STREB EXTREME ACTION COMPANY performs two nights at Parcel 5

Patton Oswalt, Pandora Boxx, Remote Rochester, Cirque du Fringe: MIRACLE CURE
~ALL TICKETS ON SALE TODAY AT NOON~


Rochester, NY – For 10 days from Thursday, September 15 through Saturday, September 24, the 2016 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival will draw thousands of visitors to downtown Rochester to celebrate artistic expression in all of its forms. This morning at the Fringe’s annual BIG REVEAL, organizers announced the entire lineup of more than 500 performances and events – over 100 of which are free – at 20+ venues. The full schedule is available and all tickets are on sale today at noon at rochesterfringe.com.

“We are very proud to be title sponsor for the fifth year of this amazing community event,” said First Niagara Rochester Market Executive Suzanne Nasipak-Chapman. “The Fringe celebrates Rochester’s creative spirit and brings incredible energy and notoriety to our great city. And this year’s festival promises to be the best yet, making the Fringe a premier arts destination.”

Fringe’s 2016 free, outdoor spectacle will be world-renowned STREB EXTREME ACTION COMPANY, founded by Rochester native, Elizabeth Streb, who celebrates the company’s 30th anniversary with this special homecoming. With performance credits that include the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, STREB has been widely documented in films, books and by international news media. Rochester audiences will be blown away by its latest breathtaking show, SEA (Singular Extreme Actions), a fusion of slam dancing, wild action sport, and falling from height on three stages at this year’s new location: Parcel 5 (next to 1 East Avenue). Instead of performing only at Friday on the Fringe, STREB will present four performances of bodies careening through, around and above invented hardware during two nights at this year’s Friday & Saturday on the Fringe (Friday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 17 at 5, 7:30 & 10 p.m.), all backed by a live DJ and tunes from some of today’s best beat producers.

Turning Saturday’s festivities into one giant dance party will be the debut of Fringe Street Beat, an all-style breakdancing and hip hop dance battle showcasing some of the region’s best dance crews. Alternating with STREB performances, they’ll compete onstage for bragging rights and a $1,500 prize. (Enter at rochesterfringe.com.) Both days will offer additional free entertainment including live music by KOPPS, The Buddhahood, The Demos, the UR YellowJackets and more, from 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, and from 3 to 11 p.m. on Saturday. 

Comedian, actor and best-selling author Patton Oswalt , who played the very first Fringe, returns for a rare 2016 performance in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre on Sunday, September 18 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35-$80.

Remote Rochester, the sell-out, smash hit from last year’s Fringe, is also back – by true popular demand. This site-specific, immersive theatre piece by Berlin’s ground-breaking Rimini Protokoll will once again guide audiences on a tour of Rochester like no other. Tickets are $28 (increasing to $33 on 9/1).

The Spiegeltent – that wondrous, wood and stained-glass jewel box of a venue that has become a Fringe trademark – will also reappear at One Fringe Place (corner of Gibbs and Main streets). Last year’s Cabinet of Wonders show was such a success that Fringe is bringing back its creator – renowned comedian, actor and circus artist Matthew Morgan – with another world-premiere show called Cirque du Fringe: MIRACLE CURE. The intimate, theatre-in-the-round variety show will be co-hosted by Morgan and fellow comedian Mark Gindick in the style of an old-time, Wild West traveling medicine show. All-new featured acts include highwire artist Ariele Ebacher and juggler/rolo bolo artist Jan Damm, among others. Tickets are $21-33 (increasing to $24-$36 on 9/1, see website for VIP Booth pricing).

World-famous drag queen (100K Twitter followers can’t be wrong!), RuPaul’s Drag Race favorite, and Rochester native, Pandora Boxx, will bring her bawdy, one-“woman” cabaret show, The Worst Show Ever, to the Spiegeltent for two performances: Friday and Saturday, September 23 & 24 at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $21(increasing to $15 on 9/1, see website for VIP Booth pricing).

A total sell-out since it debuted at Fringe 2013, Silent Disco – the quietest, coolest dance club in town – returns to the Spiegeltent all four weekend nights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets are $9 (increasing to $11 on 9/1). New this year: Disco Kids on Saturday, Sept. 24 at noon.

That urban oasis adjacent to the Spiegeltent, the Spiegelgarden, will again host free activities such as Pedestrian Drive-In as well as the new Green Room, a lounge created by Rochester Mini Maker Faire from recycled materials including more than 4,000 milk and water jugs.

Fringe’s free Gospel Sunday, which showcases some of Rochester best gospel groups, returns to Kilbourn Hall on the Fringe’s only Sunday: September 18th at 2 p.m. 

Gibbs Street will close to vehicle traffic for free entertainment – including bands (Campbell Brothers, The Demos, Castle Creek, Gigantosaurus Rex, and many others), Chalk Art, street entertainers, food trucks and more – during the Fringe’s final weekend: Friday, September 23 from 5-11 p.m.; and Saturday the 24th from noon to 11 p.m.

Closing weekend will also feature a giant, free, community theatre piece by Method Machine and Artistic Director David Henderson (à la 2014 Fringe’s Spoon River Rochester) from 6 to 6:40 p.m. on Sept. 23 & 24. It will involve 200 area participants – including Mayor Lovely A. Warren – performing all along Gibbs Street, while audience members walk among them. This year’s show, Grimms’ Mad Tales, is based on Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and interested parties can find out more – and cast themselves – at grimmsmadtales.com.

“The City of Rochester has been a proud supporter of this festival since its debut,” said Mayor Warren, who also performed in Spoon River Rochester. “Events like this improve the quality of life here, which in turn helps us to create more jobs, safer and more vibrant streets, and better educational opportunities for our citizens.”

Following the Edinburgh Fringe model, the Fringe curates its headliners and all free outdoor entertainment, but the vast majority of the 2016 shows were submitted by artists to Fringe venues in the spring, then programmed by those venues. This allows for the artistic freedom integral to a fringe festival. The multi-genre arts festival includes Children’s, Comedy, Dance, Multidisciplinary, Music, Spoken Word, Theatre, and Visual Arts & Film, and takes place in Rochester’s East End as well as the Fringe’s “satellite” location, Neighborhood of the Arts.

This year’s venues are: Bernunzio Uptown Music, Blackfriars Theatre, the Central Library, Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Hall and Sproull Atrium, Gallery r, Garth Fagan Dance Studio, George Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre, Java’s Café, The Little, Lyric Theatre, MuCCC, RAPA @ SOTA, Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo), RMSC’s Strasenburgh Planetarium, The Strong, TheatreROCS Stage, and Writers & Books. Additional Fringe-curated venues include Parcel 5, Gibbs Street, the Spiegeltent, the Spiegelgarden, Kodak Hall, and the City of Rochester itself (Remote Rochester).

“We are proud to be announcing our fifth Fringe today, full of exciting ‘firsts’ for Rochester and built upon the strong foundation of four years of success,” said Fringe Producer Erica Fee. “We’re so grateful to all of our sponsors, partners, venues, artists and – most of all – to our audiences for allowing us to continue to grow this celebration of creativity every year.”

Tickets are available at rochesterfringe.com, (585) 957-9837 (phone fees apply), and at the Spiegeltent Box Office (One Fringe Place, corner of Gibbs & Main) starting Sunday, September 1. Remaining tickets will also be available at venues starting one hour prior to performance.

More about Fringe: Since its debut in 2012, the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the most successful fringe festivals in the U.S., attracting more than 63,000 attendees in 2015. This 10-day, multi-arts festival now boasts over 500 performances and events – more than a quarter of which are free – in 25+ venues in downtown Rochester, NY. Celebrating and inspiring creativity, the Fringe – curated by both the festival and its venues – includes everything from theatre, music, comedy and dance, to children’s entertainment, spoken word, visual arts and much more.

Rochester Fringe Festival is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that exists as a means to connect venues, performers, artists, educational institutions and the audience. It was pioneered by several of Rochester’s esteemed cultural institutions, including Geva Theatre Center, the George Eastman House and Garth Fagan Dance, as well as up-and-coming groups like PUSH Physical Theatre and Method Machine. The Board of Directors includes representatives from the University of Rochester; Rochester Institute of Technology; Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC; Boylan Code LLP; Eastman School of Music; Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co. LLP; Method Machine; PUSH Physical Theatre; and Writers & Books. The Rochester Fringe Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. This festival is also supported by a grant awarded to the Rochester Fringe Festival by New York State’s Empire State Development and I LOVE NY  / NYS Division of Tourism under Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative.

Fringe Sponsors include: First Niagara; I Love NY; New York State Council on the Arts; University of Rochester; Rochester Area Community Foundation; RIT; Elaine P. & Richard U. Wilson Foundation; Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; National Endowment for the Arts; Gouvernet Arts Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation; City of Rochester; Monroe County;  Bond, Schoeneck & King LLP; Boylan Code LLP; Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co. LLP; Davenport-Hatch Foundation; Wegmans; Nocon & Associates; Ronald Fielding; SUNY Geneseo; Konar Enterprises; Hilton Garden Inn; The Pike Company; Mary Mulligan Trust; the Max & Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; CITY Newspaper; Democrat & Chronicle Media Group; Buckingham Properties; East Avenue Inn & Suites; Broccolo Tree & Lawncare; McCarthy Tents & Events; Scott Grove; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; J.M. McDonald Foundation; The Rubens Family Foundation; The Wilson Foundation; the College at Brockport; Nazareth College; St. John Fisher College; Visit Rochester; Genesee Beer; Heineken; House of Guitars; City Blue; G.H. Cretors Popped Corn; Kozel Family Foundation; WXXI; The Penthouse at One East Ave; Gallina Development; Hamilton AV; KidsOutandAbout.com; Mary Cariola Center; Midtown Athletic; the YMCA; Canandaigua National Bank & Trust; Burt Gordon; and Northeastern Pool & Spa.

First Niagara, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., is a multi-state community-oriented bank with approximately 390 branches, $40 billion in assets, $29 billion in deposits, and approximately 5,400 employees providing financial services to individuals, families and businesses across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.firstniagara.com.