THE 13TH ANNUAL ASPEN FRINGE FESTIVAL RETURNS TO THE WHEELER OPERA HOUSE JUNE 11 & 12

The Wheeler Opera House is thrilled to open its doors to host the first public event after more than a year of being dark due construction and COVID-19. The 13th Annual Aspen Fringe Festival, A journey of hope and renewal through the voices of artists, will take place Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m. This year’s festival features original and specially commissioned works from award-winning playwrights, acclaimed dancers and choreographers, composers, filmmakers, photographers and performing artists. Seating will be limited. Tickets to the festival are $35 and go on sale at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 25. Patrons are encouraged to reserve tickets early. To purchase, visit AspenShowTix.com or call 970-920-5770.  

“Following the enthusiastic response to our 2020 FallFest, AFF will again present two evenings of live performance and multimedia showcases,” commented Nikki Boxer, Aspen Fringe Festival Associate Artistic Director. “It’s been a tough year for artists and audiences. As we begin as a community to emerge from the physical, mental, and emotional confines of the pandemic, we reflect on our experiences and look forward together with anticipation and hope.”  

Wheeler Opera House Executive Director Lisa Rigsby-Peterson states, “Our Wheeler team has been working eagerly on the safe return of patrons and artists to our historic opera house. We can’t wait to welcome back everyone to the Wheeler and are thrilled to begin that journey with David and the Aspen Fringe Festival.”

The festival includes works covering nearly all arts genres including dance, theatre, music, film, and photography. Details about the full AFF program follow. 

DANCE

Phoenix Rising

Choreography by Adrianna Thompson

Performed by Katherine Bolanos, Seia Rassenti and Anthony Tiedeman

Music by Nine inch Nails

The phoenix was a huge mythological bird that cyclically was resurrected by arising from the ashes of its own fiery grave. To rise like a phoenix from the ashes means to emerge from a catastrophe stronger, with life reborn and transformed. Created for three best friends – Bolanos, Rassenti and Tiedeman – who found themselves furloughed from Aspen Santa Fe Ballet during the Covid-19 pandemic, this original work is dedicated to all performers who must now struggle to spread their wings again and breathe new life into their art. 

On the Horizon

Choreography by Mark Caserta

Performed by Samantha Altenau

Music by Jóhann Jóhannsson

In this post-quarantine reinvention of a previously choreographed piece, dancer Samantha Altenau (featured in AFF’s 2020 FallFest) explores identity shifts and self-discovery as a journey of movement.

THEATRE

Hour Twenty

A new work by Sharr White

featuring David Ledingham and Sonya Meyer

Directed by Maurice LaMee

A man walks into a salon expecting his scheduled hour-twenty massage. What he gets is much less, and yet far more, than he expected. This new work by acclaimed Broadway playwright and former AFF Playwright-in-Residence Sharr White explores suddenness, connectedness, and universality during the age of COVID.

A sneak peek of
Heisenberg
An excerpt from the play by Tony Award®-winner Simon Stephens
featuring Mike Monroney and Nikki Boxer

FRINGE LAB

I Want to Wake Up

by Simon Stephens

featuring Mike Monroney, Aidan Ledingham, and Kathy Pelowski
Directed by Maurice LaMee

A new pandemic text by the Tony-Award® winning playwright

With its rhythmic and cerebral logic, I Want To Wake Up came out of an experiment in form with a leading choreographer, drums and bass DJ. This poetic and dramatic work explores the sharp, impossible-to-satisfy desire for sensual, sexual, economic, emotional, and physical experience in the face of mortality.

MUSIC

The Lighthouse Fantasie

Composed by de Sabinas

Sung by Nikki Boxer

Based on Franz Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor and drawing on texts from Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, this new classical vocal work captures the musings and wanderings of a mind alone in quarantine. AFF will feature the opening excerpt from this operatic-style composition, created by de Sabinas specifically for Aspen Fringe Festival and mezzo-soprano Nikki Boxer.

FILM

She Left Home for a While

A metaphor for the pre-COVID life

Text by Simon Stephens

Directed by William Kahn

PHOTOGRAPHY

Safely Serving

Photographs by Jim Paussa

Commissioned by L’Hostaria owner Tziano Gortan, Jim Paussa’s series on beloved Aspen restaurants is an homage to the employees, owners, servers, cooks, and staff across the industry. This multimedia presentation, designed by Nikki Boxer, features music by Monica Montany and Alan Rubenstein.

Aspen Community News Aspen Community News