Open Letter to Fringe Staff & Volunteers

Heyah guys…remember me? We just spent quite a bit of time together doing this thing called The Hollywood Fringe Festival.

I just want to say – and I want the entire community to read it – that you are the most amazing, splendiferous, hard working, committed, fun-loving, caring, empathetic, joyful, spastic, organized, soul enriching bunch of party people son-of-a-bitches I have ever had the fine honor to work alongside.

Each of you has put your jobs, hearts, purses, souls, and bodies on the line to make this happen. And guess what – it happened, BIG. No one in the long history of time – amidst the failures, the shit jobs, the let downs, the disappointments – will ever take this away from you. Don’t let anyone ever make you feel bad about your time here or that it wasn’t 150% worth it. You made magic happen from nothing. What did we have? Five bucks, an idea, and a lot of expendable sweat. And somehow, we pulled it off. Just a bunch of jerks from DC, Iowa, Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond – proof that good friends, good times, and good intensions still matter in this often soul-sucking world of compromise.

You are all beautiful – and without you, we’d all be working in restaurants or cubicles with nothing to give our souls warmth.

And yes, I know I can be a bit eccentric in my management style, thanks for making all the allowances for my own quirks. In seasons of high stress, all our little “foibles” we like to keep hidden come a’ramblin out into our confined, collective breathing space.

You are all invited back next year. As the festival will be a bit different and we have all learned at long last our Fringe strengths and weaknesses, we may be doing different things with our time. I promise to delegate more and guarantee I won’t be such a raving control freak as I trust your sense of commitment 100%.

You made this thing for me, you are my friends, my comrades in arms, and I would happily lead you into the flaming pit of battle any moment of the year.

Stay frosty, Fringe People.

Ben