The Hollywood Fringe Festival is the slice of theatre that any LA resident needs to be sold on LA being a theatre town. Now, let's be real.
Fringe is a lot. 400 shows over the course of 1 month. Theatre Kids everywhere. Lots of first time writers/directors/actors.
But it is also the launching pad for some beautiful art, at a more than reasonable ticket price. Most shows cap out at $10!
This isn't an advertisement for the festival, but it is a post about shows that have changed my life in viewing.
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My all time favorite is Wounded by Jiggs Burgess
A beautiful discussion on how the trauma of our childhood serves as the fertilizer of the adults we bloom into, not just because the show is set in a not so Eden of a Garden. I was able to go into this show blind, and it is the only way I recommend viewing this play. I will say, pay attention to the trigger warnings because this is not an easy watch.
The soul of this show are truly the actors, Shaw Jones and Craig Taggart. They are able to accomplish something in 60 minutes that some shows fail to do over a whole season; make us care about their characters.
Jones plays Robert, a newly released from prison alcoholic, who is struggling with his sexuality. Taggart plays Carroll, the messiest southern neighbor you have ever met, who is more than proud to be out of the closet.
Without giving away too much, the life changing scene in this production is a 20 minute monologue from Taggart about growing up as an openly queer kid in the south. There was not a single dry eye in the theatre. During my viewing, there were multiple audience members who had to excuse themselves to breathe in the hallway. If this performance was in New York, it would have won a Tony.
LA is a theatre city.
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