The season hasn’t started yet, so don’t look here for reviews of what you will or will not see. But of course, you will have to go to Meadowlands Hall at Dominican University in San Rafael, to see the plays for yourself. Then, should you be inspired, you can write your own reviews.
I can say this. In all the Fringes I have attended (and we are going on eight or nine now), there is at least one play, and often more, that will astound you with a deft script, sensitive direction, and superb acting. You will be, as I have often been, amazed at the dynamic confluence of all these appearing on stage before you.
These are all one-act plays, by unknown or little-known playwrights, having their world premiere right in front of you. You could (and in fact probably are) watching the incubation of the next Harold Pinter or David Mamet (or Eugene O’Neill—everybody starts somewhere). That stage is literally no more than twenty feet in front of you, so close that you are no longer an audience separated from the action by the supposed fourth wall. You are, and sometimes quite literally, a part of the action.
This is not to promise that every play at the Fringe will deliver a memorable theatrical experience. With thirteen plays produced twice a year for lo! these thirty seasons, that is a standard impossible to keep up.
I can promise that you will see something you have never seen before. And if you attend both Programs, something that will leave you thinking and talking to your friends for days afterward. This is the best bargain in small theatre you can find. There are only five performances of each Program, starting November 2. Don’t miss it.
Fringe of Marin website for Program and Performance Schedule: http://fringeofmarin.com
by David Hirzel www.davidhirzel.net