Every September, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival showcases provocative and innovative performances and exhibitions in dance, music, theater, visual arts, spoken word, and more from artists from around the world. Three Haverford alums are among the various performers and curators who will enrich this year’s event, which is hosted by the FringeArts organization and runs from Sept. 3 through 19.
Mario Cotto ’98 performs in Thaddeus Phillips’ stage production Alias Ellie Mackenzie, which was inspired by the telenovela Alias El Mexicano and follows American pilot/drug runner/informant Barry Seal, the part Phillips played on the TV show. The play, which features other Columbian actors from Alias El Mexicano, engages with questions of performance and identity, and Cotto, who is a DJ on KCRW in Los Angeles, also provides music supervision for the production. (Through Sept. 19)
Antonia Brown ’13 performed last year at the fest in the four seasons and Experiment #39; the latter of which sold out almost instantly. Brown returns to the Fringe this year, leading her dance company, Antonia & Artists, in Body of Water, a highly anticipated piece that she choreographed. (Through Sept. 12)
Scott Sheppard ’06 is a co-creator and performer in Underground Railroad Game, a bold, comedic play about race relations, reenactment culture, and middle school curricula that was inspired by a game he played in his 5th grade history class. Learn more about the production in this WHYY Radio Times interview. Or you can ask him about it in person when Sheppard returns to Haverford later this semester to lead John Muse’s freshman writing seminar, “The Rhetoric of Argument,” through a series of workshops on creative research. (Through Sept. 12)
—Jenny Ahn ’17
Photos courtesy of Fringe Arts