We hope you all enjoyed your Fringe fix at Nights on the Fringe. (See shots from all of our amazing artists in our newest photo gallery, out now!) It certainly got everyone at Fringe HQ excited for the fall festival just four short months away!
The Charm City Fringe team is proud to introduce the adjudication panel for our 2016 season! For the first time ever, we invited friends from across the Baltimore theatre community to help review all of our applications. We gathered a diverse and talented group of Baltimoreans, who scoured through the applications to make sure the best, brightest, and most offbeat get their chance to shine November 3rd-13th.
The year’s team includes Roz Cauthen, Lauren Sharp, Sean Elias, Aran Keating, Chris Pfingsten, Kwame Kenyatta-Bey, and Deletta Gillespie.
Read on for a bit of background on a few of our amazing 2016 panelists.
Aran Keating
A Baltimore-based director, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, polymath producer of music, video and performance, and graduate of Goucher college. He is a founding member and the Artistic Director of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS). Lately he's been spending his time co-directing a Byzantine era rock musical entitled Amphion (which ran June 10th-26th at the Zion Lutheran Church), and gigging with the jazz-metal band Snakefeast.
Lauren Sharp
A native Marylander, Lauren developed her passion for the performing arts while training with the Howard County Ballet. She continued her dance education at Elon University where she focused her studies on fine arts communications and performance & choreography. After spending summers interning with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in NYC and Strathmore in DC, she returned home to Baltimore. Lauren currently works as Marketing Manager for Broadway Across America at the Hippodrome Theatre and oversees marketing campaigns for national touring Broadway, music, and dance productions.
Sean Elias
Sean is the Artistic Director and CEO of Iron Crow Theatre. Sean was also recently appointed Head of the Theatre Arts Department at The Jemicy School, a private high school in Owings Mills, MD serving students with language-based learning differences. An accomplished actor, Sean has worked in equity theatres across the northeast including The Kennedy Center. This past winter Sean made his Off-Broadway debut at the New Victory Theatre in Times Square after completing his first National tour. As a director, Sean is most proud of mounting the Off-Broadway revival of The Cradle Will Rock at the historic Theatre 80 in New York City and an evening of opera and musical theatre performances at The Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.
Chris Pfingsten
Chris has been a theatre professional for more than 30 years. In 2007, he returned to Baltimore after 21 years in Orlando, Florida, where he was an actor at Disney World and a charter resident company member of Orlando Theatre Project. As a member of Orlando Theatre Project (OTP), he was an actor, stage manager, producer, production manager, director, designer, and technical director for more than 45 different productions and projects. He also served as President, Vice President, and General Manager. Upon returning to Baltimore, Chris became Development Director for Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, where he also performed in their productions of Every Christmas Story Ever Told!! and Hamlet. He was appointed General Manager of Baltimore Theatre Project in 2011 and Producing Director in 2012. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Towson University.
Kwame Kenyatta-Bey
Kwame was Technical Director and Production Designer for The Arena Players for over 5 years where he created lighting, sound and scenery. Upon leaving the Arena players, he became the Technical Director for The Negro Ensemble Company, doing the National tour of the “We Series.” His freelance production designs include The Mississippi Delta featuring Miss Melba Moore, which he designed for the Tampa Centre for the performing arts. Additionally, Kwame was the first Production Manager to design any set on the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall stage. Kwame is currently President and CEO of JAG Productions Inc, whose major project at this time is the acquisition and restoration of the old Lord Baltimore theatre.
Deletta Gillespie
Deletta is a multidisciplinary performing and teaching artist with nearly 30 years in the entertainment industry. As a playwright Gillespie has written several plays that have received productions. The Magic City Massacre, a docudrama about the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 has enjoyed runs at Towson and Morgan State Universities. Her play U-Turn received an honorable mention in Stone Soup Theatre’s (Seattle) 2012 Double (XX) Fest. And What a Girl Wants enjoyed runs in Baltimore and Bermuda, where the play raised over $16,000 for the Women’s Resource Center. Her one-woman play, Panties UP, Dress DOWN: Things My Mama Used to Say was featured in the 2014 Charm City Fringe Festival.
We will be announcing the 2016 Charm City Fringe Festival lineup this August! In the meantime, remember to sign up for our monthly newsletter for Fringe updates, event news, and discounts to the 10-day festival. In case we don’t tell you enough, those dates are November 3rd-13th.
Stay cool out there!
Jenna Salmon, Marketing Manager