Elgin Fringe Fest expands for its second year

More than 100 performances are on tap for the Elgin Fringe Festival, which returns for its second year from Thursday, Sept. 17, to Sunday, Sept. 20. Yet in the push to launch the festival last year, there was no official leader overseeing all the experimental musicians, performers and visual artists.

“The main committee that was there from the beginning talked about who did what and what worked, so we figured out titles and a better structure,” said Erin Rehberg, who agreed to take on the role of artistic director.

As with last year, the festival isn't curated and features performers and artists who signed up to participate on a first-come first-served basis at venues across Elgin. The performers get to keep 100 percent of their box office take.

This year, Rehberg was tasked with expanding the Elgin Fringe while also keeping it compact, and she boasts that no venue is farther away than a 10-minute walk. Rehberg also proudly points out that, officially, the Elgin Fringe is an international one since the British troupe Fool Size Theatre is prolonging its stay in Illinois by jumping from the soon-to-close Chicago Fringe Festival to Elgin with an adults-only show.

“We also wanted to grow the free artist workshop portion of the fringe,” Rehberg said. “Last year we had about four and now we have more than 10.”

Among this year's crop of performers are a number of artists who specialize in physical clowning, such as Nincompoop, Captain Ambivalent and Michael Burgos' piece “The Eulogy.”

Rehberg is also keen on how the festival tapped into the Elgin and Fox Valley music scene. Hip-hop collective Watch City, for example, is using the Fringe for an experimental multimedia concert performance.

Several performers are returning from last year, some trying out new approaches to storytelling and taking risks in their works.

For example, Melody Jefferies of Carol Stream appeared in last year's Fringe as an actress in Jack Helbig's play “Thinking of Her Made Him Think of Her.” But this year, she appears front and center in her first one-woman show (co-authored with Helbig) called “Here Lies a Manic Pixie Dream Girl” that deals with mental illness, medication and an examination of a female character type often found in independent films like “Garden State” or “Elizabethtown.”

“I want it to be funny and dark and something that everyone can relate to,” said Jefferies, who was frustrated that she was often cast in roles that fit the mold of “manic pixie dream girls.” “It's these two parallel stories about two girls trying to find themselves.”

Also back at the Elgin Fringe is Chicago storyteller David Boyle, who scored a sold-out hit last year with his observational solo show “An Accidental Organist” dealing with his career as a church musician. Boyle's new show, “Pizza & Pop (and Church),” brings more personal stories.

“Last year was such a great experience. I didn't expect it to be as good at it was,” Boyle said, adding that he was so eager to return that he turned in his Elgin Fringe submission one minute after bookings became available online. “So many people came out to enjoy the festival and the downtown of Elgin itself was so beautiful. Everything was very surprising to me last year and I felt really good about my performances so of course I wanted to come back.”

For details, visit elginfringefestival.com.

Elgin Fringe Festival

<b>Where:</b> Multiple Elgin locations: Blue Box Cafe, 176 E. Chicago St.; Eastern Groove Studio, 221 E. Chicago St.; Elgin Art Showcase at 8th Floor, 164 Division St.; Elgin Public House, 219 E. Chicago St.; Imago, 216 Prairie St.; Next Door Theater at Side Street Studio Arts, 15½ Ziegler Court; Martini Room, 161 E. Chicago St.,

<b>Showtimes:</b> Various times from Thursday, Sept. 17, to Sunday, Sept. 20

<b>Tickets:</b> $3 initial Fringe Festival button purchase, and then individual shows are $5, $10 or free; $50 all-access pass

<b>Details:</b> <a href="http://elginfringefestival.com">elginfringefestival.com</a>