The Great White North

[Ubiquitous]

"A controversial Fringe Festival performance featuring two naked actors
engaging in mayonnaise enemas and a sexual act on stage left some
audience members in shock while others walked out of the theatre Friday
night," CBC News reports from Winnipeg, Manitoba:

The show, called Hollywood Hen Pit, stars Doug Melnyk and Ian
Mozdzen, who are known for their edgy performances, having
raised eyebrows in 2011 with their Fringe play Monopoly Man Pit.

This year's performance is about the life of an aging Hollywood
starlet, as performed by two nude men.

"What I saw were not one, not two, but three mayonnaise enemas,"
said Fringe Festival reviewer Michelle Palansky, who was in the
audience Friday night.

"By the third time . . . I was like, you know, this is
gratuitous. I do not need to see any more mayonnaise enemas
for the rest of my lifetime."

Of course, back in the early 1990s the National Endowment for the Arts
generously funded this kind of cutting-edge art. It's just another
example of how America is falling behind its neighbor to the north.

[Michael Black]

Post by Ubiquitous
Of course, back in the early 1990s the National Endowment for the Arts
generously funded this kind of cutting-edge art. It's just another
example of how America is falling behind its neighbor to the north.

SInce it's at a Fringe Festival, chances are really good they don't get
funding. At that level it's rare, the best a performer can hope for is
some small companies who will pay for ads in the program. Or, that time
one troupe got sponsorship from Planned Parenthood.

Don't confuse, as one "family value type" group did in 2000, that if the
actual festival gets funding, that means there is funding for this art.

Fringe Festivals by definition (other than that one in NY City that
somehow gets around it) are unjuried, "selection" is by the first entries
in, or sometimes by lottery. The actual festival has no say in the art.
Another way of looking at it is that a Fringe Festival really isn't a
festival, it provides infrastructure (venues, the technicians, a box
office, and some general promotion) that is subcontracted by the artists.
After all, the money from ticket sales goes directly to the artist, and
the artists are responsible for promoting their show. If you don't
promote, you can pretty much guarantee that there'll be no audience, and
thus no money from tickets.

One is curious about who went to this show, did they not get enough
informatin ahead of time, or what? It's usually the reverse, sex or
something 'scandalous" is implied ahead of time, but in reality the show
is fairly timid. That's part of the ongoing debate about Fringe
Festivals, are the artists going for the tame in order to get the
audience?

Michael

[Dean Dark]

Post by Michael Black

Post by Ubiquitous
Of course, back in the early 1990s the National Endowment for the Arts
generously funded this kind of cutting-edge art. It's just another
example of how America is falling behind its neighbor to the north.

SInce it's at a Fringe Festival, chances are really good they don't get
funding. At that level it's rare, the best a performer can hope for is
some small companies who will pay for ads in the program. Or, that time
one troupe got sponsorship from Planned Parenthood.
Don't confuse, as one "family value type" group did in 2000, that if the
actual festival gets funding, that means there is funding for this art.

You should be aware that Mike Weber (Ubiquitous) is a well known and
long time far-right wing loony and unintentional troll. Unintentional
in that he seems to believe in his heart that what he thinks and says
is true.

I think that he's been more cranky recently because Obama got
re-elected. Mike Weber was among those Faux News staff and viewers
whose jaws dropped in disbelief at the news from the polling stations.

I hope this helps.

[Steve Newport]

"Ubiquitous" <***@polaris.net> wrote in message news:ksrv32$9j$***@dont-email.me... wrote "A controversial Fringe Festival
performance featuring two naked actors engaging in mayonnaise enemas and a
sexual act on stage left some audience members in shock while others walked
out of the theatre Friday night," CBC News reports from Winnipeg, Manitoba:
----------------------------------------
SRN: I urinated on stage during a performance of HAIR to protest the
Vietnam war.


"There's nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music.
Musicals carry us to a different time and place, but in the end, they
also teach us a little bit of something about ourselves. In many ways,
the story of Broadway is also intertwined with the story of America.
Some of the greatest singers and songwriters Broadway has ever known
came to this country on a boat with nothing more than an idea in their
head and a song in their heart. And they succeeded the same way that so
many immigrants have succeeded through talent and hard work and sheer
determination. Over the years, musicals have also been at the forefront
of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our
opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics.
But perhaps the most American part of this truly American art form is
its optimism. Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and
in the world around us."-- President Obama

"Musicals blow the dust off your soul."-- Mel Brooks

[Mason Barge]

[...]

Post by Ubiquitous
Of course, back in the early 1990s the National Endowment for the Arts
generously funded this kind of cutting-edge art. It's just another
example of how America is falling behind its neighbor to the north.

Good one!