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Dammit, I want to hear what you thought
of the 2005 Rogue Performance Festival! Email your Rogue stories -- the
clean ones, mind you -- to jagbennett@sbcglobal.net
SATURDAY, MARCH 12 -- The day I've been dreaming about has finally arrived!
The last day of the Rogue!
The Rogue is fun, mind you. But let me tell you, putting this huge festival
together is a lady bulldog without her pain medication. For the last month,
Rogue Core staffers have been looking bleary-eyed and droopy. I've begun to
call this the Bataan Death March Performance Festival.
But while we're all relieved that the hard work is over, we're also damn
proud about what we've accomplished. I don't have access to hard attendance
numbers yet, but I believe we probably sold around 6,000 tickets during the
Rogue Festival.
At the same time, it's sad to see the tents come down and the circus leave
town. Tomorrow morning, these venues are just going to be storefronts again,
gray and cold and empty. But tonight, they're lit, there are people, there
is anticipation ... for tonight, the magic is still happening.
Here's my Rogue day:
2:30 PM: Final performance of "Opposites Attract," a brilliant little play
that I had the honor of performing in. Final performances are weird ... in
miniature, it's my feelings about the last day of the Rogue all over again.
We're all glad to be done ... it's frustrating that we only had a three-show
run and we're ending just as we were getting tight ... and we'll miss
working with each other. Doing a show is a strange emotional accelerant ...
you work with people for a few short weeks and form tight bonds very
quickly. But this last show is a doozy ... we nail the audience right down
into their seats ... and that's a feeling unlike anything else.
3:45 PM: I whisk down to the Ashtree Studio, to catch the only performance
of "Upton Sinclair's Licked," by SF performer Jay Martin. Jay had to cancel
two of his three shows, so I wasn't going to miss this one. I love politics,
so this was one of the shows I most looked forward to. Jay tells the story
of socialist writer Upton Sinclair's campaign for governor of California in
1934 ... and how he was defeated by a smear campaign that included fictional
movies shown in theaters as factual newsreels. (See, the Bush Administration
didn't invent packaged news reports!)
Frankly, Jay's show wasn't anything like I expected, but it was still
fascinating. I had imagined a historical re-enactment piece, Jay playing a
character -- rather like the sort of thing they make you watch in high
school. Instead, Jay just ... read. From Sinclair's book about the campaign.
And oddly enough, it worked, at least enough to grip an audience of about 20
for 45 minutes. It's a very interesting story, and Jay's dry, spare,
humorous delivery is a perfect match for Sinclair's rueful account of how he
was beaten and beaten soundly.
Jay says he is going to develop the piece into something more theatrical ..
when he does, I intend to check it out.
5:00 PM: Back at the Ashtree for a surprise performance of "Happy Endings
are Overrated," by Tim Ereneta. I was skeptical about this show ... I HATE
modernizations and pastiches of fairy tales with a bloody blue passion.
But Ereneta is great. His Prince Charming is ... just this guy, you know,
who keeps on trying to right wrongs, rescue damsels in distress, and
generally getting screwed over in the process. Very funny, very well
written. I didn't really care for the message of the piece -- it's the
journey that counts, not the happy ending -- but that's only because I hate
all that is good. Emotionally normal people will, and did, love it.
8:30 PM: Baba Brinkman, redux. Undoubtedly, Baba Brinkman's "Rap Canterbury
Tales" was the big hit of the 2005 Rogue. I had already caught his show
once, but my lovely girlfriend Devon had to see it, so I was coming again.
The crowd waiting to get in was lined down Fern practically to the the old
Caffe Midi. Baba himself was amazed by both the response and his celebrity
status in Fresno. Baba spoke very highly of the support and interest of the
Fresno audience. Thanks to the Rogue, Fresno is getting a much better
reputation on the arts and performance circuit, and we hope to bring more
artists of Baba's caliber to Fresno in the future.
I'm glad I saw "Rap Canterbury Tales" a second time. The first time I saw
it, I was too busy absorbing the concept and listening to the language.
Tonight, I got to watch Baba -- and he's a great performer. His writing
ability, in converting Chaucer to rap, is impressive enough, but he really
represents. His characterizations and energy bring it all to life.
9:30 PM: ONE BIG ROGUE PARTY! I spend the time alternately drinking myself
into a stupor and weeping with relief that I'll be able to get to sleep.
The highlight of the evening is, of course, the surprise wedding of Rogue
Promo Schmoozer Lisa Repasky to her steady, Eric. Now that was a show. I
don't know how we're going to surpass that next year ... live birth on
stage, maybe?
So, like all good comedies, we end with a wedding, a song, and drunk people
dancing. And that is the Rogue Report for the 2005 Rogue Performance
Festival.
My deepest regret is all the great shows I didn't get to see ... the magic
of Bryan Odd, storyteller Ted Esquivel, Mallory Moad's Daredevil Kitchen,
Tony and Aileen Imperatrice, Tanjora ... the list goes on.
But here's the great thing ... great art actually happens in Fresno ALL YEAR
ROUND. These are great performers that you can actually see regularly, right
here in Fresno. Keep an eye out for them, go see and support the local arts
community, and get involved yourself.
I'll see you next year, for Rogue 2006. This is Jaguar Bennett, signing off.
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