up of volunteers. But the volunteers I coordinate specifically make the running of the festival possible. They help set it up and tear it down. They work as venue and stage managers to make sure everything runs smoothly (as smoothly as possible anyway) and on time. Runners literally ride their bikes back and forth between venues when needed to make sure everything is stocked and ready to go for each performance. Photographers document the shows and festival, so that we can remember it long after the fact. Fringe Centralites do a myriad of things to make Fringe Central your go-to hang out spot before, between and after shows. Box Officers help attendees buy tickets, passes and Fringey merch. Hosts welcome visiting artists into their homes. And that is just a sampling. Volunteers are a part of every aspect of the festival.

Naturally I am bound by my position to encourage YOU to become a Fringe volunteer. There is a position available for every interest, experience level and level of availability.

So sign up and get involved. There are a few ingredients required for an awesome Fringe: performers, venues, patrons and… VOLUNTEERS. CFF Volunteers are rockstars and don’t you want to be a rockstar?

When I am not fixating on the awesomeness of Fringe volunteers, here are a few things about me:

She pumps everyone up ...

BOOK I AM CURRENTLY READING: Ha. We are two weeks out from the festival … 

The books I most recently read were Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling for Book Club #1 and Room by Emma Donoghue for Book Club #2. (Because one book club just isn’t enough.)

SONG CURRENTLY PLAYING ON MY ITUNES: Sirtaki by Mango. Good summer listening, Italian-style.

PLAYBILLS CURRENTLY ON MY DESK: San Diego Symphony Pops with Wilson Phillips. In my opinion, Ravinia should be performed on a marina with fireworks at the finale. Magic. Mack and Mabel at the Southwark Playhouse. A show I never thought I would get to see outside of a questionable community theatre situation. Awesome and bittersweet. And … Twelfth Night at American Players Theater. If you haven’t been to APT, go. If you have, go again. I hear Skylight is not to be missed. And the tremendous In Acting Shakespeare is back.

And is ready for any
 Labor Day weekend cold snaps

WEBSITES CURRENTLY OPEN ON CHROME: Volgistics, the Fringe volunteer management program. (Have I mentioned in the last five minutes that you should volunteer?) A Bust Magazine article on this fascinating drag photo project. Facebook, in case I need a Words with Friends break.

ASK ME ABOUT: London 2012. I went to get a taste of the mania and magic. I attended track and field (Jess Ennis!), badminton (Yes. They actually played.) and table tennis (China is FIERCE). It was incredible, if filled will far too many Fish and Chips. Rio 2016 anyone?

DON’T ASK ME ABOUT: Fifty Shades of Grey. Stupid Book Club #2…

FINAL THOUGHTS: Become a CFF2012 Volunteer! Right now! (More info: http://chicagoFringe.org/volunteer.php)

Hail to the ... Designers!

Thank you to all who submitted to the CFF Design Contest 2012 and congratulations to the winning design team of Maschell Cha, Andrew Gen & Richard Hibbert!

CFF Staff Profile: Rachel Staelens

Hello there all you fabulous Fringers!

I’m sure a few of us have chatted, especially if you have been to one of our events or have volunteered on one of the past festivals. For those who don’t know me yet, my name is Rachel Staelens, and I’m the Chicago Fringe Festival production manager and this is my very first blog post EVER.  Don’t you feel special?  I’ll be sticking to the fabulous Mr.Mullaney’s format (first time, remember?) so keep reading if you want to know more about me and what I do with the Fringe.

Who am I?

You can visit the Chicago Fringe website to read my bio.  And here are a few silly little facts about me to keep your interest piqued:

TV shows I can’t stop watching: How I Met Your Mother, True Blood.

Current top-played song on my iTunes: Oh My! by The Grey Kid

Crafty-type work I’m currently creating: 30 day drawing challenge (that’s right, a drawing a day) and a faux archway to separate my office area from my living room area.

Websites currently open on Chrome: Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Basecamp, Stumbleupon (how pretty is this?)

What do I do for Fringe?

As the production manager of the Chicago Fringe Festival, I am the logistical mind behind the schedule and the venues, and I manage technical and stage management volunteers and handle equipment allocation.

I create the schedule from scratch once all of the groups have filled out their paperwork.  With 50 groups, this can obviously be a bit of a task but I work to make sure I can meet as many requests as possible.  This year it looks like we’ll be having approximately 212 performances in the 2 weeks the festival is up.  You can say “whoa!” to that … it really is a lot.

I have a wonderful production team to help me get everything done.  Erik Tylkowski (who you will hear from in a post later this year) is our technical director and we work with two other seasonal volunteers (this year they are Maggy Grossbart and Cat Davis) to finalize venues and venue setup.  Erik and Cat work with me on locating and organizing equipment to turn found spaces into awesome Fringe venues.  Some of you might even be receiving an equipment donation request from us in the next week or so!  If you have some equipment we might want to borrow/rent and you can’t wait to offer us your help feel free to send us an email at production@chicagofringe.org. 

Maggy works with me to organize the production-specific volunteers and we can always use more, SO if you are a technician, a stage manager or just someone who has always been interested in trying your hand in theatre production please email volunteers@chicagofringe.org and we’ll put you to work!

Other than my Fringe work I’ve been trying to enjoy the summer in spite of the heat!  I hope you will all be able to come out and join us for the Festival!

CFF Staff Profile: Tim Mullaney

Hello readers!

I’ve met many of you already, either in person or through the wonder of electronic communication. For those who don’t know me, my name is Tim Mullaney, and I’m the Chicago Fringe Festival marketing manager.

In the coming months, you’ll be hearing from other Fringe staff members, who will be blogging about who they are and what they do for Fringe – and maybe they’ll talk about some opportunities for you to get involved in various aspects of the ChiFringe universe, as well.

So without further ado, let me get the ball rolling.

Who am I?

You can visit the Chicago Fringe website to read my bio. But here are four facts about my current culture consumption:

Book I am currently reading: Lake Overturn, by Vestal McIntyre.

Current top-played song on my iTunes: Ignition, by R. Kelly. (Feel free to express your opinion of this song – or, dare I say it, your thoughts about R. Kelly – in the comments.)

Playbill currently on my desk: The Street Tempo Theatreproduction of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Extended through May 27 at Stage 773. Recommended!

Websites currently open on Chrome: The Chicago Tribune (NATO craziness!), Tennis.com (should I get up at 5 AM to watch Nadal v. Djokovic??) and Open Culture (another recommendation – want Morgan Freeman to teach you howto read?). And, of course, Facebook and Twitter. Like the Fringe Festival page! Follow us on Twitter!

What do I do for Fringe?

I’m a communications jack-of-all-trades. This means I write a lot of the posts for this blog! I also compose most of our press releases and eblasts, and write press/advertising copy of all sorts. I talk to interviewers about Fringe – want to write up a piece about the Festival for your publication, your blog, your Facebook page, your knitting club newsletter? Shoot me a line! That's tim@chicagofringe.org. 

I also help determine our advertising strategy. Do you work for a media outlet that you think reaches a lot of prospective Fringe audience members? Please let me know!

I coordinate cross-promotional efforts with other theatres, festivals, etc. If you’re interested . . . hit me up!

I organize our annual design contest. We’re accepting submissions for two more days!

I like bejeweled hats.

You’ll see me around the Festival in Pilsen, sending Tweets and Facebook posts, interviewing artists, and generally spreading the word about what a great event Fringe is and what some of the best ways to enjoy it are. Say hi! And if you want to help us get the word out about the Festival between now and August 30, we’d be happy for the help. The more voices talking Fringe up, the better, so don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d be more than happy to let you know about marketing-related volunteer opportunities (and volunteer opportunities in general)! Again, that email address is tim@chicagofringe.org.

As the keeper of the blog, I’d like to thank you for reading. And if there are things you’d like to see more of (or less of) on the blog, let us know in the comments!

EXTENDED DEADLINE - Design Contest

DEADLINE EXTENDED!!

SUBMISSIONS DUE BY MAY 22

Enter yourself, or pass on the information below

to all your designer friends!

Chicago Fringe Festival

2012 Design Competition

50 shows booked. 1 design needed.

What Chicago Fringe Festival is: an artistic extravaganza taking place in the Pilsen neighborhood August 30-September 9. 50 shows will be performed by theatricalizers of every stripe, from actors and dancers to performance artists, female impersonators, puppeteers and scientist-comedians.

What Chicago Fringe Festival needs from you: a single design that will be emblematic of Chicago Fringe 2012. We need a design that is so arresting, dynamic, searing, whimsical, mind-bending or otherwise amazing that it will radiate cartoon-like waves of energy. Some further crucial information to help you create the graphic gold we’re panning for:

· The design should reflect, suggest, embody, convey or otherwise relate, directly or obliquely, to an election year theme. An election is about choice, and so is Fringe: Audience members have 50 shows to choose from. But the 2012 Fringe will be better than the 2012 presidential election! At Fringe, there’s not a limited choice between two major tickets – the Fringe Festival is the You-Pick-It Ticket. It presents patrons with many shows, which are radically diverse. Festival goers can pick what to see according to their whims, mood and interests, and so create their own Festival experience.

· The design should capture (or at least not contradict) some of the other key characteristics of Chicago Fringe theatre. To learn more about what Chicago Fringe is, visit chicagofringe.org.

· Last year’s winning design and runners up can also be seen on the Chicago Fringe website, and for further inspiration, you might look at designs from other Fringe Festivals around the world, such as Adelaide Fringe.

· You can (but are not required to) include the words “Chicago Fringe Festival 2012” as part of your design, but no other text, please. Be bold: the design will appear in whole or in part on CTA ads, print ads and web ads, so it needs to grab people’s attention and hold their interest. In other words, the masks of comedy and tragedy could be part of the winning design – but probably won’t be.

Prizes
See your design on CTA ads and Fringe materials distributed all over Chicago! The winner’s design will be the design for the official 2012 Fringe Festival poster and will appear in part or in whole on a wide range of Fringe materials, including ads, tee-shirts, festival programs, pins, banners and more. The winner’s name will appear on the poster and all other materials on which it is practicable to include an artist credit. The winner will also receive a commemorative Fringe button granting entry to all days of the Festival and two complimentary tickets to one Fringe show of choice. And as far is it is practicable, the winner will receive copies of all Fringe paraphernalia and merchandise, including a tee-shirt, featuring the design. Three runners-up will have their designs published on chicagofringe.org.

Submitting Entries
All entries must be emailed to design2012@chicagofringe.org. The design size of the file must not exceed 11”x17”, and if chosen as the winner, you will need to supply a version 12x18" at 300 dpi to account for bleed. The design can be saved at a resolution that will enable us to zoom in to see details during judging, but the file size must not exceed 2MB. Designs may be in any medium. Multiple submissions are acceptable.

Submit PDF files only. Keep in mind that if your design is chosen, you will need to supply a version 12x18” at 300 dpi.

In the body of your email provide:
Your First and Last Name
Phone Number
Email Address

The Deadline
Your submission must be submitted by 8:00 p.m. on May 22, 2012. Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered for the competition.

Other Important Stuff
Winning Entrants agree to assign all rights in their work to the Chicago Fringe Festival. These include but are not limited to the rights to edit, reproduce and distribute on printed and digital materials (including the Chicago Fringe Festival website). All entries must be 100% original work by the artist. No use of a third party's copyrighted material is allowed in any way, even if it is allowable under Fair Use guidelines. Chicago Fringe Festival will notify winners by June 7, 2012 or after judging is complete.

If you have additional questions, e-mail us at design2012@chicagofringe.org

Addison & Avondale Mural: Get involved!

Fringe patrons and performers are always inspired by Pilsen's beautiful murals. Chicago is a great city for public art, and in this tradition, an old viaduct is about to get a makeover in June.

Residents in the 35th Ward have been working with nationally recognized Artist and Illustrator Rafael Lopez in creating a mural. Lopez is well known for the "Nuestra Voz" poster he created for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. He will be designing the mural as a gift to the city.

The design unveiling will be Thursday, April 19 at Mirabell restaurant. Those interested in attending should email Victoria Duran: victoriamd@hotmail.com.

Anyone can help paint the design at the “Community Paint Day” June 21.

Those interested in helping out can contact Anna Zolkowski Sobor at (773)-725-1267, or volunteer through the Mural at Addison and Avondale page on Facebook.

Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible financial donation for scaffolding, painting supplies, and food for the volunteers can mail contributions to:

The Athletic Field Advisory Council

3546 W. Addison

Chicago, IL 60618

Questions about the event can be directed to AFAC President Dennis Puhr at dspur@hotmail.com.

**Artistic types should also check out the 2012 Chicago Fringe Design Contest!**