Chicago-based Tantalus Theatre Group is dead now, its college-buddy founders having turned thirtyish and moved on with their lives. But its legacy is about to flower. Back in 2008 Tantalus took one of its shows, Dreadful Penny’s Exquisite Horrors, to fringe festivals in Minneapolis and New York. Traveling by Megabus, schlepping costumes and props, and crashing with strangers, the troupe shared the total-immersion theater-party atmosphere with hundreds of other performers and avid audience members. Sarah Mikayla Brown, now 29, played Dreadful Penny in Minnesota and also caught a weekend of the New York fest. It was such a great experience, she says, that she came back to Chicago wondering why this best of all theater towns didn’t have a fringe festival of its own.
“Things clicked—his knowledge of festivals, excitement about the project, his outgoing personality, and leadership qualities. He’s very different from me,” she says. “I thought we would be complementary.”
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But Brown says she was swamped almost immediately. “It blew up beyond our expectations,” she recalls. “We had 156 applications.” Leery of spreading the potential first-year audience too thin, they capped the total number of shows. And, in another compromise with total serendipity, they instituted sub-lotteries to guarantee diversity. At least 25 percent of the roster falls into one or more of these categories: under 19, over 50, or non-Caucasian. The participants—and a list of back-ups—were determined in three drawings held on February 28.
A Kickstarter campaign raised over $5,000 for lighting and equipment. Operational expenses of about $25,000—of which more than half is earmarked for venue rentals—are to be covered by the performers’ fees, button revenue, and individual donations. Brown says they had to cut back on some marketing and advertising plans when donations fell about $5,000 short of original projections. But the biggest challenge, she adds, is the fact that “all of us organizing the festival have full-time jobs.” She’s a paralegal; Lacey directs a young adult program for a Catholic church. Next year, Brown says, “I hope one person can be an employee, at least part time. I’ve never seen anything like the collaboration we’ve had. It’s been amazing, and I’m so excited. But I’ve been thinking lately, we can’t have another year like this one.”
The Chicago Fringe Festival debuts this week with 46 shows in eight Pilsen spaces. A ninth venue, located in a tent at 18th and Racine, has been designated Fringe Central—the official eating, drinking, and socializing hub for patrons and performers.
