Submission period has ended.  Thank you for your interest!

 

 

Hello and Good Wishes,

Great news for all of you spoken word groupies out there. StorySwap has reserved three performance spaces in the upcoming Pittsburgh Fringe Festival being held March 31-April 2, 2017. Shows run from 5:00 pm to 11pm. Friday evening and 11am-11pm Saturday and Sunday. We are pleased to invite you to offer a performance proposal.  Storytellers of all backgrounds, walks of life, and performance styles are encouraged.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival supports adventurous and exploratory performances showcasing uncensored artistic expression in a professional environment to equally as adventurous audiences. The Festival is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.

Please read the following description and instructions very carefully. It contains important details and requirements that must be met in order to participate. That said we want to encourage everyone to consider a submission. StorySwap is willing to provide what assistance can be afforded by the group.

You must submit your proposal by February 12.  Chosen participants will be notified the following week.

An audition tape, head shots, biography and promotional information may be required at a later date.

As a performer you are included in the general fringe marketing efforts. The Fringe promotes the festival and mentions specific shows in social media and press releases. Each performance has a full show page on the fringe website, and 1/4 page in our printed Fringe Guide that describes specific show features.  Performers will be featured on the Story Swap Fringe Facebook event page, and are strongly encouraged to do their own flyering, promoting, and sharing as well.

The performance venue may be an actual theater, a classroom, a storefront or anything in between. Each space has at least 20 seats and as many as 100 seats. It may be very close to the program deadline before a venue is final. Each venue is shared with other participants. Assume no available storage space.

The Fringe festival takes care of the box office. This year, festival passes will be promoted above individual tickets. The participant guide will list all passes/tickets and payout information.    Participants will receive a stipend based on their show attendance, approximately 3 weeks following the Festival.

In order to keep individual costs down, and focus on the storytelling aspects of performance, minimal technical support will be provided.  We will have basic lighting and a small sound cube suitable for music and mic to fill an intimate venue. You are strongly encouraged to bring your own stage manager sound board operator. There is a 2 hour tech rehearsal for each performance. The rehearsal time is set at the discretion of the Festival. Please forward any questions through your StorySwap representatives rather than contacting the venue. You must make any specific requests for assistance or equipment very clear in your proposal. There are no guarantees.

All performers accepted into the Festival need to be available for the entire duration of the event performances and the tech rehearsal during the week. If availability is limited for whatever reason, please include that information when submitting your proposal. Performers may choose to be involved in more than one production. Individuals are responsible for ensuring that no scheduling conflicts prevent or interfere with any performances. The Fringe does not adjust any scheduling to accommodate performers appearing in more than one production.

StorySwap has reserved three 90 minute time slots, which include set up and tear down. Your proposed performance should run between 45 and 60 minutes.  You may also submit a joint proposal that includes two or more performances by individuals working together. When a proposal does not consume a 60 minute time slot the time slot, you may be required to share the slot with another individual or joint performance.

 Each assigned 90 minute slot includes 15 minutes to load in set up everything required by the entire performance. The house opens on time no exceptions. Likewise, there are 10 minutes to load out after each time slot. Once again, there no exceptions. You are required to work with other performers in an assigned time slot to meet these requirements.

An official run time is required as part of your Technical Survey for each performance slot. Penalties may be incurred for any run over in your actual performance time.

Each time slot carries a $30 non-refundable participation fee. A single performer in a single performance slot must pay the entire fee. Performers sharing a time slot are required to contribute according to the number of performers participating.

Shared production expense: We share this cost with you, us and the other participants. Pittsburgh Fringe, LLC paid on average an additional $500 per company for expenses like equipment, venue rental, security, techs, and marketing.