Drama Fest

After some 60 years of festivals — and in its fifth year in KC — Fringe is now a noun ("See you at Fringe"), a verb ("I need the night off because I'm Fringing") and an adjective ("It's not cheap nudity — it's Fringe nudity"). It also serves as a catchall category for theatrical miscellany: puppetry, belly dance, performance art, magic shows, "dance dramas" about Gandhi (that last one runs Tuesday-Friday nights at Vulcan's Forge, 3937 Washington). What it isn't any longer is fringy, as in peripheral. Running a full week, through July 26, this year's Kansas City Fringe Festival opens today but really gets going Tuesday night. It's augmented with curios such as the Voodoo Revue (at the Arts Incubator, 115 West 18th Street), which features sideshow acts for grown-ups. Anticipation is high for Advice From a Spider, the latest from Heidi Van and friends, who gave us last year's great clown ballet, The Coppelia Project. (See Spider in Crown Center's Off Center Theatre, 2450 Grand.) This year's festival offers much burlesque, but for those who insist that performers in skivvies be part of a story, there's Lingerie Shop, an adults-only "comedy about women in their underwear" running Wednesday through Sunday at the Unicorn Theatre (3828 Main). Other new plays include local writer Michael Ruth's Homo Terrorist at Flo's Cabaret (1911 Main), and both Money Buckets: The Untold Story of FDR and the clown conformity drama Moon Room 53A621.35 at MET Space (3614 Main). Kyle Hatley, Kansas City Repertory Theatre's assistant artistic director, directs his own The Death of Cupid: a Whiskey Musical starting Tuesday (at Off Center Theatre). For tickets and showtimes to any of the dozens of performances, see kcfringe.org.
July 19-26, 2009