Queer-themed performance groups and Fringe Festival favorites Tangle and Brian Sanders’ JUNK are going home for this year’s Philly Fringe shows.
Tangle, a seven-woman circus company that uses aerial maneuvers in its performances, will stage “The Girl’s Guide to Neighborly Conduct,” which explores what it means to find home in the culturally diverse landscape of Philadelphia.
“It tells the story of two Philadelphia rowhouses, starting with a group of six roommates that have been housemates for many years,” said Tangle founder Lauren Rile Smith. “When a new neighbor moves in next door, some fights break out, some romance breaks out and some arguments about how to sort recycling happen. We were really interested in exploring the idea of, in close urban spaces of Philadelphia, being neighbors with people we might not have ever run into in our lives. We share space with people who have different customs or different assumptions about how to interact politely or organize a kitchen. So for us, that show started by asking some of those questions about the different rules and expectations that we carry with us.”
For Brian Sanders’ JUNK, their new show, “American Standard,” takes the audience down home, to a more bucolic way of country life with bluegrass music.
Sure, it sounds a lot less controversial than JUNK’s past Fringe shows, but Sanders assured us there is plenty of bare flesh and boundary-pushing in the new show.
“It has a more homespun feel but I’m in there, so 200 percent it’s all me, and it’s all JUNK dancers and JUNK quality,” he said. “That’s what I like about Fringe. I can apply it to any venue and this venue is a barn. We’ve built some four-legged fake cows. Instead of climbing on scaffolding, we’re climbing on barn beams and swinging with raw hemp rope and throwing pitchforks at each other. So it has that same sense of audacity and daring but it’s got a warm, cozy feel.”
If that isn’t enough for audiences to sink their teeth into, select performances of “American Standard” will feature a special two-course meal conceptualized by chef Alex Garfinkel of A&G Catering, Le Bec-Fin, Morimoto, Amada and Mugaritz.
“I love the idea of dinner theater,” Sanders said. “It’s a version of a VIP ticket and it adds an added flair to the show. We want to make something special and have it be unique and different. This is definitely going to be that; it’s dinner theater in the raw. They’ll literally be sitting on hay bales and eating out of wood bowls with wood spoons, but it’s very haute cuisine. It’s going to be a unique experience. We’re excited to see how it works out.”
Both Tangle and JUNK have come to be perennial performers at Philly Fringe.
We asked if the audience’s expectations for their return engagements are a help or a hindrance.
“This is our fifth Fringe Festival so I think we’ve found a good home and found our stride with the Fringe Festival,” Smith said. “We’ve developed a style and an audience so that people may have a picture of what they might see when they come to a Tangle show. They know that they are going to see a spectacle of aerial acrobatics that can have some edge-of-your-seat excitement but also has storytelling that emphasizes queer themes and relationships between women and displays of female strength.”
“I try to be versatile so I don’t always top myself,” Sanders said. “Sometimes I bottom myself … that’s my gay joke for the day. I make sure to challenge myself. Last year, I really pushed myself in a new direction. It was very provocative in a vulgar way. I wanted to try it, I wanted to do it. I wanted to put people over the edge and make them feel turned on and grossed out at the same time. Is it something I’d want to do again? Probably not. It’s not that I try and top myself. I try to push myself over on the same shelf. I don’t consider it up and up and up. It’s just moving forward. I’m always trying new things. Last year, it was erections and singing vaginas. This year, it’s hay bales and cows.”
Tangle presents “The Girl’s Guide to Neighborly Conduct” Sept. 10-12 at Philadelphia Soundstages, 1600 N. Fifth St. For more information, visit www.tangle-arts.com. Brian Sanders’ JUNK presents “American Standard” Sept. 9-19 at JUNK Studio, 2040 Christian St. For more information, visit www.BrianSandersJunk.com/American-Standard/.
For more information on the Fringe Festival, visit www.fringearts.com.