My overall impression
I had a blast at this party.
As someone that’s been here since year one, I can’t even begin to describe how thrilling it was to see wall-to-wall-to-wall Fringers. To say that we’ve grown as a community would be a gross understatement. I don’t think anyone expected the turnout we got, and I think those of you complaining about the heat don’t realize the significance of that turnout, or why that’s cause to celebrate by itself. We are LEGION.
Thank you to the companies that sponsored awards. You guys went out of your way to offer more opportunities for artists to be acknowledged and their work honored.
Thank you to the producers behind Best of Fringe, who saw an incredible amount of shows, looking for deserving work.
Thank you to the staff for keeping the acceptance speeches to two words. We got out of the heat a lot faster. :)
Also, thank you for building LA theatre a home that we all got to share and enjoy for a month this year. Fringe Central is a special place and I’m going to spend the next 11 months pining for that sense of easily accessible community that hanging out at FCS gave me. It’s not easy to do what you guys do.
Thank you to all of the humble artists that showed up and participated this year. The first-time producers, the folks that said “screw it, I’m going to put up a show” and jumped in with both feet and no idea what they were doing. You guys are all awesome and your courage is inspiring.
Thank you to the producers and companies and that have been here years past and came back this year – it’s awesome to see how we’ve all grown.
Thank you to Sacred Fools for showing up and kicking ass. You guys are a great example of what individual producers and small companies should strive to be, and where they can eventually get to with passion, professionalism, talent and hard work. When there are so many established companies and producers thumbing their noses at the festival, complaining about the lack of quality of the work, you guys showed up, and rocked the house. I sincerely hope you reap benefits from your participation this year.
Thank you to Celebration and Open Fist for sharing your homes with us. The Fringe won’t be the same without them next year.
It’s a shame that there are a couple of folks here that missed the point of all of this, and are so ready to tear down the whole festival as a result. I can understand frustration with the heat – yeah, it was warm. The beauty is, we need a bigger venue next year. I don’t think anyone expected that the closing night party would draw the crowd it did (big crowd? yes. HUGE MOB? No), and as I said before, that’s reason to celebrate.
