Other numbery goodness and Fringe in the news

So! Many of us on the Fringe staff love numbers, and we’ve been crunching them the last few days. Here are some to mull over. (The first number, the percentage, is the total percentage of capacity including the Encore. The second number—avg house—is the average number of tickets issued in that venue per performance.)

Overall - 31.9% cap, avg house 50.6
Bryant-Lake Bowl – 67.5% cap, avg house 55.4
Interact – 42.6% cap, avg house 23.0
Intermedia – 28.3% cap, avg house 32.5
Lab – 23.7 % cap, avg house 47.9
Theatre Garage – 36.4% cap, avg house 41.9
Mixed Blood – 18.1% cap, avg house 36.1
Playwrights’ Center – 34.5% cap, avg house 25.9
Ritz – 28.3% cap, avg house 63.6
Southern – 18.4% cap, avg house 36.8
Jeune Lune – 28.1% cap, avg house 62.6
Rarig Arena – 29.3% cap, avg house 58.3
Rarig Proscenium – 18.0% cap, avg house 75.8
Rarig Thrust – 25.5% cap, avg house 117.5
Rarig Xperimental – 49.2% cap, avg house 34.5

And here it is by some other measures Robin found interesting:

Rarig overall – 30.5% capacity
Fringe Encores – 33% capacity
Out-of-towners – 28.1% capacity
BYOVs – 44.3% capacity

And here are some Fringe in the news links:

• The Bridge: Fringe Festival kicks off July 31
• DramaBiz: Insurance Assurance (about Fringe’s insurance policy) (seriously)
• Dave Romm’s Shockwave podcasts
• And—lookit!—our closing-night shindig at First Av made Mpls.St.Paul magazine’s party pix!

The Daily Fringe #Last




First thing’s first: We like to know who comes to Fringe. So if you weren’t able to fill in one of those cute little paper surveys we had at the venues, please fill it out online. It’s just 13 questions that shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes. And it helps us out a lot. Like, a ridiculous lot. Thanks! Now then! 2008 was a good year for the Fringe. In all, we issued nearly 41,000 tickets for 806 performances to more than 15,000 people. Exactly 1,080 artists participated in the Fringe this year. And everyone earned just over $300,000. Numbers are fun! We’ve already started planning the 2009 festival—so stay tuned for all sorts of fun new things from the Fringe. In the meantime, the regular Fringe email newsletter (the one that you’ll get with all the spiffy discounts you can get with your ‘08 button) resumes next week. Thanks again for a great year. Email or call us any time if you have feedback, ideas or just want to chat. Our door is always open. Your pals, Robin, Mark, Matt, Jeff, Craig, Allegra and everyone else at Minnesota Fringe
Roma Di Luna, Romantica, The Minnesota Opera, Haley Bonar, Davina and the Vagabonds, Mystery Palace, Little Man, M.anifest, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, The Melismatics, Chris Koza, Spaghetti Western String Co., The Schubert Club, Dan Israel and the Cultivators, Vicious Vicious, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dosh and others. 3 Days FREE Music, Rain or Shine Food and beer by Great Waters Brewing Co. Mears Park Saint Paul, MN | concreteandgrass.com
Drawing winners The final coffee winners were: Kayla Hertel, Susan Campion, Eric Wuntling, Chelsea Gartner, Dennis Davidson and Klee Burke. The winner of the Rush Prize—a delightful Equal Exchange gift basket filled with all sorts of fairly traded goodies—goes to Betsy Rosen. Congrats, Betsy! And the winner for the Ultra Prize—two Ultra Passes to the 2009 Minnesota Fringe and two season tickets to the Guthrie—is Jim Brennan. Jim, you’re all set for theater for a whole year!	More Fringe at the brand spankin’ new Gremlin Gremlin Theatre is hosting four favorite Fringe shows at their new locale (2400 University Av., St. Paul), Aug. 14-23. Thursday, August 14, Friday, August 15 and Saturday, August 16 Meet the Macbeths @ 7 p.m. by Joshua & Lauren Iley Mac and Betty are a charming “Better Homes and Garden” couple who plot murder plans over pot roast. Shakespeare visits a 1950s suburban utopia to unfold how far an ambitious duo will go for the American Dream. Boys Don’t Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses @ 8:30 p.m. by Curt Lund & Laura Bidgood Embrace your inner dork as Laura and Curt (the geeks behind “Take a Left at the Giant Cow”) fog up your glasses with torrid tales of nerd romance. Did we say torrid? We meant awkward, embarrassing and unrequited. Thur., Aug. 21, Fri., Aug. 22 & Sat., Aug. 23 Second weekend shows will be announced shortly—stay tuned! All seats are $12. For tickets and reservations, please call Gremlin at 651-228-7008.
P.S. Here’s your Easter egg for the day. You have to watch the videos to get the full effect.

Numbers! Numbers! Delicious, delicious numbers!

We just finished the press release for Teh The Bestest Festival. Get the pretty PDF here or:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / AUGUST 11, 2008

Fringe announces preliminary figures
40,814 tickets issued for 11-day festival, top attended shows announced

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Fringe announced preliminary attendance figures for its 2008 festival. In all, 40,814 tickets were issued during the 11-day performing arts festival, an 8 percent increase over last year. Revenue increased over $36,000.

• Tickets issued: 40,814
  Buttons issued: 15,178 (Notes: Admission buttons are used to count the number of unique audience members attending the festival. Of the 15,178 issued this year, 14,262 were sold and 916 were issued gratis to volunteers and artists.)
  Revenue: $300,405
  Performances: 806
  Shows: 156
  Participating artists: 1,080
  Volunteers: 393
  Audience-submitted reviews on the Web site (as of 10 a.m. Monday): 2,153

“We are absolutely delighted with the numbers,” said Robin C. Gillette, Fringe’s executive director. “The figures show that Fringe is solid both as an event and as an organization, and the buzz in the Fringe community was positively kinetic.”

The total number of performances was down from last year (806 versus 874 in 2007) due to fewer Bring Your Own Venue performances. The attendance and revenue figures erase the dip the numbers took in 2007. Last year’s festival opened the day after the I-35W bridge collapse.

Top ten shows by tickets issued

1. Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead / Walking Shadow / U of M Rarig Center Thrust: 1284
2. An Inconvenient Squirrel / Joseph Scrimshaw Productions / U of M Rarig Center Thrust: 1189
3. The Cody Rivers Show Presents: Stick to Glue / The Cody Rivers Show / U of M Rarig Center Thrust: 1033
4. Musical the Musical!/ Urban Samurai Productions/ U of M Rarig Center Proscenium: 986
5. Mortem Capiendum Four Humors Theater U of M Rarig Center Thrust 837
6. The Underpants Show Lili’s Burlesque Ritz Theater 803
7. Robin Hood The Musical! Top Hat Theatre U of M Rarig Center Proscenium 707
8. Deviants Live Action Set The Soap Factory 683 (nine performances)
9. The Pumpkin Pie Show Horse Trade Theater Group U of M Rarig Center Thrust 665
10. You’re No Fun Bedlam Theatre U of M Rarig Center Thrust 609

Top ten shows by capacity
SHOW TITLE PRODUCER VENUE CAPACITY

1. FOOL FOR A CLIENT Mark Whitney Bryant-Lake Bowl 102.4%
2. Reefer Madness: The Musical Young Artists Council Bryant-Lake Bowl 98.8%
3. The Mistress Cycle Maddak Productions Bryant-Lake Bowl 98.8%
4. The Nosdrahcir Sisters Sara and Kimberly Richardson U of M Rarig Center Xperimental 96.9%
5. A Wake for Change! Tune In, Turn On, Folk Out A-Stage Kieran’s Irish Pub - Titanic Room 95.8%
6. An Intimate Evening with Fotis: Part Two Mike Fotis Minneapolis Theatre Garage 87.7%
7. Advice-a-Versa Intertwine Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts 80.7%
8. My Hovercraft is Full of Eels! Henry Epp Intermedia Arts 79.8%
9. elephant shoes, & olive juice; (mis) communication in a modern world 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities Bryant-Lake Bowl 78.0%
10. Stupid Face Courtney Roche U of M Rarig Center Xperimental 71.4%

The fifteenth annual Minnesota Fringe Festival took place Thurs., July 31 through Sun., Aug. 10 in Minneapolis. More information about the festival can be found at fringefestival.org.

Daily Fringe #9




Got five minutes to answer 13 questions about yourself? Take our ‘08 audience survey! Mornin’! Here’s the Fringe Encore lineup! Get you tickets now. Ritz: Underpants Show Jeune Lune: Audish Interact: Advice-a-Versa Lab: Great American Horror Movie Musical Mixed Blood: One Missed Step Garage: An Intimate Evening with Fotis Intermedia: My Hovercraft is Full of Eels! Southern: Cast of Dancing Delights Playwrights’ Center: Stimulate This! Rarig Arena: Tipping the Bucket Rarig Thrust: Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead Rarig Proscenium: Musical: The Musical! Rarig Xperimental: Nosdrachir Sisters Bryant-Lake Bowl: Fool for a Client Congrats to all the Fringe Encore folks. Each venue’s top-selling show is awarded a sixth performance in the last slot in the festival—8:30 for most venues, 8 o’clock for Bryant-Lake Bowl. Note: Sara Scrimshaw’s “Dance of the Whisky Faerie” was the top-selling show at the Southern; she opted out of the Encore program. Thanks to everyone for a ridiculously great Fringe. We’ll send out “The Daily Fringe #10″ with final attendance numbers and other wrap-up delights later this week. And join Fringe staff, volunteers and artists at First Ave. tonight to close out the festival with extreme style. See you today at the shows, tonight at the party and in 2009 for Minnesota’s 16th annual Fringe. Your pals, Bill and Matt P.S. Don’t forget the drawing! Check out the Fringe staff blog for the final coffee winners and tonight’s winners of the Rush Prize (an Equal Exchange gift basket) and the Ultra Prize (two ‘09 Ultra Passes and two season tickets to the Guthrie). Stop by Fringe Central at Bedlam to throw your name in.

P.S. We repeated an Easter egg yesterday. So here are one Easter egg and two Easter eggs for the day.

Fringe Encores!

BUY TICKETS HERE!

Congrats to all the Fringe Encore folks. Each venue’s top-selling show is awarded a sixth performance in the last slot in the festival—8:30 for most venues, 8 o’clock for Bryant-Lake Bowl. Here they are:

• Ritz: Underpants Show
• Jeune Lune: Audish
• Interact: Advice-a-Versa
• Lab: Great American Horror Movie Musical
• Mixed Blood: One Missed Step
• Garage: An Intimate Evening with Fotis
• Intermedia: Hovercraft Full of Eels
• Southern: Cast of Dancing Delights
• Playwrights’ Center: Stimulate This!
• Rarig Arena: Tipping the Bucket
• Rarig Thrust: Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead
• Rarig Proscenium: Musical: The Musical!
• Rarig Xperimental: Nosdrachir Sisters
• Bryant-Lake Bowl: Fool for a Client

Note: Sara Scrimshaw’s “Dance of the Whisky Faerie” was the top-selling show at the Southern; she opted out of the Encore program.

Daily Fringe #8

Got five minutes to answer 13 questions about yourself? Take our ‘08 audience survey! Okay, teen gang, this is it: the three last days of Fringe 2008. As we told you yesterday, there’s no need to panic, because there’s still tons of time to see great shows, and this weekend is actually the easiest time to find ‘em! In addition to over 1600 audience reviews, there are media and blog mentions, word of mouth from people in line or at Fringe Central, plus plus plus! On Sunday at 8:30 (8 at Bryant-Lake Bowl), the most top-selling shows get the final festival slot for Fringe Encore! Watch for the announcement on Sunday. Now let’s travel over to Sad News Town, where we reveal that even though the Fringe has the whole weekend ahead of it, Fringe Central has just (gasp!) two days left! That’s right, Saturday night is the last party night at Bedlam. So raise a glass tonight and tomorrow for their great food, wonderful service and kick-butt view of Minneapolis from the comfy patio. But then catch the Magical Rainbow Trolly to Happytown because the reason there’s no Sunday night party at Bedlam is because of the Fringe Closing Night Party at First Avenue! Your pals, Bill and Matt P.S. If you’re driving, you might want to read this. Vikings game! Street closures! NOTE: There won’t be a daily tomorrow. This is a double edition. OTHER NOTE: Yesterday, we had a list of shows that were the top-selling shows for Wednesday only, not for the festival heretofore. The Daily apologies for the error.
Photo du jour “Hey, I’m Talking Murder Here!” presented by Rhino Productions. Trevor Hartman as Marlow and Sam Ahern as Dr. Gagney. (Photo: Alex Wohlhueter)
Fringe Central at Bedlam PARTIES! Join us for your regularly-scheduled festival-ing. $3 Summit pints during Bedlam Social happy hour (4-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-2 a.m.) with six yummy Summits on tap and food service ’til close   Weather Today: 84° and mostly sunny. 30% chance of storms tonight, 63°. Saturday: 20% chance of storms, 84°. Low: 60°. Sunday: Mostly Sunday, 82°. Slight chance of storms at night, 62°.	The big ones The top-selling shows venue by venue for Thursday: Playwrights’ Center: Writers of the Purple Sage Rarig Proscenium: Musical: The Musical! Rarig Thrust: An Inconvenient Squirrel Rarig Xperimental: Stupid Face Rarig Arena: Beowulf or Gilgamesh Jeune Lune: We Live Like This Ritz: Women in China Lab: Meet the Macbeths Mixed Blood: Waking in Minneapolis Southern: Ummm…. We’re still doing the math Interact: Advice-a-Versa Theatre Garage: All Rights Reserved Intermedia: My Hovercraft is Full of Eels! Bryant-Lake Bowl: Reefer Madness: The Musical   Drawing winners! On Sunday, we’re announcing the last three days’ worth of coffee winners and—AND!!!—drawing the winners of our Grand and Rush Prizes. (And keep in mind that if you win a pound of coffee in the daily drawing, you’re still eligible for the other prizes on Sunday. Yay!) Stop by Fringe Central to put your name in the hat (or the, uh, box) to win coffee, the Rush Prize of an Equal Exchange gift basket or the Ultra Prize: Two ‘09 Ultra Passes and two season tickets to the Guthrie! (Drawing’s on Sun., Aug. 10. Stop by Fringe Central to sign up and check out the rules.)
P.S. Here’s your Easter egg for the day.

ASL interpretation cancellation

There will be no ASL interpretation of the performance of Cody Rivers Show at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 10. Our apologies for the cancellation.

Fringe in the news for August 7

• Minnesota Public Radio: The best — and worst — of the Fringe Festival (with delightful audio!) by Dominic Papatola
• MinnPost: Frontlines of the Fringe: Festival buzz and the making of hits by Christy DeSmith
• Minnesota Monthly: Fringe Hits and Misses by Tim Gihring
• Mpls.St.Paul Magazine: Minnesota Fringe Festival: Act IV by Matt Peiken (videoey!)

Daily Fringe #7




Okay, the second Fringe weekend starts tomorrow—but before the big finale, there’s tonight to catch shows before the all-day crushes of Saturday or Sunday. And speaking of crushes, have you found your Fringe crush yet? While most develop a crush on a performer, you can also develop a crush on a show as well. But if you haven’t found a crush yet, tonight would be a perfect time, so that you can have your squee on for Friday night. Just sayin’. Need a boost to help you get your social on? Don’t forget that tonight at Fringe Central at Bedlam, we have delicious beats from a live DJ! Shake it! Your pals, Bill and Matt
Photo du jour Malia Burkhart in “The Survival Pages” at Intermedia Arts. (Photo: Jeff Larson)
Fringe Central at Bedlam TONIGHT @ midnight: Late-night DJ (dancey!) $3 Summit pints during Bedlam Social happy hour (4-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-2 a.m.) with six yummy Summits on tap and food service ’til close Get the complete schedule   Weather Today: 82° and sunny. Some patchy fog tonight with a low at 59°. Tomorrow: Patchy fog before 8 a.m., high 83°. Low: 63°. Saturday: Mostly sunny, 83°. Then partly cloudy and 62°.	The big ones So far, these are the top-selling shows in the following venues (we’ll release the other half of the list in tomorrow’s daily): Playwrights’ Center: Life Sciences Interact: Strawberry Fields Temporarily Ritz: Secret of the Little Yellow Diary Southern: Fools for Love Jeune Lune: Gypsy and the General Theatre Garage: BULL Mixed Blood: Orange Are you thinking “My goodness gracious me, Betty, how in heaven’s name are we going to see all this awesomeness?” Why, the magical Fringe Encore, of course! Remember that the final performance slot of the festival—8:30 at each venue (8 p.m. if you’re Bryant-Lake Bowl)—is awarded to the top-sellingest show in each venue. The announcement of the Encore slots will be made Sun., Aug. 10 no later than 9 a.m. Stay tuned to fringefestival.org for all the info.   Drawing winners! Days 6 + 7 winners: Coffee for you, Sara Scrimshaw. And for you, George McConnell! And you and you and you, Julie Hill, Allison Posner and Shelbie Farness. And did you think we forgot you, Barb Hill? We didn’t! Congrats, winners! (And keep in mind that if you win a pound of coffee in the daily drawing, you’re still eligible for the other prizes on Sunday. Yay!) Stop by Fringe Central to put your name in the hat (or the, uh, box) to win coffee, an Equal Exchange gift basket or the Ultra Prize: Two ‘09 Ultra Passes and two season tickets to the Guthrie! (Drawing’s on Sun., Aug. 10. Stop by Fringe Central to sign up and check out the rules.)
P.S. Here’s your Easter Egg for the day. Okay, fine, they’re turning it into a book. But still…

Daily Fringe #6

You see it at museums, theme parks and fairs. After a long day of fun, eventually kids (and occasionally husbands) have had so much sensory overload that they just can’t handle it anymore. It’s the Three O’Clock Meltdown and you can recognize it by: Standing in the middle of crowds, shouting while the parent talks quietly but firmly. Stamping of feet. The key phrase: “I’m not tired!“ Since most Fringe days start after three, it’s not a daily problem (especially since the time it would occur is prime time at Fringe Central, with its tasty selection of Summit Beers). But after six days of theater, with five big days to go, your brain may be so full of awesomeness that you’ll feel like you’re on your fifth bowl of Saturday Morning Sugar Bombs. After all, you’re hearing about all these great shows, but it’s impossible to see them all! Aaaaaaaaaargh! Relax. You’ve got five more days to catch the shows you need to see. Talk to your friends, check out the nearly 1,300 audience reviews, get news from our Fringe blog and find out what you really want to see, not what you “need” to see. But the main thing to remember is to have fun at the Fringe. Because otherwise we are marching right back to the car and going home right now, mister! Your pals, Bill and Matt
Photo du jour “EMISSARY’S N.O.W.” presented by Emissary. (Photo: Dave Stagner)
Fringe Central at Bedlam TONIGHT @ 9:30 p.m.: Dreamland Faces TOMORROW @ Midnight: Late-night DJ (dancey, dancey) Friday + Saturday: General havoc, mucking about and cavorting $3 Summit pints during Bedlam Social happy hour (4-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-2 a.m.) with six yummy Summits on tap and food service ’til close Get the complete schedule   Weather Today: 20% chance o’ storms, 84°. Night: Partly cloudy, 62°. Tomorrow: Why did we even put this in this year? Friday: The weather hasn’t just been perfect, it’s been the same day in and day out. Saturday: It’s like living in Los Angeles or Hawaii or somewhere where citrus litters the streets.	Fringe in the news City Pages has their reviews up Here’s a handy place to find mnartists.org’s festival coverage In case you misplaced them: Here’s one handy page of the Star Tribune’s reviews and the Pioneer Press’ coverage (one page each, that is… they’re not suddenly sharing a Web site or anything) Erica from Minneapolis Metblogs has been kicking some Fringe butt with reviews and stories and stuff Matt Peiken’s been making videos for Mpls.St.Paul magazine Fringe Famous has been reviewing and posting postcards and started their very own Fringe hall of fame and are planning on having awards Baron Dave Romm from KFAI has been blogging and podcasting So has Fringe alumna Leigha Horton And our own former bloggers are now at Twin Cities Daily Planet (Matthew Everett, Kate Hoff, John Munger, Phillip Andrew Bennett Low and Wendy Gennaula) and the City Pages’ Culture to Go blog (Christopher Kidder)   Drawing winners! Day 6 winners: Okay, so we’ve been really fancy about putting the names in the daily… And they were drawn last night. It’s just that… we forgot to write them down and take them home after trivia at Fringe Central. Which was an utter success, by the way. So totally a new tradition. We’ll announce last night’s winners (and tonight’s winners) tomorrow. Promise. Stop by Fringe Central to put your name in the hat (or the, uh, box) to win coffee, an Equal Exchange gift basket or the Ultra Prize: Two ‘09 Ultra Passes and two season tickets to the Guthrie! (Drawing’s on Sun., Aug. 10. Stop by Fringe Central to sign up and check out the rules.)
P.S. Here’s your Easter Egg for the day.