BorderLight Fringe Festival 2023 preview: refining that shine in Cleveland

Jul. 28—Strung together, they can be slightly intimidating — if not downright scary — words.

"Fringe" and "theater."

The idea of fringe theater is the backbone of Cleveland's BorderLight Festival, and Josy Jones, its associate producer, allows that the phrase connotes "alternative or new."

"We kind of pride ourselves on making sure the work is not something that you would normally be able to see in the Greater Cleveland area," Jones says. "It may be a little more nuanced. It may be a little odd. But that doesn't mean there's not something for everyone."

Speaking in a recent joint video interview with Jones to promote the upcoming BorderLight Fringe Festival 2023, BorderLight Executive and Artistic Director Dale Heinen brings some nuance to the topic herself.

"I think when people think of 'fringe,'" she says, "they think avant-garde or experimental, but for us, it's in reference to emerging artists.

"And they're not all young — it's emerging artists of all ages. And some of them, of course, are not emerging, but they're doing new work."

This year's incarnation of BorderLight is set to bring more than 130 performances to six venues and 15 stages in the Playhouse Square District.

BorderLight's roots reach back more than a decade, to a stretch of years Northeast Ohio native Heinen was living abroad and soaking up international theater.

"When I moved back in 2014, I found there was this amazing theatrical infrastructure downtown and that it seemed somewhat untapped in the summer months," she says. "And having experienced these European theater festivals, I didn't see anything like that happening here, and I saw that that could happen here, so I started floating the idea around with my co-founder, Jeff Pence, and we found interest — we found people who wanted to make this happen."

In 2015, they established the nonprofit organization that produces the festival, its website stating a mission "to present innovative theater that inspires, builds cross-cultural understanding and celebrates the diversity of the human experience."

In 2019, the first of what was then a biennial festival was held over four days, presenting work from near and far, including offerings from South Africa, Syria, Mexico, Ireland and Israel, according to the website.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the festival went virtual in 2021, with nearly 40 live-streamed and on-demand performances from around the world.

The digital approach proved to be one-and-done.

"We really dove into it," Heinen says. "We commissioned an audio piece. We did a lot of interesting work with international artists and local and national artists. But, at the end of the day, we had lower attendance because people on a beautiful summer day, they don't really want to be sitting at their laptop — especially as their lives are all-Zoom-all-the-time."

The festival then made the shift to becoming an annual happening, with an in-person event held last summer in Playhouse Square and Public Square.

"We got a lot of feedback from artists (suggesting) that if the festival is a biennial festival," Jones says, "it can't really gain a lot of steam, essentially, because it's like you're reintroducing people every other year to the festival."

The plan now is to offer international and fringe performances one year and fringe only — such as is the case this year — the next.

Heinen says the omicron variant of COVID-19 hurt attendance last year, the festival drawing a little less than half the roughly 10,000 attendees of 2019. However, she says ticket sales this year point to a return to that higher figure.

Yes, a 2024 festival already is in the works, with the open call for submissions set for the fall.

BorderLight is designed to be a relatively low-cost affair for visitors, with ticket shows around $15 to $20 and many other experiences free.

"These shows are short," Heinen says. "People think of plays — 'Oh, two hours of sitting in the dark with an intermission.' We have no plays like that. They're all maybe 15 minutes, maybe 25 minutes. A lot of them are outside; a lot of them are free. So it's not your traditional theater-going experience, which I'm not sure people crave so much in these beautiful summer days."

This year's fest is shorter, with three days instead of four, and boasts a smaller footprint, the Public Square component having been eliminated, at least for now. These are changes aimed at making BorderLight "more digestible."

Speaking of digestion, food trucks — a popular request from attendees — are a new element this year, as is a water station, with guests being encouraged to bring their favorite bottle from home for filling and refilling.

Cleveland Play House presenting 'Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End'

Among the performances Jones mentions are "Fairy in the Lake," a work-in-progress show by Sound Body Productions that combines aerial work with opera; contributions by Poetry Free Cleveland, the poets of which may create for you a "souvenir" poem on the spot; and "Floored," which takes place in an actual elevator (on Aug. 5 only).

"It's a site-specific piece (with) a very limited audience size," she says. "The performers are dancing in and out of an elevator, and so there will be an opportunity for audience members to be a part of it, but there may be an opportunity for people who may not know they're stumbling across a performance to be a part of it."

Those who prefer to carefully plan their festival-going experiences — Jones says she's one of that type in general — can download either a full guide or just a map-and-schedule PDF from the BorderLight site. In the guide, folks will find a page devoted to Spotlights — shows grouped into areas of interest, including BIPOD, LGBTQIA+, Female-Focused, Masked Performance Options, Lots of Laughs, Youth/Kid Friendly, Dance and Immersive/Interactive.

Or, you know, you simply can wing it, landing in Playhouse Square and checking out a large display of offerings or talking with the folks at the main box office, located at the Gund Dance Studio.

"You can pick and choose your own experience — it depends on you," Jones says. "I think the marketing team has done a good job of curating for the Mes of the world and the 'I don't want to do any work — I just want to show up' people."

BorderLight Fringe Festival 2023

When: Aug. 3 through 5.

Where: Cleveland's Playhouse Square District.

Tickets: Performances vary in price, with many free.

Info: BorderLightCle.org.