On the Fringe

You know, I’ve been intending to post all week on what a slacker I’ve been, but I was much too busy to write it . . . yes, seriously!

Life at the Random Non-profit is still a crazy mess – everything is still in flux, senior staff members are jockeying for power, and there is much uneasiness amongst the rest of the staff . . . besides there still being much, too much to do all of the time . . .

But now I am on vacation! I have the next two weeks off, although they are not really “off-off” since Mr. Random’s Mom is coming to town the first week in August and we still have much cleaning and many small improvements to do around the condo.

But this week shall still be fun anyway, because this week I am volunteering at the 1st annual DC Fringe Festival. To see what it is, go here: (www.capfringe.org). Most people don’t think of DC as an arts town, but there is quite the active visual and performing arts community here, and I am quite excited to be able to help out in the first year of what I hope will be many more Fringe Festivals. If anyone is in the area and is going to attend, leave a comment and let me know – I may be volunteering at the venue where you’re going to be!

One thing to know, if you are going to attend any Fringe Festival events, is that you have to get to your preferred performance early. Don’t show up 5 minutes late, wanting to get into the show, because the productions start promptly at the listed time, and we are not allowed to let anyone else into the room – this is at the request of the performers and directors. This makes sense because a lot of the rooms are rather small, and letting more people in to find seating is very disruptive to both the audience and the performers. Today I had a large family show up 15 minutes late to a performance, driving into DC all the way from Centerville, but we could not let them in to see the show. It may have seemed harsh, but this particular show was only 35 minutes long, so they missed half the show already anyway. Besides, if you were going to drive in from Centerville, wouldn’t you try to get into town super early anyway? Traffic is usually a bear, and you should always overestimate the time needed just so you get somewhere on time . . .

Also, if there is a particular show you want to see, try to reserve the tickets online first. At this point, a lot of the more popular shows are sold out already for the week and next weekend . . . especially if the production is in a small room in a venue. Someone I work with is in a show, and this afternoon I saw that his shows this weekend were sold out, so I was going to buy tickets online when I got home and – surprise! – it turns out that the shows scheduled for the rest of the week and on Saturday are sold out too. That sucks! I really wanted to see it, especially since this person hardly ever mentions what other productions he is in . . . and rumor is that he is a pretty excellent actor.

. . . I’m hoping that with the week off, I’ll have much more time to post and respond on other people’s blogs. I’m sure there will be more interesting happenings at the Festival as the week goes on and I hope to get to tell you about then . . .