The Fringe: A chance to show your stuff. A 45-minute showcase for each teller at the Florida Storytelling Festival.
Every year, three tellers, selected in a drawing, are featured during the FSA festival in Mt. Dora.
“It’s a great opportunity for everyone to showcase longer or newer stories,” says Katie Green, from Dunedin, a 2022 Fringe teller.
Katie, who was well-known in New England storytelling circles, relocated to Florida and become active in storytelling here. At her Fringe performance in 2022, she told about her experiences growing up in the Cleveland area at a time of personal transformation.
The term “Fringe” comes from the storytelling and theater traditions in Europe where it originated in Scotland the 1940s as a protest of invitation-only festival performance events.
Outside the main stages, these “Fringe” shows became known for their innovation and creativity. This evolved into the present-day Fringe Festivals that are held throughout the world.
Our Florida Fringe offers storytellers the opportunity to present a 45-mintue program of their best and most creative work, including experimental and innovative performance.
Three tellers are selected each fall by a drawing. Applicants must be members of the Florida Storytelling Association. Applications are being accepted now through August 1.
Only one application per teller is accepted. Tandem or ensemble performances are accepted but only one application, please.
Fringe performers from the previous year may not enter the next year. After that year, they may enter the drawing again.
I applied in 2019 and 2020 but my name was not drawn. I was excited when it was drawn for the 2022 Festival. It really is the luck of the draw.
The three Fringe performances are held simultaneously. I told my stories late on a Friday night at the 2022 Festival. In the audience were some friends from the Orlando Story Club and the students from the Odessa Christian School.
I put together an amusing string of stories about growing up in a South Carolina textile mill village. The students’ teacher told me later than they were still talking about my Christmas story that involves a family squabble over an artificial Christmas tree.
Other tellers in recent years have included a wide variety of styles and stories.
Also in 2022, Louise O’Leary, of Mt. Dora, told how a small-town English girl met, married, and moved to America to be with her Louisiana sweetheart.
When he entered for the 2018 Fringe, former FSA President Joel Ying said he was “anxious, excited, grateful, and motivated” to perfect what has become some of his favorite stories.
“The first annual Florida Storytelling Festival Fringe announcement left me confused. When I looked it up, I found edgy… off the wall… anything goes… almost?” he said. “When I figured out that it was my chance to offer a long-form 45-minute program of my own design, I took up the challenge to create a trifecta of stories that weave and interlock with the theme “Legacy of Love”.”
In 2019, Mary Lou Williams, who is a featured teller this year, offered a funny medley of fractured fairy tales. Drew Willard offered an inspirational Fringe story inspired by the scriptures of Mark from the Bible. His story followed a day in the life of Jesus. And Debra Weller, of the St. Augustine Tale Tellers, told tales of three naughty children. She says it was her first festival, and now she is on the FSA Board of Directors.
At the most recent Festival in January, Linda Schuyler Ford, the current FSA president, explored the term “old” through a fairy tale, a short story and personal narrative.
Linda’s program challenged the stereotypes associated with aging and explored age discrimination though story.
As befits Fringe performances, she continued to refine that show, eventually being invited to perform it at the National Council on Aging’s annual conference in Atlanta.
Also, this year, Carol Kramer, of The Tale Tellers of St. Augustine, shared “stories from the heart” drawn from real life experiences. And author and ghost story researcher Mark Muncy, from Tampa, shared Florida tales of the supernatural.
What will the Florida Fringe tellers offer us at the next festival? Be bold. Be experimental. Try the unconventional.
See the application on this website and throw your hat in the ring.
Story complied by Walt Belcher (2022 Fringe Teller)
Fringe Application – Florida Storytelling Association (flstory.com)
Photos from Debra Weller & Walt Belcher
Thank you for this article. It explains the Fringe so clearly. Bravo to Florida Storytelling Association.
Hmmm, maybe I’m not too old, maybe I have a good story in me, hmmmm. I think I’ll throw my chapeau in the ring. I love our Fl Storytelling Festival. Thanks for showing what the fringe is.
Thank you for clearly explaining “The Fringe” to me, Walt! Learned a great deal and it was neat to read about different tellers experiences and how varied the story selections can be. These performances don’t sound as intimidating to me anymore!
Hey! I loved your “Showcase” of Fringe tellers and a bit about what they shared. It should certainly stir up some possible ideas for those sitting on the edge. Thank you!!