Following
last
year’s
inaugural
success,
the
Capital
Fringe
Festival
is
back
with
scores
of
new,
mainly
low-tech,
marvels
and
mishaps
from
the
murkier
depths
of
the
worlds
of
theater,
dance,
music
and
puppetry.
Like
its
fringy
predecessors
in
Edinburgh,
New
York,
Philadelphia
and
other
cities,
D.C.’s
festival
dares
audiences
to
give
riskier
theater
a
try.
Held
from
July
19-29,
the
festival
features
more
than
120
groups
presenting
500
performances
in
more
than
30
downtown
venues.
For
many
of
the
artists,
Capital
Fringe
is
their
first
time
showing
their
own
work,
and
because
of
its
affordable
ticket
prices
(ranging
from
free
to
$35),
the
festival
attracts
many
who
might
ordinarily
pass
on
live
theater.
The
Fringe’s
mission
is
to
connect
exploratory
artists
with
adventurous
audiences
by
creating
an
open-access
annual
performing
arts
festival.
This
year’s
lineup
includes
a
number
of
shows
that
are
gay-themed,
gay-created
and
have
gay
characters,
or
combinations
thereof.
In
proud
Fringe
fashion,
Jonathan
Padget,
a
former
theater
critic
for
Metro
Weekly
and
currently
a
copy
editor
at
the
Washington
Post,
has
written
the
book,
music
and lyrics
for
his
very
own
show,
“The
Blue
Lagoon:
A
Musical,”
which
he’s
also
producing,
directing
and
designing
especially
for the
festival.
“It’s
one
of
those
fun,
iconic
things
from
our
youth
—
campy,
compelling
and
erotic
all
at
once,”
explains
Padget,
before
adding
that
the
source
material
for
his
60-minute,
six-song
musical
about
young
cousins
who
are
shipwrecked
on
a
deserted
island
and
grow
up
to
become
lovers
is
as
much
the
1911
novel
by
Henry
de
Vere
Stacpoole
as
the
1980
film
featuring
then-nubile
hotties
Brooke
Shields
and
Christopher
Atkins.
Inspiration
struck
about
a
year
or
so
ago.
Padget,
an
experienced
pianist
and
singer,
was
killing
time
at
the
downtown
Grand
Hyatt
when
he
became
unexpectedly
charmed
by
the
massive,
tacky
lagoon
in
the
hotel’s
atrium.
With
its
fountains
and
an
island
supporting
a
grand
piano,
the
water
feature
struck
the
gay
musical
theater
fan
as
an
intriguing
semi-public
performance
space
for
Handel’s
“Water
Music,”
or
better
yet,
his
own
musical
adaptation
of
the
celebrated
lagoon
story.
Fast
forward
to
the
present:
Padget
has
completed
what
he
describes
as
“a
very
pretty,
lush
score,”
and
opted
for
a
more
a
conventional
theater
setting
—
the
Playbill
Café’s
small
raised
stage
dressed
with
a
sandy-colored
drop
cloth,
a
tiny,
kiddy
pool
and
keyboardist
(him).
While
Padget’s
set
might
hint
at
a
low
budget,
his
cast
certainly
doesn’t.
As
the
musical’s
teenage
kissing
cousins
Matthew
McGloin
and
Kathleen
Mason
are
both,
according
to
Padget,
triple
threats
—
“funny,
talented
and
great
looking
in
their
swimsuits.”
“This
is
theater
at
its
simplest,
most
enjoyable
level,”
says
Padget,
“And
though
I’m
not
looking
to
leave
my
day
job,
I
would
like
to
get
a
sense
of
what,
if
anything,
there
is
out
there
for
me
in
terms
of
making
musicals.”(“The
Blue
Lagoon”
plays
at
1409
Playbill
Café,
1409
14th
St.,
NW,
July
21-29.)
A
MORE
HARDCORE
Fringe
offering
is
Sheldon
Scott’s
multi-character,
one-man
show
titled
“Faggot,”
a
piece
about
men
in
therapy
struggling
with
their
sexuality.
Each
of
the
characters
is
loosely
based
on
someone
whom
the
gay,
black
playwright/performer
and
now
producer
has
at
one
time
encountered.
Included
among
the
men
portrayed
in
his
premiere
work
are
a
transsexual,
a
pedophile,
a
hyper-masculine
gay
black
male
who
is
neither
out
nor
closeted,
and
a
secure
gay
man
who
demands
more
than
tolerance
from
everyone
involved
in
his
life.
Formerly
a
therapist
with
at
risk
youth,
30-year-old
Scott
stopped
counseling
several
years
ago
to
try
something
else,
but
he
wasn’t
certain
what
that
new
career
was.
After
traveling
around
Europe,
he
returned
to
D.C.
and
began
waiting
tables
and
studying
acting.
He
started
performing
with
SpeakeasyD.C.
(a
company
of
urban
storytellers)
and
playing
parts
mostly
in
staged
readings.
Simultaneously
through
improvisation
and
various
attempts
at
writing,
he
began
to
cobble
together
a
series
of
monologues
that
resulted
in
his
current
Fringe
piece.
With
“Faggot,”
Scott
uses
the
device
of
talking
therapy
to
touch
on
topics
important
to
him
and
his
friends,
particularly
other
black
gay
men:
vulnerability
and
exploitation,
conditional
acceptance
and
tolerance
as
opposed
to
actual
respect,
familial
acceptance
and
the
truth
behind
the
down-low
phenomenon.
“Suppressed
sexuality
—
gay
or
straight
—
is
nothing
new,”
says
Scott.
“Down
low
is
largely
the
result
of
black
America’s
response
to
homosexuality.
Because
[a
gay
black
man]
is
balancing
his
identity
as
a
black
man
and
a
gay
man,
doesn’t
mean
necessarily
that
he
is
being
less
than
honest
about
his
sexuality.”
Initially
a
working
title,
“Faggot”
caught
on
and
eventually
became
the
official
name
of
Scott’s
show.
“The
word
is
definitely
loaded.
A
lot
of
people
compare
it
to
[the
N-word],”
says
the
playwright.
“I’m
interested
in
where
the
word
is
right
now.
Who
owns
it,
and
who
is
allowed
to
use
it.
When
is
it
a
slur?
How
it
impacts
different
individuals
in
different
ways.
These
are
the
kind
of
questions
I
want
the
audience
members
to
leave
the
theater
asking
themselves.”
(“Faggot”
will
show
at
the
Goethe-Institut,
812
7th
St.,
NW,
July
21-29.)
LAST
JULY,
ONE
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