Nashville’s Actors Bridge Ensemble, a professional theatre company in full time residence at Belmont, is hosting the first annual Sideshow Fringe Festival: Music City’s Progressive Performing Arts Event Sept. 29-Oct. 2. The first of its kind in Nashville, the festival joins the National Association of Fringe Festivals and is part of the city-wide Artober celebration.
Organized and led by three Belmont theatre alumni–Jessika Malone, Mitch Massaro and Jackie Johnson–the festival’s 41 events will be held at Belmont’s Troutt and Black Box Theaters, as well as at Bongo Java’s After Hours Theatre and on a Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood stage. Over 50 percent of the actors and volunteers for the weekend are current Belmont students.
According to the Nashville Scene, “Actors Bridge Ensemble paves the way for Music City’s entry into the genre, providing a forum for aerial dancers, jugglers, fire eaters, magicians and puppeteers, plus Caffeinated Theatre (a live-theater version of the 48 Hour Film Project), stand-up comedy, original scripts and storytelling, and one-woman shows from singer Annie Sellick and writer-choreographer Gabrielle Saliba. Music, visual art and workshops are also part of the celebration.”
Passes can be purchased online for the entirety of the four-day weekend, and individual tickets for performances can be purchased at the door. The outdoor festival activities are free to the public. For more information about the festival or to see a complete schedule, click here.
