The Chicago Fringe Festival's seventh year runs Aug. 31-Sept. 11. This year, local theater personality LT ( Larry Todd ) Cousineau has the only show with clear LGBTQ content. His show, Songs From My Closet, features lyrics from many of his musicals.
"When I was putting this show together, I was looking for things that don't get sung very much, some of the songs that I've written that haven't had a chance to be seen by a lot of audiences," Cousineau said.
Working with four other singers and outside composers, Cousineau assembled a story told by multiple characters. He enjoyed the challenge of shortening his original show to fit the one-hour Fringe Fest schedule.
"We had to sort of arrange it so that we could say all the things we wanted to say at a nice speedy pace," Cousineau said. "I thought to myself, well, this is a little bit of a different audience than if I was doing it late night in Boystown. Part of what audiences in the past have liked about versions of the show have been how much range there is. The funny cuts against some stuff that's a lot more serious. And I didn't want to make it into just a silly show. I think that would do a disservice to the work and also gives the performers more variation in the things that we get to do on the stage. We get to do it in a shorter time, but we get to go to all the same places."
Telling queer stories has always been important for Cousineau. "I've never written a show that didn't have multiple queer characters, and that's been a way of differentiating myself from other people," he said. "Not that I don't feel like I can write really strong female characters that are not queer or really strong male characters, but just that I feel like my voice comes most distinctly and clearly through queer characters."
Cousineau also said he feels like there's a more personal reason for this focus. As a young performer, he noticed that he had a hard time getting parts if directors read him as gay. "And so I think I started to write characters that were gay because I wanted people like us to get work," he explained. "I wanted stuff for me to do, for people like me to do. And I've never stopped doing it. I think it's fun."
Chicago Fringe Festival Executive Director Anne Cauley explained that Fringe shows are chosen by lottery, but within that system there are still opportunities for diverse voices to shine. "Half the shows are local, from Chicagoland, and then half are from anywhere else in the world. We think there's real value for the patrons to be able to see work from other places and for the artists to network and be inspired by work that's happening in other cities, to broaden their perspective," she said.
There is a special benefit for diversity as well. "We define diversityit could be race, ability, age or anything else," Cauley said. "You can tell us why your voice is not being heard currently in Chicago in the arts and, if we agree with you, you will be put into that sublottery."
Overall, Cauley said Fringe is about the idea of representing underrepresented voices. "Our idea was really based in reaction to the festivals that currently exist in Chicago. They're all wonderful and we celebrate them, but we have had artists who said, we can't get into those festivals because we don't have proof yet of our work. We don't have work samples, we don't have photos. That is the space that fringe inhabits for Chicago, giving people their first step," Cauley said.
To Cauley, an ideal Fringe show has a freshness that makes the whole festival feel unpredictable in a good way. "I think there's just something about the way that we select the shows. There's excitement in it not being the most polished work, but something very new," she said.
Cousineau, who is doing Fringe for the first time but has attended in the past, agreed. "One thing that feels really special about it is how much heart there is in it. It's sort of scrappy, a lot of people just making it work on chewing gum and popsicle sticks. The people doing it love it and will it to happen. To me, that's what unique about it: the level of heart that's associated with it," he said.
Cauley said that Jefferson Park, now in its fourth year of hosting the festival, is an ideal home, even though logistics became challenging when Fischhman's, the event's past central venue, closed in July.
"Having the support of the alderman [John Arena] and local businesses and community members really has come into play this year, and it was really so exciting to me to see how many people were trying out ideas and trying to make connections for us to make the festival continue and continue to be really successful. That is why is we're in Jefferson Park: the neighborhood sees the value in what we're bringing to the neighborhood and we really love partnering with them," Cauley said.
So why go see Fringe? Cauley described the festival as "accessible."
"All of our venues are within walking distance, and all of the shows are an hour, and all of the tickets are $10 or less," she explained. "For the same price of one epic, masterful show downtown, you can see four very different shows. You can have a storytelling drama to a puppet show to acrobats. It's a very approachable arts experience."
Tickets for Chicago Fringe can be purchased online at ChicagoFringe.org or directly at venues, a full list of which can found online. There is a $5 one-time fee for a button that gains entry to Fest performances, plus $10 per show ticket. Various multiple show packages are also available.