Fringe Fest '22

One festival, plenty of pieces to view. Every year, in classes and indie productions, our students, faculty, and staff explore so much theater. This year, we’re gathering them all into a festival of free events showcasing everything from outrageous experimental work to shining new voices to expertly-rendered productions of classic scenes. The Fringe Fest will be anchored by our UMass New Play Lab, a graduate student-driven project that explores various facets of new play development.

**UMASS NEW PLAY LAB** is the anchor of our Fringe Festival with two exciting new works by two of our graduate students.
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Free, but reservations are encouraged. Available in advance online at the Fine Arts Center Box Office or by calling 1-413-545-2511.

***Parzival ***
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by Percival Hornak
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April 22, 27, & 30 at 7:30 p.m.
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Rand Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass
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***Parzival*** is a contemporary trans retelling of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s ***Parzival***, about a young knight who stumbles into a quest that changes his life and reveals his hidden destiny. The play takes inspiration from fanfiction to tell the story of a teen who explores his gender through the ***Parzival*** story as its protagonist learns about chivalry, becomes a knight, and searches for the Holy Grail, winning jousts and the hearts of fair young maidens along the way.

***Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert.
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A Wild Adaptation ***
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by Bianca Dillard
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April 21 & 28 at 7:30 p.m. and April 24 at 2 p.m., May 1 TBA
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Curtain Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass
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***Red*** dramatizes the writings of Terry Tempest Williams and the urgency of climate action. Williams is a naturalist who wrestles with community, religious tradition, politics, always with her eye on the fragility of human life. This piece explores questions like: how do we create and claim a personal ethos and sense of spirituality while being rooted in a place and a community bound to conservative religion and politics? Can we honor where we’ve come from in a way that protects life on this planet as we all hurtle closer to climate disaster? What mix of tools can aid us on our journey: grace, rage, community, empathy, acceptance, wildness itself, Magic? Unabashedly & wildly theatrical, 4th wall breaking, embracing of movement, extreme casting and our collective imaginations!



**Taylor Rose Mickens 'Bye UMass' Senior Recital and Visual Art Exhibit**
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by Taylor Mickens
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April 22 at 7:30 pm in
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Randolph W. Bromery Center, Room 413
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*Part of our Fringe Festival, admission free, reservation not required but recommended. Reserve your seat.*

***Cry Wolf***
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An online audio drama by Shelly Hed
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In the small mining town of Rosewood, tensions between the fae and the flesh boil over when the werewolf Lewis siblings are accused of a double homicide. Instinct kicks in, and the town struggles for survival. This three part audio drama explores the nature of fear, and asks the question: who's afraid of the "big, bad wolf"?
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*An online part of the Fringe Festival, episodes to be released April 23, April 30 and May 7; links will be available on the **Cry Wolf** page.*

**24-Hour Play Project**
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Produced by Ali Farina
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April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
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Curtain Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass
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Students take on the daunting task of going from a blank page to a staged play in 24 hours. Join us to see the results of their mad creative dash.
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*Part of our Fringe Festival, admission free, check back for reservation details.*

***A Midsummer Night's Dream***
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by William Shakespeare
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Directed by Ivy Linden-Dionne and Claudia Maurino
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Produced by Kaliska Wiley and Madeline Choiniere Barr
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April 29 at 7:30 p.m., April 30 at 2 p.m.
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Curtain Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts
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*Part of our Fringe Festival, admission free, reservation not required but recommended. Reserve your seat.*

***The Other America***
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Written by Pedro Eiras, inspired by Nobel Prize Winner *Dario Fo's Johan Padan and The Discovery of the Americas*
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May 1 at 2 p.m.
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Curtain Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts
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*The Other America *is a staged reading inspired by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo’s *Johan Padan and The Discovery of the Americas*, but instead of telling the story of a stowaway in the 17th century who ends up in a whole different continent, it tells the story of João da Silva, a young man who leaves Brazil to start a new life in the United States of America in the year 2025.
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In his epic, difficult and often-times comedic journey, João encounters the many extraordinary challenges that all immigrants face as they cross the border towards the land of opportunity, freedom, and bravery… only to discover that there is another America, one in which opportunity is only for a very few, freedom often unattainable, and bravery an act of daily survival.
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*Part of our Fringe Festival, admission free, reservation not required but recommended. Reserve your seat here.*

***Webgirl***
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by Sena Yacteen
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May 6, 7, & 8 at 7:30 p.m., May 7 at 2 p.m.
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Curtain Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts
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Something exciting is swinging onto the UMass stage this spring. It's your friendly local Super-Cool, Super-Awesome, Super-Hot, Super-Smart, Superhero…*Webgirl*!
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During the day, Winnie is your average teen girl, living in the city with her Aunt Fay and Uncle Lenny, and trying to navigate the social chaos of high school. At night, she transforms into Webgirl, a web-shooting spider-hero, fighting crime and saving lives left and right, under the watchful (and sometimes critical) eyes of her adoring fans. When a new Villain appears, Winnie is called to action, and her life is turned upside down in a frenzy of TV cameras and unpredictable attacks. How will she learn to defeat the Villain, protect her family, and—through it all—be herself?
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A side-splitting superhero parody, hilarious and full of heart, come let *Webgirl* save your world!
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*Part of our Fringe Festival, admission free, check back for reservation details*
Before you purchase tickets, please read our Patron COVID Safety Policy to ensure you are prepared. Patrons who are unable to meet the requirements WILL be turned away at the door.https://www.umass.edu/theater/event/fringe-fest-22