Footlights Dedicated to Illuminating Theater and Connecting to Audiences
The Stage: With people beginning to plan for the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival, this article from London is an interesting conversation starter. West End director, Phil Willmott, worries that publications have decided that “Fringe” means, well, fringe. Couple this with a loss of theater critics who could properly vet the theater scene for the general public and he claims there is now a situation where the vibrancy of new theater is being lost.
Who’d want a London Fringe award for, say, acting now? An actor would regard such an accolade as an insult.
What are your thoughts? Are we in danger of having “fringe” becoming synonymous with “second-rate” and therefore preventing Fringe Festivals – and all their associated opportunities – from being culturally relevant?
