Quick and Dirty Lottery Results - CFF 2014 - NON LOCAL Waiting List

Here are the NON local acts on the waiting list, in their pull order: 

Paige Strothmann	Single Ladies	Maywood	NJ
Catherine Wright	Tough Love	Westmoreland	New York
Cellar Door Theater	Hot Steams	New York	NY
Benjamin Stuber	Love in a Heat Death Universe	Woodside	NY
chimeric productions	signal/noise	louisville	ky
EGADS! Productions	Genie and Audrey's Dream Show!	San Francisco	CA
Krissi Reeves	Spinning the Bottle	Las Vegas	NV
A Strong Production	Twenty Something	Dell Rapids	South Dakota
Michael Kass	Ceremony	Los Angeles	CA - California
Mary Lou Shriber	You Want Me To Do WHAT?!?	Mamaroneck	New York
Eileen Tull	Jesus, Do You Like Me? Please Mark Yes or No.	Cincinnati	OH
Carlos M.Kampff	DOLORES A MIME OPERA	Berkeley	Ca
Stone on a Walk Theatre	Thespis	Cincinnati	OH
Minion Productions	More Bange For Your Buck	Seattle	WA
Center for French Theatre	The Maids by Jean Genet	Lexington	KY
Worldly Fools	Playdate	Los Angeles	CA - California
Alea Iacta Est	The Wrong End of the Telescope	Wyoming	Michigan
Susie Thiel Collaborative	How to Fold a Pleated Skirt: An Educational Guide	Lexington	KY
Lucas Brooks	VGL 5'4" Top	Brooklyn	NY
Naked Masks	Hue Man: He Volution	Athens	GA
MAD arts group	Out of Cast and Cave	Columbus	OH
Gail Nyoka	My Bones Shall Rise	Lorain	OH
Juraj Kojs	Signals	Miami	FL
CAPS	Picasso's Women: The Darker Side of Genius	Marina del Rey	CA
The Live Instructional Video	Lazerjuice	Minneapolis	MN
Kevin J. Burgun	Cat and Mouse	Griffith	Indana
Gary Walker	The Power of Larry Compels You	San Francisco	CA
Todd Farley	TBD	Saginaw	MI
The World's Stage Theatre Company	Working Title - TBD	Milwaukee	WI
Audacity Theatre Lab	CHOP	Carrollton	TX
Bishop's Kid Productions	BANG! Life After Death	Lakewood	NJ
Lei Lei Lashawn / yamiToday Productions	PathWays - the digital musical	Dallas	TX
Echo Brown	Black Virgins are Not Hipsters	Oakland	CA
3 Woman Show	3 Woman, 1 Woman Show (with three women)	Milpitas	CA
Acting Up (in Acadiana)	Cajun Face	Lafayette	La

Quick and Dirty Lottery Results - CFF 2014 - LOCAL WAITING LIST

Local waiting list acts, in the order they fall on the waiting list:

Artist Name	Show Title	City
Sam Calfo	Historical Examination of the Concepts of Good and Evil	Lisle
Laura Force Scruggs/Cosmic Jello	Meet Me on the Ceiling	Chicago
Beth Schaaf	Jerusalem Salad	Chicago
Serious Comedy	Court on Trial: Courtroom drama set to comedy	Chicago
PopSplosion	Rocket Science	Chicago
Endpoint Theatre	Chronic Malcontents	Chicago
Tapman Productions, LLC	Tap Battles!	Chicago
David Guiden	Head (It's Not What You Think)	Chicago
2 Merry Men	2 Merry Men	schaumburg
Paul Pasulka	Aesop's Fable	Chicago
Mike Maxwell	Hush Hush Comedy	Chicago
Big-Little Comedy	The Greatest Death on Earth	Chicago
Mari DeOleo	The Prefect 90's Sitcom Family	Chicago
The Tacky Annie's	Shake That Thing	Chicago

Quick and Dirty Lottery Results - CFF 2014 - NON LOCAL ACTS

The following are the NON Local acts that have been pulled by lottery to participate in the 2014 Festival: 

Artist Name	Show Title	City	State/Country
Jim Julien	The Next Dog King	Asheville	NC
Kate Ryan	Painful Indiana	Schererville	IN
Luminous Theatre	Title TBD	Milwaukee	WI
Mark Murray/Two Hands Productions	CODA	Seattle	WA
Instinct Theatre	Waiting for Orson	Washington	District of Columbia
Nobody's Sweetheart Productions	Jekyll N' Hyde- a rap musical	Orlando	FL
eMotion Theatre	Trapped by Dreams	Tampa	Florida
Nicole Daniels	Kids on Bikes	Northampton	Massachusetts
Joe Medina of MERCH	Trauma And Vinyl: 'This Betrayal Will Be Our End': The Monologue	San Francisco	CA
Donald Arrington	A New Day	Brick	NJ
Maximum Verbosity	Indefinite Articles: A Libertarian Rage	St. Louis Park	MN
Nicole Kearney Productions	What Doesn't Kill Us, Only Makes Us Stronger	Indianapolis	IN
Casa de Baile Traveling Studio	Definition of Magic	Boulder	Colorado
The Divine Sister-Misters	Divine Sister-Misters: Escape from Utah County	Orem	Ut
MaryAnne Mathews	Mrs. President: A Visit With Mary Todd Lincoln	Carmel	In.
Basement 08 Productions	Water Under the Bridge: A One-Act Musical Comedy with Puppets	Huntsville	Ontario
Oimoi Productions	Hektor dies in the end	Montreal	Quebec
Rob Lloyd	Rob Lloyd - Who, Me.	Melbourne	Victoria
New Light Theater Project	Apartment Play	New York	NY
Merkins, Daniello & Sons	The Scientists	BROOKLYN	NY
Cheep Art	The Two-Step	Seattle	WA
Miranda Jonte	St. Francis (working title)	astoria	New York
Sarsparilla Shook Productions	Screw You, I'm Nancy Drew	Indianapolis	IN
Everything is Everywhere	Natural Novice	Brooklyn	NY
Jeff Onore	Dating and Death	Waltham	MA

Quick and Dirty Lottery Results - CFF 2014 - LOCAL ACTS

Hi! The following are the acts that will be playing in the 2014 Festival:

LOCAL

Artist Name	Show Title	City
Jennifer Rumberger	The Bride	Chicago
Moody Artist Group	Chicago Afterdark	Chicago
Rally Theatre Company	Own Worst Enemy	Arlington Heights
The League of Miscreants	Another Drunk Talent Show	Forest Park
HartLife, NFP	Our Fair City	Chicago
Oracle Productions	Captive Audience	Chicago
The Agency Theater Collective	Out of Tune Confessional	Chicago
Danielle Pinnock	The Body Image Project	Chicago
Rebecca Kling	Something Something New Vagina	Chicago
Dream Theatre Company	The Mechanical Man	Chicago
Amy Sumpter	What Am I Doing?	Chicago
Paper Stage	An Evening With	Chicago
Triptych	"they" workshop premiere	Chicago
Wishbone Theatre Collective	Untitled 'L' Play	Chicago
Brandy Reichenberger	The Future	Chicago
Po' Chop	Black as I Wanna Be	chicago
Epitrope Theatre	Teenagers From Outer Space!	Chicago
Spartan Theatre Company	10 & 2	Chicago
Hawkeye Plainview	Superman and Orson Welles	Chicago
Kayla Lane Freeman & Sara Faye Richmond	Ankle Boots: Absurd Miniature Memoirs	Chicago
Lost Geneva Project	The Penelopiad	Chicago
Alrosa	Er' Man	chicago
DERICK LENGWENUS	Why Are You Not Rich Yet	PARK RIDGE
E. J. C. Calvert	Sarazad and the Monster King	Chicago
Duplicity Ensemble	I Have Been to the Wild Wood	Chicago

And then we were like, "Let's make a Holiday Card..."

Let's Hear it for the Little Guy

I don't think it's possible to escape online fundraising appeals these days.  There are may different ways to do these drives and they all have their success stories.  The Chicago Fringe Festival will be launching our own Membership Campaign later this month so keep your eyes peeled for more information.  In the meantime though...

I've been reading and discussing a lot lately about celebrities and their Kickstarter campaigns.  Crowd-funding and social media programs have become the easiest way to launch a fundraiser and celebrities who have zillions* of followers can quickly meet their extremely large goals.  But what about the smaller projects?  A number of artists who have performed or will perform in the Chicago Fringe Festival have used Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Razoo and a number of other platforms to fund their entry in our festival.  We have even had two successfully funded Kickstarter campaigns as well.  Our goals have always been much smaller than some projects you'll find on those sites but we still feel that we struggle for every dollar.  So here is what I will ask everyone who cares about Fringe to do.  Go on one of the crowd-funding websites.  Pick one.  I'm not fussy which one.  Find a small artistic project that tugs at your heartstrings.  There are lots of search options so get creative in how you find it.  Give them $5.  Tell them Chicago Fringe sent you.  Then ask your crowd to do the same thing.  I'm not saying you shouldn't donate to the celebrity projects (I certainly have projects I would love to see happen), I'm just asking you to give a little bit of love to the little guys.

*Give or take a few million

Now That's Connection

Last blog post, Adrienne talked about giving birth to a Fringe baby. Well, if this baby was just born, the little bugger is sure growing up fast.

Why so fast, I thought to myself today? Why do things feel like they are coming to fruition faster and more furious this year than ever before?

It's a good question, and I think it comes down to the concept of CONNECTION.

I have not hid the fact that the last 6 months I have treated Fringe as a second job. I've been hightailing it everywhere to get things done. And, unlike, say, coding a new computer program, or generating pages of manuscript, most of my "things done" have to do with meeting and talking with people: staff at the Alderman's office, friends and acquaintances in Jefferson Park, artistic associates, potential board members, my professional mentor, independent contractors, new staff....I'm not even sure that list is exhaustive, were I to give it more thought.

See, connecting people is not only something I've worked hard at over the past 6 months, but also something that just, well, happens. It's natural. I guess I could say I'm good at it. It may just been my only real gift :) For more on connectors and their importance in the world, see Malcolm Gladwell's complete treatment on the topic: http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/tp_excerpt2.html. I recommend most of his writing.

Now, I know I am often connecting. But the enormity of it--and the speed at which things are now happening--is something that does not always occur to me. But that's exactly what happened just over this weekend when I met with Fringe's board president, Justin. Now, our board of directors does not officially meet more than quarterly, and so I typically see the Board less than I even see the staff (which is not nearly enough). This meeting was supposed to be with a potential recruit for the board, and unfortunately Justin and I got stood up. So what do two fine gentlemen do when they get stood up? They have tea, of course. And as we began catching up, something funny happened. My mind started to race telling Justin about the things I had been doing over the last 6 months. Interestingly, though, it was racing not because it was just a lot for me, but because I began to see what it meant for him. I started making connections. Connections everywhere! I had so many introductions to make--so many meetings that had happened and information that needed communicating. I had this feeling that I was simultaneously ahead of schedule and far behind! I had to take those connections apart one by one and decide which were important to share with Justin and which could be left out.

It was an enlightening experience for me, reflecting back. Like the plot line of a movie that starts in disparate places but ultimately ties together, I was starting to see (or maybe better stated: oversee) how all of these pieces that I've set into motion are coming to a head.

I've said before and I will say again that Fringe's tremendous power is made possible by our ability to work together. I'm really proud of who we are in that regard. I'd never be able to set things into motion if I didn't have capable folks within Fringe that I could trust to take the reigns. I connect outside of the Fringe circle, loop those connections into our board and staff, and hope the connection takes on a life of its own.

Connection, connection. It all starts with connection.