Indy Guide: IndyFringe

IndyFringe has been around for a while. Well, at least since before I arrived on the Indy scene. Because I will totally botch the description, I’ll use theirs: “IndyFringe exists to encourage, support and assist independent artists by providing an accessible, affordable outlet that draws diverse elements of the community together and inspires creative experience through the arts.” Cool, right? But what does this look like in real life? Lots of artsy plays!

And if you know me, you know I LOVE artsy plays. 🙂

I was introduced to their yearly summer festival a while back and I now make it a highlight of my back-to-school season. I did not realize until recently, however, that IndyFringe does way more than a yearly festival–they host all sorts of creative, experimental events throughout the year! Goody, goody! More fun for me!

Two weeks ago, my faithful theater friend Allison and I hit up their 6th Annual DivaFest. And then I decided that DivaFest is pretty much the thing for me. The line-up included a week of exciting and inspirational works written by women and embracing different aspects of the female experience. I wanted to go to every single scheduled play, but alas, my school schedule demanded something different. I did make it to Short Plays by Divas and it definitely gave me some food for thought (not quite as many thoughts as the play two festivals ago that featured a bottle-smashing prohibitionist, but still, some thoughts were had).

The part about IndyFringe that I like the best is that it makes art and theater seem so accessible. As if, I too could write a play and perform it for the world (aka the 70 people that fit into the Indy Eleven Theatre) and it would be embraced and celebrated and discussed, even if it was my first creative attempt. And I like that. It’s a very safe space and I feel a fierce loyalty to the content, even if I’m imagining better scenarios and plot twists in my head.

But that’s what interacting with art is all about. Well, that and giving me goals for retirement. Check it out (Shakespeare festival is next!) and buy some tickets or at least mark your calendars for their big summer festival. You’ll be entertained while supporting local artists and there are few things in life that are better than that.