Houston Fringe Festival Smackdown

• What's a Guffman index? Seriously. I was in Frenetic Theater's festival, and saw some of Bootown's. The stuff I saw at Bootown's was very poorly attended. Frenetic's was packed! And we got paid well for our 30 minute show. One of the owner's explained that the format they chose [different programs with many different groups all performing back to back in one space] guaranteed they could pay everybody without going broke. They sound like they know how to run their business and take care of local artists. Festival or show, most people don't care. Who wants to drive all across town in H-town traffic to see your favorite shows? Thanks Frenetic guys, for supporting local artists by paying them and diversifying their audience! Hopefully I'll get to be in the next one! Hint,hint. ;)

• Please. And you wonder why Houston's Guffman Index went up to 1.9. Wonder no more. There's a fringe.org and a fringe.com and no larger festival that either represent a "fringe" of. In any other town, the two would merge the assets and make the one festival better under the name, or have created a third LLC, handed them the assets and the name and taken appropriate stakes before it came to this silly state of affairs. I have to questions the ethics and intelligence of the legal counsel involved. 1.9! Be sad! The abject stupidity of having "fringe" festivals when there is no larger municipal festival for them to be the "fringe" of will get back to biting people in the ass as the economy continues to tank for the arts. Get it together, literally. Please.

• as far as being a bigger festival... Frenetic's festival went on longer last year, but they only had one venue.. Bootown had multiple venues, and simultaneous performances in more than one place at a time. You know.. like a festival, not a show.

• The thing I like about BooTown as a group (and their event the Houston Fringe Festival, which I participated in last year) is that they are very supportive of other local artists/groups. I don't see them swinging their dick around as being more important or relevant or representative of the city than any other group. And I dig that.

• With regard to Time Frames-On Theaterport.com there were many discussions/debates regarding a Houston Fringe Festival several years ago. I recall one of the things that came up often as a possible issue were conflicts like this, -ownership, money, venues..etc. Some companies here are also quietly over-competitive with each other. LOL (Side Note-the previously mentioned web site supports Both festivals in its own mini way) The question on my mind is, do they truly draw different crowds? Also, as far as I know, these are NOT both in the summer, there has been one in the Spring and the other is almost in The Fall. Why must one group be in charge of it all? Shouldn't a real fringe fest have group of people made up of people from different representing companies? And what of TheatreLab in all this? I think they are BOTH wonderful and would like them both to stay as I plan on attending/participating both. Hopefully the lawyer BS wont screw too much up!

• WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN

• Excuse me.. is this article claiming that one festival should get the name over the other because they think they're bigger and have more money? Art is not about money. Well, maybe it is, but it shouldn't be. First of all, Bootown did not 'Put on a show' called 'The Houston Fringe Festival'. They collected submissions from local groups, such as Mildred's Umbrella (we've won several Best of Houston awards in the Press and have been around since 2001) and out of town playwrights and groups. They researched the way other festivals work in large cities and based the way they ran their festival on those... several different locations was one of the criteria.. and this was a FESTIVAL, not a show. There were happy hours, dinners and events in different locations in the community leading up to the festival. They had support from local businesses and bars to use spaces.. They drew very large crowds of people of all ages, to these locasions, and people walked between the locations to watch different shows. From the first year to the second year, it grew tremendously. It was a FESTIVAL, not a SHOW. Not only that, but the festival was based on a lot of hard work from many people in the community, from artists, to bar owners... with donations and volunteer work.. and a percentage of the money every year goes to a different charity. There was a huge sense of community and sharing involved in that, and it was rewarding to be part of it. The FRenetic Festival, and i'm not saying it was any less in quality, so don't get me wrong on that.. was more of a 'show'. It was in one location both times (granted, they have their own theatre, so that makes sense). It was done as a series of different plays and dance performances within one location and one space. These are two different festivals.. they are not at all similar in style, structure or purpose. There should be no dispute here. There shouldn't be any reason why a compromise cannot be reached. However, i think the bootown festival was more of a Festival in the traditional sense. THat's my opinion.

• This reminds me of the dispute over the two Houston MLK parades...

• It all kind of loses the flavor of a "fringe" festival once lawyers are involved...seems to me whoever used the name first - and consistently - owns it.

• i'm also interested in sheep lone star

• Well, I want in on this fun. I want to start my own Houston Fringe Festival.

• First. I just want to go to the one who will have the most sheap Lone Star. Yo FrenetiCore betta check its self before ya wreck yo self.

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