Thanks to all the new faces, known faces, and fun faces who attended the Town Hall & Mixer last night. Lots of excellent questions from brilliant and inspired people.

We are working now on the audio recording of the Town Hall for those who missed it. Expect that up and available very soon.

Venue bookings continue as we approach the April 1 deadline. If you have any follow up questions, please contact us at [email protected].

Fringe on!

Ben

Let us all give a hearty fringe welcome to our Director of Special Programs: Mr. Jon Armstrong…

Greetings Fringlings,

You might remember me from the first Fringe fundraiser at Three Clubs, or if you may have seen my little card magic show at the inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival. After Ben learned about my experience producing with the Orlando Fringe Festival and other worldwide fringes, I was brought onto the team to be in charge of special programs like Fringe Family, buttons, and organizing the entertainment in the tent. Basically everything that doesn’t fall within the normal prevue of my other team-members is probably my responsibility.

Fringe Family is a brand new addition to the festival this year. If you haven’t read the article introducing Fringe Family, you should. By showcasing family-friendly programming we are hoping to help families find shows that are more appropriate for a younger age group, as well as give producers of family/children’s theatre a chance to showcase new works.

This year there will be fringe buttons. The details about the program will be rolled out soon, but the button design is pretty awesome and you are going to want one.

In addition to the new stuff, this year we are improving the fringe common areas and will be tenting the parking lot at Art|Works. The tent will be entertainment central, complete with a bar and a small stage perfect for a variety of acts. There will also be postcard holders, a main schedule board to help you find a show, and fringe polls which will be a centralized place to plaster your posters and promotional material.

There is lots of new stuff and ideas coming to this the 2011 festival, so keep your eyes open for more updates. If you have any questions about anything I mentioned above or something else, please contact me!

Happy Fringing!

Jon Armstrong

P.S. Did I mention I’m a pretty famous magician?

editor’s note: he really is a famous magician.

Theatre reviewing website LA Theatre Review seeks aspiring writers to cover the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Those of you who participated in Fringe 2010 should remember enjoying the excellent coverage via their website and the Daily Rag, a printed chronicle of show reviews.

If you love theatre and command a firm grasp of the critical written word, you may contact [email protected] for more information.

Fringe on!

Ben

And now the spotlight shines on our Food & Beverage Director: Abbie Wagoner…

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Hello out there in Fringe Land!

If you remember the sangria last summer, then you remember me (though, probably not much else). I became involved with Hollywood Fringe last year as a volunteer/bar manager. I basically walked up to Ben and asked what was needed, and he simply said, “Take balls and run with them…” After a good giggle, I teamed up with the great Bryan Burgess and we turned the Fringe Central patio into a fun and welcoming space for artists and patrons alike.

I’m so thrilled to be involved with Fringe this year as your Food and Beverage Director and I’ve got some exciting plans in store for our new Fringe Central outdoor space at ArtWorks. In honor of our friend and co-worker Bryan Burgess, the bar at Fringe Central will now eternally be called “Bryan’s Bar.” Along with our tented biergarten with full liquor license, I’m in the process of convening food trucks from all over Los Angeles that will park next to our space every day, to ensure full bellies for all!

Accompanying the bevy of food trucks, I plan to have all sorts of interesting fare available in the tent such as cotton candy, delicious organic popsicles, a variety of baked goods, and, of course, all kinds of fried things. You can also look forward to daily cocktail specials, non-alcoholic options, draught beers, bottomless tubs of sangria, and a “Bryan Burgess Special” that is sure to please and inebriate.

I can’t wait for everyone to see the wonderment we’re all working so hard to create in our new space, it will blow your minds. I will see you all in June and until then, feel free to contact me if you’d like to help behind the scenes or if you’re interested in becoming a vendor at Fringe Central.

Fringe on!

Abbie Wagoner

The #hff11 hashtag on Twitter has emerged as the de-facto bulletin board system for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Every day of the festival (and the months that precede it), dozens of tweets track the progress of participants, venues, staff, volunteers and patrons.

Twitter (and the #hff11 hashtag) is an excellent means of communicating with the community. In addition to twitter.com and every known mobile and desktop Twitter app, tweets appears on the Fringe home page which is viewed by thousands of enthusiastic Fringers every day.

We’ve just added new Twitter integration features to the fringe website. For example, each registration on the site is followed by an official tweet announcing a new participant production. Expect more integration in the near future including the ability to tweet about Fringe tickets you purchase and your personal Fringe schedule.

For those of you in need of a primer on twitter and hashtags – check out this article.

Hope to see you on Twitter this year! Follow us at @hollywoodfringe.

Ben