The awards have been handed out, and the encores scheduled. It’s your last chance(s) to see these Hollywood Fringe Festival 2023 shows.
Award Winners
Top of the Fringe: A Retrospection starring Claire Woolner. An absurdist clown show seeking to make meaningful art. Selected from 300 productions as the best of the best by Fringe attendees. (July 1 and 8, 9:00-9:50pm, Actors Company Little Theater, 916 N. Formosa Ave.).
Best Solo Show: Getting There! written and performed by Rebecca O’Brien. The miracles that can happen while riding the bus to medical treatments at Cedars-Sinai. Selected from more than 130 solo shows by Fringe attendees. (July 9, 16 and 23, 6:00-7:00pm, the Hudson Guild Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd.).
Best Two-Person Show: If I’m Good, written by Ronnie Larsen, starring Nedra Gallegos and Scott Leggett. A look at the insanity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surprising fragility of American democracy. (July 6, 7:00-7:45pm, the Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd.).
Best International Show: Take Me As I Am: A Joni Mitchell Tribute, written and performed by Rainee Blake, who channels a circa-1976 Joni. (July 10 and 18 8:00-9:00pm, Three Clubs, 1123 N. Vine St.).
Best Immersive & Games (and numerous other awards): SoundTrip: Fringe Edition. Every audience member gets wireless headphones and selects a character, to hear their inner thoughts and feelings. (June 30, 7:00-8:00pm and July 1, 7:30-8:30pm, the Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd.).
Best World Premiere: A Shark Ate My Penis: A History of Boys Like Me, written and performed by Laser Webber, who presents a solo musical about the history of trans men and his own transition. (July 15, 5:00-6:00pm, the Broadwater Second Stage, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd.).
Best Dance and Physical Theatre: Palmares, an action musical showcasing a fight to save Brazil’s mightiest freemen colony from Portuguese slavers in 1675. (July 1, 8:00-10:00pm, the Broadwater Main Stage, 1076 Lillian Way).
Other Recommended Encores to Check Out
Lebanese Debutante, written and performed by Christine Farah, who shares her ‘90s SoCal coming-of-age story through her debut to the high society of Arab Christians. (June 29 8:00-8:50pm and July 2, 7:00-8:00pm, the Broadwater Black Box.)
Thank You So Much for Coming (June 29, 8:00-9:00pm, July 1, 6:00-7:00pm, the Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd.) and Homeless Romantic (July 1, 9:00-10:00pm, Thymele Arts Kansas Room, 5481 Santa Monica Blvd.). See the Buzz reviews of both here.
Smote This, written and performed by Rodney Gardiner, who describes growing up as an undocumented black boy in the Miami of the 1980s and his efforts to abandon God. (June 29, 9:30-10:30pm and July 7, 8:30-9:30, Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, 5636 Melrose Ave. at Larchmont Blvd.).
Things to Avoid in a Eulogy. See the Buzz review here. (June 29Â 9:30-11:00pm and July 8, 6:00-7:30pm, the Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd.).
M.A.D.D.About the Boy, co-written and performed by Roni Gayer. She describes the dread disease Male Attention Deficiency Disorder and the havoc it can wreak on a girl’s mental health. (June 30, 8:30-9:20pm and July 7, 7:00-7:50pm, studio/stage Main Space, 520 N. Western Ave.)
Waiting for a Show, starring Blake Beckett in a comedic journey through the altruistic and unknown world of theater history. (June 30 and July 1, 7:00-7:30pm, The Broadwater Main Stage, 1076 Lillian Way).
The Queen of Bitcoin: The Rise and Fall, written and performed by Margaux Avedisian, who shares her remarkable tales of life among the tech bros and how she became queen. (July 1, 12:00-1:00pm, Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, 5636 Melrose Ave. at Larchmont Blvd.).
Keeper. See the Buzz review here. (July 8, 7:30-8:20pm, Actors Company Little Theater, 916 N. Formosa Ave.).
Romeo & Juliet. See the Buzz review here. (July 11, 7:00-9:00pm, the Madnani Theater Main Space, 6760 Lexington Ave.).
