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Jason Bruffy and Jay Kalagayan push the fringe of Cincinnati
arts
By Steve Ramos
Jason Bruffy might have started Cincinnati’s first Fringe Festival
— a five-day series of productions dedicated to avant-garde
theater — last summer, but the inspiration that such an event
was possible goes back to his experience with Cincinnati’s foremost
grassroots theater company, Know Theatre Tribe.
Bruffy was assistant director under Michael Burnham on Know’s
controversial 2003 production of Corpus Christi, the acclaimed Terrence
McNally play about a gay Son of God. Asked to reflect on the headline-making
play, Bruffy describes his role as more like a stage manager and mother
hen.
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photo:
David Sorcher
Jason Bruffy and Jay Kalagayan |
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“Every night I would meet with the Corpus Christi actors at
Milton’s Tavern up on Liberty Hill,” he says. “I
would lead the group down the hill in a single pack, past the protestors
and into the theater.”
There’s no contracted relationship between Know Theatre and
Cincinnati Experimental Arts, the producing organization behind the
Fringe Festival. The relationship between the two arts organizations
is more casual, an extension of the friendship between Know Theatre
Executive Director Jay Kalagayan and Bruffy, who became the company’s
Artistic Director last fall.
Bruffy experienced firsthand the additional costs Know Theatre experienced
for staging Corpus Christi (for instance, they’d never hired
security before). Yet when the production was over, the fledgling
company broke even. More importantly, Kalagayan says, Know became
a company known for staging challenging adult works.
If Know Theatre could be successful staging Corpus Christi —
as well the rest of their edgy program — Bruffy was convinced
that Cincinnati was ready to support a Fringe Festival.
“For so long there has never been a balance in the top arts,”
Bruffy says, speaking at Know’s sparse offices in the former
school building at Gabriel’s Corner in Over-the-Rhine. “There
is plenty of family-friendly fare but not many groups serving anything
edgy or fringe. Cincinnati Experimental Arts is about providing a
balance and serving the number of people interested in fringe and
edgy art. They see this type of work on TV and movies. Why not see
this type of edgy material on stage in Cincinnati?
“What it comes down to is whether people know it’s there.
Most people know about Broadway Series shows, and you’re lucky
if they know about the Playhouse in the Park. It’s a ray of
light if they know about Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. But do they
know Cincinnati Experimental Arts exists?”
The 2005 Fringe Festival takes place June 1-12 at Know’s Gabriel’s
Corner Performance Space, the Contemporary Arts Center Black Box and
other downtown venues.
Bruffy continues to have plenty of help: Kalagayan, Brandon Brady,
Gabe Johnson and others. But everyone agrees that Bruffy — both
producing director for the Fringe Festival and the head of Cincinnati
Experimental Arts — as the guiding hand behind the event.
Bruffy and Kalagayan are committed to downtown and Over-the-Rhine,
so all Fringe Festival events will take place in the two central neighborhoods
despite the additional struggle of trying at attract people downtown.
“How do you get them (young people) interested in the arts?”
Kalagayan asks. “How do you get them to come downtown?”
Bruffy is convinced that giving them something new and vibrant is
key.
If everything goes as planned, the 2005 Fringe Festival will consist
of five performance venues with 26 performance acts, each presenting
their works five times over the festival’s 12 days. There are
also plans for an outdoor stage.
The budget for the 2004 Fringe Festival was $17,000, and the event
broke even. Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival was a partner in 2004
but didn’t join up for 2005. Bruffy says he hopes to increase
the 2005 budget to $60,000.
Blue Forms Group, an avant-garde troupe from Columbus — listed
as one of the top 10 companies to watch by American Theatre Magazine
— returns to the Fringe Festival with a production Bruffy describes
as part La Ronde and part Sex and the City. He expects that the play’s
unforgiving look at relationships and public nudity will cause a ripple
in Cincinnati, which is what qualifies the work as fringe.
Bruffy remains optimistic. He looks at what the Canadian Fringe Festivals
are able to accomplish as well as peer events in cities like Orlando,
Fla., and Boulder, Colo. The key, he says, is to capitalize on past
opportunities and continue to look ahead.
The continued success and growth of Know Theatre makes Bruffy and
Kalagayan optimistic about the Fringe Festival. Know has 70 subscribers
and recently launched a series of preview weekends that allow the
audience to make donations in lieu of buying a ticket.
Bruffy and Kalagayan are two against the world of arts programming.
They’re focused on attracting the largest crowds possible to
the alternative arts, and their plan seems to be working beyond anyone’s
expectations. © |
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