Fringe Festivals are an absolute good. Free from high production costs, normal everyday citizens that believe they can write, direct, or act can bring their visions to life before their peers. Available in many major cities, anyone can produce a Fringe Festival show (in the case of the Minneapolis Fringe Festival, slots are assigned by lottery). Theaters around a specific area take part in the festival by donating their venues for festival participants. Festival plays are performed on actual stages where high-production plays are produced other times of the year.

I was lucky enough to see a dress rehearsal of a Fringe Festival play, Second Skin, with local photographer Juliana Nagan, and afterwards I got the opportunity to sit down and talk to the writer and director.

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I sat across from Neal and Ryan, wondering how the two were preparing for their big show. Neal, the director, seemed far more optimistic than the writer Ryan–he seemed slightly overwhelmed. I asked Ryan what the most difficult part of producing a Fringe Festival show was.

“Oh, the thing I just dislike most about is the writing, and that you need to go back and rewrite basically everything you just wrote. Going back over and over your work, rewriting everything. You know you have to rewrite, because it’s just no good at the moment. So, I just don’t want to rewrite it, but I know I have to, and I finally get myself to do it. Afterwards, I’m just afraid he’ll…”–he points to Neal–”come to your house and demand another rewrite, and then you almost break down crying.” He placed both hands on the sides of his head, as though trying to relieve a headache.

“Oh… I see.” I chuckled a little, and started scribbling with my pen and paper. “So, what made you two decide to enter the Fringe Festival?”

They both agreed it was mostly on a whim–just something to do–although they had wanted to do something along these lines for some time. Apparently, in Minneapolis, all you need is your names and a production company name to enter. Other than some fees ($400), you are not required to have any experience outside of the festival.

“So,” I asked. “What is the most rewarding part of producing a Fringe Festival show? What is the most fun part?”

Neal’s eyes grew wide, and he smiled. “It’s when the production moves beyond the script. Where you have the actors, and they are able to start bringing things to the characters that neither of us would have even thought about. They just start to invent things you hadn’t imagined, and you start to know that you have created something. Not just formed it.”

“What inspired you to incorporate all the themes of Second Skin?” I wanted to know. During the rehearsal I attended, I noticed all of the biblical undertones and the apocalyptic overtones. Both seemed interesting choices for a story that, at its core, is an office drama, but Neal and Ryan made them work.

Neal replied, “The last play I acted in, I played the Devil, or, I had this puppet that was the Devil. It looked like a little South Park Devil, and I was making him lovable to other cast members. The director, who was a priest, told me that ‘the Devil is not lovable.’ I responded, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes Neal, I’m sure.’” Neal smiled and leaned a little closer to me. “I’m not sure he’s right. This is being the Devil’s advocate. That’s this show. And that’s its theme.”

“Huh…” I said.

I am reminded again why Fringe Festivals are so important. Would these themes ever find their way into an office drama? Probably. I’m sure several plays somewhere in the world have those motifs. Yet the Fringe Festival allows a gutsy project to have a low-risk production with a chance for a decent sized audience. What might have started as one small point in a person’s life can be expanded into a full-fledged play. Creation is a powerful experience when seen beginning to end.

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Pictured here are local actors Alexandra Gould (in gray), Mattia Mauree (in black), and Thomas Bevan.

You can find Juliana Nagan’s photography blog here, and you can web search “Fringe Festival” to find out more about a local one near you. For those of you in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Second Skin will be opening later this week.