Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Stagebiz.com got a chance to chat with Britt Lafield, the managing director of the Soho Playhouse, and we talked about the International Fringe Encore Festival. The festival opened the first week of January and will run through March 2. Stagebiz: What exactly is the international fringe encore festival? BL: The IFES is a "best of" the theater "fringe" circuit from around the world. Myself and our Artistic Director, Darren Lee Cole, go to the biggest theater festivals around the world and see dozens and dozens of shows at each one. Then pick the best of each festival and invite them to perform
Tag: Fringe
Henry Nalyor Talks About “Afghanistan is Not Funny”
Henry Naylor brought is award winning one-man show "Afghanistan is Not Funny" at the Soho Playhouse as part of its International Fringe Encore festival. In between performing to packed houses, he was kind enough to answer a few questions from Stagebiz. Stagebiz: What did you think you were going to find when you left for Afghanistan? What were your pre-conceived ideas and how right or wrong were you? HN: I’d followed the post 9/11 Afghan War obsessively on the news. So my perceptions were shaped – and distorted - by our well-meaning media. Inevitably because I watched the British news, I believed that
Metamorphosis” at Soho Playhouse, Fringe Encore Series
One of the highlights of this year's edition of the Annual Fringe Encore Series is Sam Chittenden's take on Kafka's novella, "Metamorphosis." While the script is intriguing, the performance of Heather-Rose Andrews in this one-woman show is what makes the production stand out. Kafka's tale is simple enough, Grego Samsa wakes up one morning to discover he has changed into an insect. Chittenden spins this in an interesting way by using Greta Samsa, Gregor's much younger sister, to tell the tale. Her metamorphosis from child to woman takes place against the backdrop of her brother's unlikely and disturbing change. Gregor's change