Carmel Clavin and her collaborators have a saying about how the first ever Richmond Fringe Festival was impacted by the pandemic: “Everything was planned and sandwiches were made,” she says.
Just two weeks before the festival was supposed to kick off, the pandemic took hold in Virginia, effectively shutting down all elements of public life. Shifting to the new reality of lockdowns and social distancing, the festival moved online, becoming the first all-digital festival of its kind, says Clavin, the event’s organizer.
After taking off 2021 and 2022 in recognition of the pandemic and the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the festival took place in-person for the first time in 2023. Now, the event is gearing up for its third year, bringing with it cabaret performances, immersive experiences, live music, a citywide scavenger hunt, dance parties, a public funeral and an exploration of human-dolphin love.
Clavin, a performer of immersive and cabaret-style work, grew up around the world and refers to herself as “a global citizen, a glamour hobo.” As a former resident of Staunton, Clavin previously organized the Shenandoah Fringe Festival for three years. The idea of bringing a fringe festival to Richmond was suggested by Richmond arts ringleader Parker Galore.
“The Richmond Fringe Festival was born from not only recognizing the deeply fecund and weird art that comes out of Richmond, the glorious and joyful strangeness, but also magnetizing other artists from other places to Richmond to present their art,” Clavin explains. “Smaller cities have a really unique ecosystem of artists and performers that usually get completely overlooked by people who are not from those places, and fringe festivals tend to thrive in small to mid-sized cities.”
Participating performers applied to be a part of the festival and were selected by a jury; the festival will split all ticket proceeds with performers 50/50. This year’s event will take place at The Basement, Révéler, Gallery 5, and Fallout among other locations.
The festival will kick off Friday with a “secret soft launch” at The Big Bloom event at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on Friday. Members of the Party Liberation Front’s PyroCircus fire performance troupe will put on a show and interactive characters will walk around engaging with attendees. The event is only open to those who purchase either a weekend pass for the festival or to the Big Bloom event.
Saturday afternoon brings the live sketch show Black Girl Magic by Issa Rae’s Daughters Sketch Team and double feature performances of “Bad Light” and “A Good Woman” to The Basement. Clavin calls the double feature “experimental theater about gender about gender and the role of women in society.”
Saturday evening will see the Richmond Fringe Festival Cabaret followed by a performance by klezmer dance band The Vulgar Bulgars at Révéler. At Fallout, sideshow troupe Black Mass from Coney Island will present a 90-minute performance followed by the Bizarre Noir dance party.
“It will be what burns the midnight oil for all of the people that haven’t had enough and they need more, more, more,” says Clavin of Bizarre Noir. “We invite you to dress in your goth whimsy and come down and dance until 2 in the morning.”
Sunday’s events begin with the Fringe Art Market at Gallery 5.
“It will be all indoors and there will be some pop-up performances from Host of Sparrows [Aerial Circus] and the Richmond Faerie Federation and the Walking Disco, bringing some love and bringing some whimsy to the streets,” Clavin says. “There will be biscuits and mimosas.”
Sunday afternoon will see the fringe theater performances “Strange Winds” and “The Dolphin I Loved” at The Basement. “Strange Winds” is a musical theatrical piece presented by Genevieve Wall that has audiences step into an “ambient, ethereal dreamworld” where “the listener is a traveler through an ancient and inexplicable land,” according to the event’s webpage.
“The Dolphin I Loved” is based on the true story of Margaret Howe Lovatt and her dolphin Peter. Lovatt was part of an experiment to teach dolphins human language. When Peter’s frequent sexual urges began interrupting their lessons, Lovatt began relieving Peter’s urges herself. Saturday evening will close with a performance by surf rock band The Embalmers.
Monday evening will see “Lost Arcana,” “Fringe Funeral” and a performance by indie folk group Holy River at The Basement.
“‘Lost Arcana’ is a really interesting immersive and intimate experience about poetry and oracle cards. It’s only for 15 people at a time and it is collaborative between a local artist, a visual artist and a poet, and they’ve created a deck of oracle cards called the Lost Arcana,” Clavin says, comparing oracle cards to tarot as a divinatory tool.
The “Fringe Funeral” is “a public funeral that invites people to grieve what they’ve lost, what they are losing, for us to hold each other in a trustworthy space,” Clavin says. “People are grieving and they’re not given enough time to do that in our culture.”
“Richmond Liminal” will take place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. In this city-wide game, participants join the Wanderer Liminal Society in its quest to fight “the Void.” “It is an internationally award-winning, interactive game where people can solve puzzles, make art and save the world,” Clavin explains.
Clavin encourages all to join, provided they are age appropriate for each event.
“The Richmond Fringe Festival is three days of delight and connection,” she says. “There is plenty to choose from, and no one is asking you to swallow it whole. We want you to be delighted in this space and find your connection to new things, but also to celebrate the pieces of Richmond that you know and love.”
The Richmond Fringe Festival runs April 13-15. For more information, visit richmondfringe.com.
