Greetings, all-

Best of Fringe, our encore program for projects chosen for a post-Fringe run, launches this week with a single performance from our “Top of the Fringe” winner: Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet.

If you missed this act during the Fringe, now is your chance to check them out.

See below for more info. In the coming days, we will be posting a complete schedule for Best of Fringe, keep your eyes peeled!

Ben

Award Winning FOUR CLOWNS brings its ROMEO & JULIET adaptation to the 2011 Best of Hollywood Fringe for One Night Only!

• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best of the Fringe
• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best World Premiere
• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best in Physical Theatre
• 2011 Bitter Lemons Nomination – Most Outrageous Theatre

“sure to be thoroughly entertained” – Joel Elkins, LA Theatre Review
WOW! “mastered the art of clowning” – Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
“talented, crowd-pleasing, and hilarious” – Mialka Bonadonna, LAist
“excruciatingly witless” – Bill Raden, LA Weekly
“uproariously funny” – Noah Nelson, Turnstyle
“extremely clever” – Robert Machray, Stage Happenings

Bitter Lemons Top Ten Shows @ Fringe

Promo Video

One Show Only @ Asylum Theatre – Best of Fringe
6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Saturday, July 9 @ 8pm

In the late 16th century, William Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet, the greatest romantic tragedy the world has ever known. Now, over 400 years later, the Four Clowns show-turned-troupe present their adaptation of his legendary play. Nothing is sacred as the four clowns explore themes of love, lust and vengeance, all in the pursuit of laughter. The show contains graphic violence, strong sexual situations and other wanton behavior.

starring…

• Alexis Jones
• Kevin Klein
• Raymond Lee
• Zachary Steel

…with pianist Mario Granville

Who: Produced by Four Clowns
What: Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet freely adapted from William Shakespeare and directed by Jeremy Aluma
Where: Asylum Theatre @ 6320 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038.
When: Saturday, July 9 @ 8pm
Why: Laughter is the best medicine.
How: $15 general admission & $10 fringe participants at www.FourClowns.org or 562.508.1788

AWARDS FROM OUR FIRST SHOW

• 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival Award for Best in Physical Theater and Dance
• 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival Nomination for Best World Premiere
• 2010 Bitter Lemons Most Outrageous Theater Nomination

REVIEWS FROM OUR FIRST SHOW
“daring & energetic, weird & wonderful” – Huffington Post
“entertaining” GO! – LA Weekly
“his cast is gifted” – Backstage
“you’ll be sure to cry…from laughter” – LA Theatre Review
“relentless hilarity” – Examiner
BEST OF HOLLYWOOD FRINGE

The Fringe hosted its annual Award Ceremony & Closing Night Party on Sunday, June 26th where it announced winners of the following community & sponsored awards:

Sponsored Awards:

• The Bitter Lemons Outrageous Award for Theatre (BLOAT): Porter’s Macbeth: A Parody
• The Theatre Unleashed Award: Spring Awakening
• The Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative (LAFPI) Award: Open Fist Theatre, Paul G. Gleason Theatre, Fringe Central, Hudson Theatre, Arena Stage, and Ultra Star Venues (for venues presenting 50% or more productions written by female playwrights)

Fringe Community Awards: “The Freaks”

• Top of the Fringe Award: 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Best International Show: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
• Fringe First Award (Best World Premiere): 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Comedy: Lost Moon Radio
• Fringe Award for Theatre: Girl Band in the Men’s Room
• Fringe Award for Musicals & Operas: The Trouble with Words
• Fringe Award for Dance & Physical Theatre: 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Cabaret & Variety: I Do Card Tricks and I’m Funny

Best of Fringe

Matt Quinn, the Venue Manager for Theatre Asylum (6320 Santa Monica Blvd) also announced the productions that will be included in the “Best of Fringe”, the top Fringe shows to be presented at Theatre Asylum (the venue that started “Best of Fringe” after the 2010 festival), Actor’s Circle and Artworks Theatre & Studios.

The following productions were announced as being part of this Fringe extension:

• A Mess of Things
• Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!
• Bean
• The Booby Prize
• Box, Window, Door
• Cowboy Mouth
• Endgame
• 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Girl Band in the Men’s Room
• Glint
• Gospel of a Teenage Jesus
• I Heart Hamas
• Life in the Middle Ages
• Lost Moon Radio
• The Normal Child
• Over There: Comedy is His Best Weapon
• Porter’s Macbeth: A Parody
• Pulp Shakespeare
• Spring Awakening
• The Barking Pig
• Another Effing Family Drama
• The Milford Project
• The Trouble With Words
• Voices from Chornobyl, Jr.
• Who Loves You Baby!

We’d like to thank all the generous souls who donated money to our successful Kickstarter campaign. With your help we raised over $10,000 for the future of the Fringe.

We’ve put together a special page to thank those who gave.

The Fringe is still rolling along and we are heading into our final weekend. Make sure to stop by and catch a show that our generous sponsors have made possible!

Ben

New start up SageNStream.com, has arrived at the Hollywood Fringe.

For the first time, 11 of our Fringe theatre shows will be live streamed to the Internet. It’s a large undertaking, a logistical as well as technical challenge, and we’re excited to be part of it.

Fringe is experimental to its core and it is fitting that we should be testing the boundaries in every way. A subscription to watch all 11 of the shows costs a mere $5.95 and that also allows you to watch any shows you missed until July 9th. Check out their schedule at stagenstream.com/schedule.

Full details are at www.stagenstream.com

Ben

The Opening Night Party begins at 9:00pm on Wednesday, June 15 at Fringe Central (ArtWorks Theatre & Studios, 6569 Santa Monica Blvd.), the central box office and hub of the festival.

Tickets are in the form of a Fringe Button with a suggested donation of $5. They are available at the Fringe Central Box Office upon arrival.

Hosted by Fringe Special Programs Director Jon Armstrong, who has been nominated six times in total for the Academy of Magical Arts’ Close Up Magician of the Year Award, the party will feature ongoing performances throughout Fringe Central, including the Fringe Beer Tent & Cabaret Stage. The event will evoke a variety show atmosphere, with balloon twisters, freak show performers, close-up magic, a disco dance party and two jazz bands playing throughout the night.

• The Damselles, 9:30pm on the Mainstage
• Lost Moon Radio, 10:30pm on the Mainstage
• Fringe Disco in the Fringe Central Annex, starting at 10:00pm
• Cabaret & Variety shows on the Fringe Central Cabaret Stage, various times

The party kicks off the second year of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, running June 16-26. The uncensored multi-arts fest features over 200 productions from a range of artistic disciplines.

Jon Armstrong is a card magician living in Los Angeles and is a frequent performer at the Magic Castle. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Magical Arts. He has been featured in trade publications like Magic, The Linking Ring, MUM and other magic journals worldwide. Jon also appeared on the cover of Genii 2004 December in an issue dedicated to his magic. In April 2007, Jon Armstrong was named Close Up Magician of the Year by The Academy of Magical Arts. He has been nominated six times total as of 2011.