Artistories on KXCI – September 16, 2019
Maryann Green — Tucson Fringe Festival
In this episode of Artistories, we hear from Maryann Green, a high-school theater teacher and the Executive Director of the Tucson Fringe Festival. She gives us the history of the Festival–starting in 1947! We learn about the tenets that inform the festival’s unique, inclusive mission, and how it is designed to provide logistical and marketing support to artists, allowing them to produce off-beat shows in a low-risk manner. Tucson Fringe Festival selects shows by lottery, which removes barriers to entry for artists who want to produce content that might not fit in other places. We also discuss the benefits and challenges of producing a festival of uncurated and uncensored content, and talk about the Festival within the context of Fringe Festivals world-wide. We discuss some of the most memorable and polemic shows seen thus far, and gear-up for the 2020 Tucson Fringe Festival, which will take place January 9-12.
