Mary Beth Quillin - WKTV Journal

This year’s LEFF will wrap with the 24-Hour Theatre: LEFF Edition on March 7. (LEFF)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

There is a festival celebrating laughter and comedy (LaughFest) and a couple celebrating the arts (ArtPrize and Festival of the Arts). We even have WYCE’s celebration of local music (The Jammies).

So with so many local college and community theater organizations, it only makes sense that Grand Rapids has its own festival to celebrate theater.

Now in its eighth season, the Lake Effect Fringe Festival, better known as LEFF, returns to celebrate local theater by hosting an array of productions by several local theater companies.

“You are going to see works that are not produced in the larger theaters in town or works by local playwrights,” said Mary Beth Qullin, one of the organizers. “There is a lot of comedy or improv that goes on during the Festival. It is something different almost every weekend.”

In fact, starting Feb. 11 and running through Mar. 7. the calendar at the Dog Story Theatre, 7 Jefferson SE, is packed with a variety of shows, and Qullin said there is something for about everyone in the mix.

To kick off the 8^thAnnual Festival, Fictional Friends Improv is performing a one-night only fundraising event “Throw $ at LEFF, Tuesday, Feb. 11, to help raise funds to cover the space rental fee for the remaining Festival participants. The event starts at 8 p.m.

The Fictional Friends Improv has a lineup of fan favorite games, some classics from the vault that haven’t been performed in years, and of course a few things that have never been performed for an audience, or performed at all for that matter.

Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company performs at LEFF Feb. 13 – 15 at Dog Story Theatre.

The rest of LEFF schedule is as follows:

Feb. 13 – 15: The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Co., Michigan’s only year-round touring Shakespeare Company, presents Oliver Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer.” This comedic farce follows the exploits of the Hardcastle family. Mr. Hardcastle wants his daughter Kate to marry eligible bachelor Charles Marlow. The problem is that Marlow is hopelessly intimidated by women. Mr. Hardcastle and Marlow’s father plan for the younger Marlow to visit the Hardcastle home, but because of the tricks of Hardcastle’s stepson Tony Lumpkin, young Marlow and his friend Hastings believe that Hardcastle’s house is an inn. Kate takes advantage of this deception to pose as a maid in the “inn” so that she can observe her potential mate without him knowing.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Thursday’s performance is a fundraising event for the LEFF and is pay-what-you-can. Tickets are only available at the door on Thursday, Feb. 13, in $5 increments.Pigeon Creek is Michigan’s only year-round touring Shakespeare Company.

Feb. 20 – 21: The Brutal Sea presents its new full-length original play “Mangoyle!” Enter the crime-spattered Urchin District of Sinneapolis, where Mayor Sparromarten has created a living gargoyle to solve the critical mystery of his missing vacation photos. Meanwhile, a coven of punk-rock witches trade their protest signs for direct magical action, and lurking deep in the shadows — are those…gnomes? You won’t want to miss this wickedly hilarious show!

Show times are at 8 p.m. Thursday – Saturday and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Thursday’s performance is a fundraising event for the LEFF and is pay-what-you-can. Tickets are only available at the door on Thursday, Feb. 20, in $5 increments. This show contains mature themes and language.

Feb. 27 – 29: Hole in the Wall Theatre Company, Grand Rapids’ only Commedia Troupe, presents “Naples’ Story: Welcome to the Neighborhood!” Inspired by a collection of Italian scenarios from the 1500s, “Naples Story” shows us how life’s little adventures take hold as we meet the residents of a small neighborhood in Naples.

The Hole in the Wall Theatre Company’s small cast will portray the entire neighborhood in 90 minutes of sketch-improv. Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Thursday’s performance is a fundraising event for the LEFF and is pay-what-you-can. Tickets are only available at the door on Thursday, Feb. 27, in $5 increments.

March 3: Grand Rapids’ Maggot Baby will screen its horrific movie “White Girl Wasted” along with the terrible “Lobster Cabin” and a few of their repugnant short films as a fundraising event for the Lake Effect Fringe Festival. “White Girl Wasted” began filming seven years ago, briefly appeared on YouTube, and then disappeared into Maggot Baby’s Box of Embarrassments. Have a laugh at this no-budget horror/comedy’s first public screening ever, featuring new footage and filmmakers in attendance. WARNING: This event is 18+ only. Show time is at 6 p.m.

March 5 and 6: Pyrus Calleryana presents “TV Program.” It’s late. A frightful howl pierces the silence of the night. Sleep escapes you. You have nowhere to turn. Nowhere… except the channels.

Join Pyrus Calleryana on a delightfully disturbing journey into the depths of a late night TV wormhole. Bizarre burlesque from beyond basic cable and more as-seen-on-TV weirdness than your remote control can handle. Don’t touch that dial! Mature Audiences only. Show time is 8 p.m.

March 7: Wrapping up this year’s LEFF is the 24-Hour Theatre: LEFF Edition. Five writers, five directors and all the actors we can muster! Five new short plays written, rehearsed and produced within a 24 hour period. Come see your favorite local actors, directors and writers produce some new plays!

Interested in Participating in the 24-Hour Theatre: LEFF Edition?

We are in need of actors! If you are interested, please message 24-Hour Theater with your email and preferred role. No experience needed.

Schedule:
March 6, 8 p.m. – Writers begin writing at Little Space Studio, go as late as necessary (usually done by 2 or 3 a.m.)
March 7, 8 a.m. – Directors called @ Dog Story Theater
9 a.m. – Actors called @ Dog Story Theater, rehearse throughout day
8 p.m. – Shows go live!
Co-produced by Rachel Finan and Cody Colvin

The Lake Effect Fringe Festival seeks to highlight performer-focused theater in a non-traditional theater space, creating an intimate performance experience for audiences who can expect different seating configurations and differing levels of interaction with the performers at any given performance. All performances take place in the black box performance space of the Dog Story Theater, 7 Jefferson SE, Grand Rapids, 49503. Tickets for all events can be purchased in advance on the Dog Story Theater’s website: www.dogstorytheater.com, and are $15/adults and $10/students and seniors, plus Eventbrite fees.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

For the past six years, “lake effect” has had a new meaning with several local theater companies coming together to host a month-long celebration of local theater called the Lake Effect Fringe Festival.

Running through March 2, the event features a plethora of productions ranging from musicals to improv.

The Lake Effect Fringe Festival features smaller productions of two character shows, musicals and improvisational pieces with the audience almost sitting in the round with seating on three sides of the stage.

“We have a very vibrant theater company, but this is a way to kind of bring to the forefront some of the small more edgy groups that not many people know about,” Quillin said.

TJ Corbert, of Hole In the Wall Theatre Company, said he bugged organizers to let his company perform at the annual event, because you couldn’t get more “fringer” than with the Hole in the Wall Theatre Company. The company performs commedia dell’arte, a form of theater characterized by masked types. The style began in Italy in the 16th century and was the first time actors — and actresses — make a living through the theater by traveling from town-to-town performing improvised shows based on sketches or scenarios.

“It is similar to Looney Tunes in that you might see Yosemite Sam, where in one he might be a sheriff and in another one he might be a sultan,” Corbett said. “But he is always Yosemite Sam. He behaves a certain way. He has that certain personality.”

On Feb. 24 and 25 — which by the way Feb. 25 is Commedia dell’Arte Day — Hole in the Wall Theatre Company will present the original comedy “Yes, We’re Closed,” one of the first shows the company ever produced. The story centers around a shopkeeper who is suddenly locked out of his store with the money he owns to a vicious loan shark locked inside and the entire neighborhood getting pulled into the madness. Hole in the Wall Theatre Company also is hosting the 10 Minute Play Festival on Feb. 22 and 23 featuring short plays written by local playwrights.

Qullin is actually one member of the two-person theater team GEM Theatrics. Her husband, Gary E. Mitchell and her will present “2 Across: A Comedy of Crosswords and Romance,” by Jerry Mayer, who worked on such TV shows as “M*A*S*H,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Tabitha,” “Punky Brewster,” and “The Facts of Life.” The GEM Theatrics production is this weekend, Feb. 16 – 18.

All performances take place at Dog Story Theater, 7 Jefferson Ave. SE. For more about the Lake Effect Fringe Festival, visit lakeeffectfringe.com.