This past weekend, Point Park launched its first student-run Fringe Festival, featuring a lineup of theater, music and art performances created and produced by students. The festival was designed to display experimental and original works, but the lasting impacts go beyond the average showcase.
Senior theater arts major Eliza Boyanton is the driving force behind the festival. Boyanton managed everything from event planning to production logistics. The idea stemmed from her experience in an ensemble studio class with Robin Walsh, during her first year at Point Park. Ever since, Boyanton has been determined to single-handedly produce Point Park’s Fringe Festival as her senior capstone.
“My path at Point Park hasn’t exactly been cookie-cutter in a lot of ways, so I learned to just insist on what I’m going to do and provide evidence that hey, I can take on these responsibilities, and off I go,” Boyanton said. “This school is truly what you make of it, and I think this festival is representative of all the skills I have learned over the past four years.”
Through Boyanton’s persistence, she was able to secure Point park as an official venue of Pittsburgh’s Fringe Festival, a citywide event officially established on Penn Avenue, just four miles from campus. Pittsburgh Fringe is an active member of World Fringe and the World Festival Network. Students performing in Point Park’s Fringe reap the benefits of being featured on the Pittsburgh Fringe website and marketing. Many shows are also reviewed and receive feedback from Fringe theater makers, further introducing students to the national and international network of Fringe trustables.
Participation in Point Park’s Fringe Festival is an opportunity for individuals to present their works, perform and experience live theater. Submissions to present a show were open from Jan. 24-Feb. 7. For Sophomore Theatre Arts major Aryan Cheruvattath, Fringe allowed him to expand on “A Boy Called Time,” a musical he initially wrote for an assignment last year. In the process of producing a staged reading for Fringe, the concepts of the show emerged.
“I was researching what the lore is behind father time and creating relations between mother nature and forces like gravity, and began to create a timeless love story from the ground up,” Cheruvattah said. “I started with the music first, so then it was a bit of character work, and then it was just writing the script and adding
in the music.”
Sophomore Terra Tougaw, the musical and assistant director of “A Boy Called Time,” describes the process of this staged reading as unique.
“We would go through a chunk of the script, then stop everyone and talk about certain moments and how they felt about them, what it says about the character, and that’s basically how we got through the whole script,” Tougaw said. “Fringe allows for so many different styles of shows, so while we’re doing a stage reading, some people are doing solo pieces, and it’s a cool introduction to the many styles.”
The festival was held in Boulevard studios 100 and 104 throughout the days of March 21-23. Fringe included other shows, such as a Pioneer Records showcase, Point Park’s improv and sketch comedy writing group “Wenches,” and various others. The festival opener was Point Park Alumna Christen Krasch and their solo show, “To Taste!”
Krasch graduated in 2022 with a BFA in Acting. Post graduation, they moved to Chicago to pursue the clown and puppetry field. Krasch thrives as an independent artist and is passionate about exploring the Fringe theater scene.
“When I saw that Point Park was having a Fringe Festival, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is exactly what I would have wanted to do as a student,’” said Krasch. “Especially in Chicago, I have met such a wide range of different artists and I know so much better how to recognize strengths in myself and in other people, so I hope there’s at least a couple of people who come and see my show who don’t really know where they’ fit and it helps guide them in one direction or another.”
“To Taste!” revolves around physical theater, featuring clowning, audience interaction and puppetry. The story revolves around political commentary while following the fate of a morally complicated snail. Aside from this solo performance, Krasch also held a 30 minute talk back with Point Park students on navigating a career, as well as a clowning workshop.
The Fringe Festival was free for all who attended. This event will continue to provide opportunities for students of any major.
“It just makes so much sense with the theater arts curriculum within COPA for there to be this place where it’s just kind of a live laboratory of theater,” said Boyanton. “I’d love for it to grow into something that really showcases all of the crazy facets of students that we don’t necessarily get to see in other places on campus.”
