The 2022 Philly Fringe Fest while presenting fresh talent, is a homecoming, of sorts, for familiar faces.
One of the most notable aspects of a conversation with Nick Stuccio – the boss of the FringeArts HQ on Columbus/Delaware Avenue, the founder and curator of the Philly Fringe Fest – is his stressing that its 2022 iteration is filled with homecoming old friends who have gone on to international fame, along with new, fresh faces.
“Geoff Soebele has become a favorite of BAM (the Brooklyn Academy of Music), Pig Iron Theatre Company has won Obies for the Off-Broadway work, Brian Saunders’ JUNK has been everywhere,” says Stuccio. “But they always come back for the Fringe Festival.”
Coming back for the 2022 Philly Fringe Fest means a slew of wild live programming from today until October 2, followed by the extreme dining and performative event of Feastival.
Along with stalwarts such as JUNK (whose Luster acts on an interactive game show/reality show concept) and Pig Iron (whose one-time School graduate Josephine Decker returns for the collaborative The Path of Pins or the Path of Needles), and Lightning Rod Theater Company touching on all manner of semiotics when it comes to their performative Speech showcase, Stuccio states how it is still new-ish partnerships that welcome new collabs and even newer, more diverse and inclusive audiences.
In particular, it is Stuccio’s Fringe – in partnership with Opera Philadelphia (who, together, have commissioned composer David T, Little, librettist Anne Waldman and co-producer Thurston Moore for The Black Lodge), the Cannonball group (for its post-circus comedic adventures with its Cannonball Festival) and the Bearded Ladies (whose Late Nite Snacks’ nightly events offer drag and performance artists in the extreme) – that bring the Fringe farther and faster.
“We’ve always been diversified and inclusive,” says Stuccio.”Partnerships such as those make us stronger and more unified, while furthering the Fringe’s diversity.”
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