The first nickname I ever had at Fringe Central was “Pagan Meghan”. I’d driven up from San Diego to produce a show with my best friends, an original devised work called Pagan Play that made little sense but was full of heart. I was lucky the moniker rhymed, because it made it easier for people to remember my name.

The Hollywood Fringe Festival happened to me very quickly. I met Ben Hill after a Town Hall at Theatre of Note. I met Stacy Jones (now Hill) onstage in the back room at Three Clubs, during a pre-Fringe fundraiser. We both loved dancing to Beyoncé. I had graduated from UCSD, with a degree in theatre and a desire to find a good community filled with good people. Los Angeles was not on the list of cities I’d hoped to move to, but I did it because of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Kan Mattoo interviewed me on the porch of Ben and Stacy’s old house, cans of beer in hand. Dave McKeever was there too, tossing the ball for Cattleman the dog.

The rest is history. We became family. We lost loved ones and fell in love again. We hung up Christmas decorations, ate thousands of food truck meals, made theater, drank too much, and never stopped dancing to Beyoncé.

I’ve been fortunate to create and launch some of Hollywood Fringe’s most important programs—I was a co-founder of the internship program (now expertly managed by Stina Pederson), brought Fringe theater to local high schools through Student Fringe, and developed Fringe Scholarships with Ellen Den Herder, the initiative of which I am most proud. I’ve hosted hundreds of Office Hours and moderated dozens of Fringe Workshops. The Fringe community thrives when participation is enthusiastic and diverse, and much of my responsibility is keeping it that way.

Thank you all for buying me drinks, and I’m sorry I couldn’t always come to see your show. Thank you for raising your hands to ask questions, and I’m sorry I often cut you off before you finished your sentence.

Thank you for wearing a name tag every time I asked you to.

Thank you for winking at me across Bryan’s Bar, for dancing with me at the prom, for protecting me when I couldn’t do it myself.  

Thank you for creating this community of weirdos where we can all finally be at home.

Thank you for trusting me, and trusting us, with your stories and your art.

My greatest calling in life is engaging diverse communities of people for the arts, and the Hollywood Fringe was the first place I started learning that.

It’s where I learned to lead, to love, to subsist on so very little sleep, and to dedicate myself to a truly worthy cause. You are the great love of my twenties, Hollywood Fringe, and I will miss you dearly. 

We are happy to share with you this year’s Award Winners – announced just moments ago at the 2017 Award Ceremony, held at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre! Thank you all for joining us at the ceremony. Congratulations to all the winners!.

Fringe Freaks (Community-Voted Awards)

Top of the Fringe:  Shakeslesque: (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)

International:  Ladies in Waiting: The Judgement of Henry VIII

Fringe First (World Premiere):  Turbulence!

Cabaret & Variety: Shakeslesque: (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)

Comedy:  Easy Targets

Dance & Physical Theatre: Definition of A Man

Ensemble Theatre: The Motherf**ker in the Hat

Immersive Theatre: Apartment 8

Musicals and Operas: Turbulence!

Solo Performance: Under the Jello Mold

Sponsored Awards

ShoWorks Don’t Wait. Create! Award: Chimpskin

The Screamiest:  A(partment 8)

The Spirit of the Fringe, Never in a Box Award: TOYS

The Duende Distinction: Christina Evans – Choreography - TOYS

Tip Your 2Cents Award for Distinctive Voices:  Chimpskin

The Ripest Show:  Definition of Man

A Little New Music Award for Outstanding Songwriting: Turbulence!

Larry Cornwall Award:  Magic 8 Ball (My Life with Asperger’s)

Rogue Machine’s “Premiere” Award:  Urban Unrest – Urban Theatre Movement

Beyond Bechtel-Wallace Award: Thanksgiving

Diversity in American Theatre Award:  In the Valley of The Shadow

Soaring Solo Artist Award: Magic 8 Ball (My Life with Asperger’s)

The Inkwell Playwright’s Promise Award: In the Valley of The Shadow

Short and Sweet Award:  CHATTER

O-Face Award for Orgasmic Achievement (Most Orgasmic Performance): Yozmit Walker - Do You: Migration of the Monarchs –

Best Fringe Flyer:  An Evening With John Wilkes Booth

The Unleashed Award:  Thanksgiving

The LAFPI Most Wanted Award:

Actors Company, Art of Acting Studio,  Assistance League Playhouse, Epiphany Space, Complex Theatres, Hudson Theatres,  Los Angeles LGBT Center, Rogue Machine @ MET Theatre, studio/stage, The Loft, Theatre of NOTE, Three Clubs, Thymele Arts, Urban Social House, The New Collective

The Encore! Producers Award:

Complex Theatres – Video Games, Narcissus and Echo, Trixie: The Musical, Human Hothouse: The Aftershow, 13th Grade, Desert Warrior, Claim Jumper, Even If It’s Wrong, Toys, Confessions of an Arab Woman, Incantessimo, Mistero Buffo, Too Many Hitlers, Ripley’s Dystopia, Broke and Ugly, Mary’s Medicine, Under the Jello Mold, Slashed, An Evening with John Wilkes Booth, Do You. Migration of the Monarchs

Lounge Theatre – Bitch Brow, I’m Too Fat For This Show, Just Like Life, NICAEA, Sapo Cancionero: Live Your Heart Out, Thanksgiving, The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign, Transmission – A One Tran Show

Sacred Fools Theatre – Quantum Entanglement, Bono & the Edge Waiting for Godomino’s, Easy Targets, Definition of Man, Divorce: The Hip Hop Musical, The Joe & Joshua Show!, Why We Become Witches, Kinsherf’s Coat, A Harmony Boy’s Christmas, Charlie Moose Makes His Move, 12 Bars, Urban Theatre Movement presents: Urban Unrest, The King’s Language, High Rise, Orange Mango Cabaret

Three Clubs – Buffy Kills Edward, Shakespeare and Chill, Hot Dates, Legends of the Hidden Three Clubs, Psychosical, Nights at the Algonquin Round Table,

Studio/Stage – Blamed: An Established Fiction, Nothing Bad: A Werewolf Rock Musical, Here Comes, Rutherford, Herpes: A Love Story, The Tempest: All Women Cast, So You Want to be a Vampire, The Spidey Project, Three Can Keep A Secret, MEXISTANI! Growing up Mexican and Pakistani in America, Gamers
 
The New Collective – Just Sayin, Got A Minute, I Do … Do You?, Life, Death and … Entertainment

Actors Company – A Void, Bravo 25, Dead Boys, Dying City, mismatch, Pagliaccis, Songs of the Fall, The Complete History of Drag in a Few Mo-mo, Trump in Space

Asylum – 6 Figures, 86’d, Andy: The Red Nosed Warhola, CHATTER, Cheek (and other stories), Chemo Barbie, CringeFest: An Uncomfortable Anthology, Devadasi, A Story of Sex, Power and Devotion, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, Hello Again! The Songs of Allan Sherman, Homebody/ The Anxiety Cure, Just Old Woman from Old Country, Save Me a Spot!, Scarlet Pimpernel, SECRET IDENTITY CRISIS, Secure Storage, SNATCHED…Stories From Down There, Solomon: King Poet &, Lover – A Tale of One Man & 700 Wives, Space Play or The Number of Nothing, Terror on The High Seas, The Amitycode, The Brick – A One Man Musical, The Motherfucker With The Hat, The Rise and Fall of Dracula, The Sacred Beasts, The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski, This Our Now, Two Motherfuckers on a Ledge, Willy’s Lil Virgin Queen

Here are all the nominees for the community and sponsored awards! Congratulations to everyone!

Fringe Freaks (Community-Voted Awards)

Top of the Fringe

Blamed: An Established Fiction

SHAKESLESQUE (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)

The Motherf**ker With The Hat

TURBULENCE!

UNDER THE JELLO MOLD

International

Art and Abolition Help!

I Think I Might Be Fabulous

Ladies in Waiting: The Judgement of Henry VIII

The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign

Toys

Fringe First (World Premiere)

Buffy Kills Edward: A Musical Romp

Definition of Man

Narcissus & Echo

SHAKESLESQUE (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)

TURBULENCE!

Cabaret & Variety

HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN

Nic & Brooke’s Comedy Dance Party

PSYCHOSICAL: an asylum cabaret

Serial Killers at the Fringe.

SHAKESLESQUE (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)

Comedy

Airplane LIVE!

Bono and The Edge Waiting for Godomino’s

Easy Targets

Martha Washington Killed A Redcoat

THANKSGIVING

Dance & Physical Theatre

Blamed: An Established Fiction

Definition of Man

Office Beat – A Tap Dance Comedy

Stringmates

Toys

Ensemble Theatre

DYSTOPIA

NORMAL

The Faggot King or The Troublesome Reign of Edward II

The Motherf**ker With The Hat

Three Can Keep A Secret

Immersive Theatre

A(partment 8)

John Stamos is My Baby Daddy / Rainbow Brite Power Naps

The Kansas Collection: Chapters One and Two

The Rise and Fall of Dracula

The Video Games

Musicals and Operas

A Harmony Boys Christmas

Buffy Kills Edward: A Musical Romp
Narcissus & Echo

Slashed! The Musical

TURBULENCE!

Solo Performance

 AN EVENING WITH JOHN WILKES BOOTH

Fuck Tinder

HERE COMES RUTHERFORD

UNDER THE JELLO MOLD

Why We Become Witches

Sponsored Awards

ShoWorks Don’t Wait. Create! Award (sponsored by ShoWorks Entertainment)

Insuppressible: The Unauthorized Leah Remini Story

Thanksgiving

Chimpskin

Divorce: The Hip-Hop Musical

Under The Jello Mold

The Screamiest (sponsored by Midsummer Scream Halloween Festival)

A(partment 8)

Normal

So You Want to be a Vampire

Slashed! The Musical

The Spirit of the Fringe, Never in a Box Award (sponsored by Lumpy-Cramp© Productions & Motor City Fringe Festival

Toys

Turbulence!

Divorce: A Hip-Hop Musical

Andy: The Red-Nosed Warhola

Apathy Killed the Cat

The Duende Distinction (sponsored by The Vagrancy)

Charlotte Gulezian – Acting – Blackbird

Christina Evans – Choreography – Toys

Cynthia Yelle – Performance – Confessions of an Arab Woman

Elizabeth Lanier – Overall Production – Narcissus & Echo

Gisla Stringer, Juan Amador &  Brenda Banda – Playwrighting – Urban Theatre Movement Presents: Urban Unrest

Tip Your 2Cents Award for Distinctive Voices (sponsored by 2Cents Theatre Group)

Toys

Infantryman in the Wardrobe

The Girl Who Jumped off the Hollywood Sign

Chimpskin

The Kansas Collection: Chapters One and Two

The Ripest Show (sponsored by Cherry Poppins Productions)

Definition Of Man

Andy: The Red-Nosed Warhola

Narcissus & Echo

Blamed: An Established Fiction

Divorce: The Hip-Hop Musical

A Little New Music Award for Outstanding Songwriting (sponsored by A Little New Music)

13th Grade

Insuppressible: The Unauthorized Leah Remini Story

Save Me A Spot!

Turbulence!

The Wedding Night (featured in 1001 Minutes of New Musicals, Production C)

Larry Cornwall Award (sponsored by Shout it Out Promotions LLC)

The Girl Who Jumped off the Hollywood Sign

​Under the Jello Mold​

Lights – Camera – Lyla! The Second Act

Nosferatu, A Symphony in Terror.

Magic 8 Ball (My Life with Asperger’s)

The LAFPI Most Wanted Award:

This award is being presented to all Hollywood Fringe Festival venues & producing theatres that staged over 50% of works by women.

Rogue Machine’s “Premiere” Award (sponsored by Rogue Machine Theatre)

Urban Theatre Movement Presents: Urban Unrest

A Vegas Kind of Love

NICKY

Who you Calling a Bitch?!?

UNDER THE JELLO MOLD

Beyond Bechtel-Wallace Award (sponsored by Broads’ Word Ensemble)

Confessions of an Arab Woman

Shakeslesque: To Thine Own Cherry Be True

Stringmates

Thanksgiving

The Rise and Fall of Dracula

Diversity in American Theatre Award (sponsored by Urban Theatre Movement)

The King’s Language  

This Our Now

In the Valley of The Shadow

Somewhere Between Cosmo and The Bible

Dead Boys

Soaring Solo Artist Award (sponsored by Soaring Solo LLC & Whitefire Theatre)

Transmission – A One Tran Show

I’m Too Fat For This Show

Magic 8 Ball (My Life with Asperger’s)

The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign

’Til Sunday

The Inkwell Playwright’s Promise Award (sponsored by The Inkwell Theatre)

Definition of Man by Nikki Muller

The King’s Language by Chris Yejin

In the Valley of the Shadow by Katherine Cortez

Shakeslesque: To Thine Own Cherry Be True by Alli Miller and Sarah Haworth Hodges

Three Can Keep A Secret by Gregory Crafts

Short & Sweet Award (sponsored by Short & Sweet International Festival)

Martha Washington Killed A Redcoat

Calculations

Toys

Chatter

Andy: The Red-Nosed Warhola

O Face Award for Orgasmic Achievement (sponsored by Orgasmico Theatre Company)

Lucas Alifano – 13th Grade

Yozmit –  Do You: Migration of the Monarchs

Tegan Ashton Cohan – Easy Targets

Thomas Silcott – Here Comes Rutherford

Wendy Skuse – Ladies in Waiting: the Judgement of Henry VIII

Best Fringe Flyer (sponsored by Lyla KaRug)

Bitch Brow

Pinata

Hey Hollywood, My Hustle Has ADHD

An Evening With John Wilkes Booth

TRANSMISSION: A One Tran Show

The Unleashed Award (sponsored by Theatre Unleashed)

Buffy Kills Edward

Insuppressible: The Unauthorized Leah Remini Story

Divorce: The Hip-Hop Musical

Human Hothouse: The Aftershow

Thanksgiving

My first foray into Fringe was in 2010, when I co-wrote and directed a silly piece called Deicide, a Sorta Musical. I became hooked by the HFF bug, and I’ve been involved ever since.

I became Staff Lighting Designer in 2012 when I helped mount some colorful lighting in Fringe Central, before it became that infamous paint store. It has been a pleasure to help Fringe Central evolve from its humble origins into the supercool “Place to Be” it is today (although I do miss the popcorn machine).

Fringe helped me hone my skills as a playwright. I have written four original pieces which premiered in Fringe, and I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to see my work on a stage without the festival, which has served as both a platform and an incubator for my work.

I teach a workshop each year with Corwin Evans called “How to Tech Your Fringe Show". We want participants to know that great design is possible despite the narrow parameters and time constraints of a theater festival. I also like to offer my services as a designer for whoever needs a design that tells a story. This year, I designed 12 shows!

I like to tell people Fringe is my Burning Man. For one month every year, I get to drop everything and live in FringeLand with all my friends and collaborators. I love the sense of family and community this festival fosters, and I especially enjoy watching new and exciting young voices discover an opportunity to get their work seen. 

I hope to see everyone at Fringe Central this year. I’ll be the guy with a Gin, Soda and Bitters in my hand. Happy Fringing!

For the past three years, I have taken an almost empty space, and turned it into a place for socializing, drinking, networking and anything in between. Hi, I am David Offner, and I am the scenic designer for Fringe Central.

My first design in the Hollywood Fringe Festival, was back in 2013. I was working with my longtime collaborator and very dear friend, Brandon Baruch, on a Fringe show that he had written. Then in 2015, Dave McKeever had asked me about designing a “bar space” at the Dragonfly. This would become our first year here. We walked into the smaller side of a very dark, dingy space, which had a TON of potential. We didn’t have a lot of money for budget, but when do we ever have a lot of money in theater?!?! That first year at the Dragonfly, we hung paper parasols upside down, and Brandon lit the hell out of them! It was a simple, cheap, and colorful design. 

The way the designs come together is a pretty simple story. Usually around February or March, Dave, Brandon, and I meet at the Holloway Bar in Echo Park (free publicity for the Holloway Bar), and we start riffing on design ideas. For the past 3 years, we have sat down in a bar and have come up with Fringe Central concepts over a pint of beer. Thanks for paying, Dave! From there, I get to start laying out the design that eventually becomes Fringe Central. I’ll start with research ideas, and then turn those into sketches, renderings, and plans. There are always a few key points that the Central space needs to address. The bar, the concierge space, and the ability to promote your show. These are all VERY different challenges than we normally have to deal with in theater. Instead of designing for a 99 seat house, where scenery has to travel in or out; I need to worry about foot traffic, if there is room to get to the bar, space for posters…or how the smoking porch will look. 

Designing Fringe Central is a wonderful time in my year, because I get to break the fourth wall. The audience actually interacts with the set…whether I like it or not. I might have a vision in mind for how it should look in its purest form, but the minute post cards, posters, and beer bottles arrive, it becomes a completely different space. I think over the last 3 Fringe’s, I have embraced these changes, and built that idea into the design. 

One of the most important aspects of the Fringe Festival, is that I work with incredibly talented people. We are basically glued to the space for 2 weeks, and take it from a building that is under construction, as it was this year, to a full functioning theater/bar. I believe that you are only as talented as the people that work with you. A HUGE SHOUT OUT to the scenic crew that makes the space look as good as it does. For the last three years, I have worked closely with Miles Robinson, Sara Paquette, and Brad Bentz (please hire them), plus many other interns and volunteers who bring their skills and artistic sensibilities to the project. It takes a village to make a Fringe. 

I hope you all enjoy drinking at Fringe Central!!!