Reviewing My Fringe History - Part One

I am busy getting ready for the 2014 Fringe which opens July 10.  I am very excited about my story this year!

The Hello Girls is a new story - little known history and its not a personal story - which for 25 years has been my particular interest. But this story, although not about me or my family, connects deeply with me personally and my feelings as a feminist. It takes me back to the days of my activism for the Equal Rights Amendment. I knew when I discovered the story that I wanted to tell it - to have the opportunity to bring their story to light.

This is my fifth time telling at the Capital Fringe.
Each year except one I conceived a new story and told it. Its hard work but I have loved it - and that is one of  the thing that brings me back.

On a personal note: July is my birthday month so the calendar flips another year during the Fringe.  I like being a bit older and being out  there working - - - creative juices flowing and telling stories.

The Fringe is not an end in itself for me. It is an excellent place to experiment with new stories which I then market out to other venues and travel with afterwards. For instance in August 2014 I will be performing my 2011 Fringe Show Finding Gus in Watkinsville, GA along with a day work-shop.

These days as I work on The Hello Girls I find myself thinking back over my history as a Fringe participant. Recalling the fun and vitality of being involved in a dynamic artistic community. The energy is palpable.

2010 was the first time I entered the Fringe. I had a memoir story I had wanted to tell for a long time.

                                             

I called the story "Pushing Boundaries" because it was my story of "morphing" from a 1950s housewife to an ERA activist of the 1970s.  That period took me through college as a returning older student, to political activism for women artists and then my first "real" job as ERA campaign director for the League of Women Voters of the United States.

It was an extremely exciting time of growth and change for me as it was for hundreds of women. My husband, Jim Schoettler supported all my activities and he encouraged me in telling this story and worked with me to produce it.

The reviews of Pushing Boundaries were positive.  That was were important to me because I came up through the women artists movement. In the 1970s we focused on seeing that our work was documented. The reviews provided excellent documentation and websites are an effective way to publish them widely.

All that worked together to convince me that I would be back to Fringe the following year - with a new story.(More later).