The Fifth Capital Fringe Festival has begun!

The Fifth Capital Fringe Festival has begun! 

132 shows will take place in the last three weeks of July!

The excitement has been palpable.  And now, like much anticipated rain after a long hot dry spell the Fringe is flowing theater into the streets of Washington DC.

Many of my friends are performing and I will be spending time racing down the road from Frederick to see and experience as much as I can while rushing back to rehearse my own show, “Destination?  Slammer!” which will be recorded in front of live audience on July 25^th.

Although the Fringe official opening night was July 8^th my first taste of the action was the following evening as crew for Ellouise Shoettler’s production “Pushing Boundaries” on the very plush mainstage at the Goethe Institut at 812 Seventh Street NW. 

For the second time in a week the Almighty provided a surprise soundtrack!

Ellouise was doing a one woman performance explaining how she stumbled into national politics as a mover and shaker in the second wave of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) movement of the 1970’s.  It is an important story, for though the bill was three states short and so was never passed, the groundwork that was laid by those pioneering women has enabled present-day women in the US to rise to heights unprecedented in previous generations.

Ellouise told her story superbly. The ending was unintentionally yet wonderfully dramatic. Ellouise had just said: " seeds that were sown then are coming to fruition now..." And the fire alarm went off !  As though a message was coming from the heavenlies -"and the candles that were lit then have turned into a modern day firestorm!"

I love the Lord’s sense of humor!

While we were waiting to discover that the alarm was a false one, tripped unintentionally by the next door restaurant, Ellouise, cool, calm and collected, regrouped everyone on the sidewalk and carried on.  And the audience was so with her and so involved in the story that they all stayed listening intently in the heat of a DC night, sharing their own stories and memories.  It was a brilliant ending to a wonderful evening.

And Ellouise scored a fabulous, well deserved review.

Icing on an exceptional cake!