Once again, our students met up with their individual company liaisons to continue their marketing internships and to keep up our discussions with them. After having gotten to know us a little better, it was nice to see our students finding comfortable places under the wings of each of their individual organizations. Alan Flanagan at Irreconcilable Differences began to give more responsibility to Lauren and Leah. Francesca Moody from NOLA brought on one of our students to continue to help her arrange her postshow discussion panels at the Cow Cafe at Underbelly Cowgate, and Jennifer Jajeh from I Heart Hamas enlisted the help of Kathleen and Caitlin in managing her social media presence.

While several of the students attended Independent Theatre Council's Nuts & Bolts: The Essentials of Running a Performing Arts Company at Fringe Central. It was described thusly: For absolute beginners (and those who fancy a refresher course), ITC's legendary short course provides an overview of some fundamental topics that you should be aware of when setting up a performing arts company, however small. ITC’s legal expert Jackie Elliman will explain company formation, planning, contracts, intellectual property law and much more.

Those students interested in continuing their Fringe-u-cation in sunny South Australia went to the Adelaide Fringe Info Session where Greg Clarke, Adelaide Fringe Director and Chief Executive and his team gave an overview of the 2nd Largest Fringe in the world.

Our students spent the morning and early afternoon continuing work with Underbelly Cowgate and Gryphon Venues on NOLA as well as Irreconcilable Differences. They continued to engage in dialogues regarding why each company had chosen to come to the Fringe and what they wanted to glean from their experiences. The students got valuable insight as to why the Fringe Festival is such an important arts arena.


Mark Fisher, theater critic for The Guardian and author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide sat down with us afterward to discuss sat down with us to discuss what individual factors come into play to determine the difference between "success" and mediocrity at the Fringe. He gave us a couple of examples of shows that might effectively define what it means to be successful. He also invited us to his forum with Maureen Beatty, from The List at Summerhall, Guy Matheson, one of Britain's top solo performers, comedian Ian Fox, and the producer Teresa Burns.

In defining success we looked at some shows from Traverse Theater, the National Theatre of Scotland, Finn Anderson, the Pleasance Grand, and Underbelly, including Bullet Catch, Appointment with the Wicker Man, Streets: the Musical, PEEP, and Sexytime! We discussed the importance of press coverage, topical subject matter, danger/risk, and artistic distinction and how all of these factors come together in different quantities to define individual success for each organization, dependent on their goals. 

Later that evening, some of our students continued to work with I Heart Hamas at Gryphon and PBH's Free Fringe presentation of Overexposed: A Slightly Awkward Peep Show at Finger's Piano Bar.

Our students continued work with NOLA, Irreconcilable Differences and I Heart Hamas. Today was NOLA's first discussion panel with representatives from Greenpeace as well as authors. Several people stayed after the show to hear the discussion, which was mediated by NOLA star, Toby Manley. Earlier in the day, Fringe University held its University Professors meetup at Gryphon Venues, while some of the students who were delayed got the chance to see "How to Sell

On August 1, so that we could more effectively market the show, we went to the Irish theater company, Refractive Lens', interactive play Irreconcilable Differences, which challenges the audience to make the difficult decision as to who should live or die after a couple whose lives are in the balance have aired out the entirety of their dirty laundry.

The show was great, and we got a chance to talk with the actors and the production team afterward and they were so grateful to have our help, that we barely got the opportunity to tell them how wonderful they were. Hopefully they get the opportunity to take a look at our blog and see this.

YOU WERE GREAT!

Afterwards, we headed tot he historic pub, The Last Drop, and had our fill of some tasty Scottish fare. The group got the chance to know each other over a couple pots of tea and some Mince and Tatties.

The day was capped off with a walking tour of the city so that the students could become better affiliated with the city at large.