Category: Press Releases

September 14th 10 pm Writers & Books

Rochester, NY – Not Her Again! will perform at the 2018 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival (Wednesday, Sept. 12 – Saturday, Sept. 22) on September 14th at Writers & Books (740 University Ave, Rochester, NY 14607). Tickets are $20 at rochesterfringe.com, where more information is also available. Remaining tickets will be available at the door starting one hour before curtain.

For one night only the Fabulous Miranda Marie “Poison Waters” Sugarbaker returns for her drag and comedy extravaganza with some of her favorite comedians, Kevin Markman and Dan Maslyn. They will give you the gift or laughter with music and raw comedy on the first weekend of Fringe. Miranda Marie Sugarbaker is traveling back from her home down South for a One Night Only Show. She is a Brit that found her home in the Roc and is now a Southern Belle with a Northern attitude. She is a legend in the Upstate New York drag scene. Those who know her it is your chance to re-experience the sass and class. Those who have not come become a part of the unique experience for a night to remember.

More about Fringe: Since its debut in 2012, the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the most successful fringe festivals in the U.S., attracting more than 78,000 attendees in 2017. Now an 11-day event, this multi-arts festival boasts over 500 performances and events – more than a quarter of which are free – in 25+ venues in downtown Rochester, NY. Celebrating and inspiring creativity, the Fringe – which is partially curated by the non-profit festival and partially by festival venues – includes everything from theatre, music, comedy and dance, to children’s entertainment, spoken word, visual arts, film, and much more. Please visit rochesterfringe.com for a complete schedule, tickets, and more information.

Pittsburgh Femme Hosts Peer Behind The Curtain Of the Artistic Mind

Songwriter Liss Victory and comedian Liz Tripoli combine talents to invite audiences behind the curtain, through the fourth wall, and onto the stage with Art Lobotomy as part of the Keybank Rochester Fringe Festival. They welcome all people of all backgrounds to join the show at Writer’s & Books on Sept. 12 at 9 p.m., Sept. 13 at 9 p.m., and Sept. 15 at 8 p.m.

Every show is different. Each Art Lobotomy interactive performer showcase will feature three acts: Liss Victory, Liz Tripoli, and a selected Fringe performer guest. Each presents a piece of their art – a song, a joke, a dance, etc. After each performance, the audience becomes a part of the show by asking questions, proposing critiques, and offering their perspectives.

“We started an open mic in our living room,” says Victory, currently a Pittsburgh resident. “I’m a boisterous host, so I kept finding myself asking questions or playing the tambourine while folks were still in the stage area. Other attendees started doing the same. Then, we decided to start a whole event dedicated to workshop time with the audience.”

Tripoli, also from Pittsburgh, adds, “While it seems like a crazy idea to have random people tear apart your art, it’s been a completely positive experience. I’ve actually received some of my best notes by listening to how the audience perceives the work.”

After the living room went so well, Victory and Tripoli knew they needed to get their show on the road, on the big stage, and beyond their city’s limits. Art Lobotomy will be their very first Fringe Festival, as well as the opportunity to bring this adventure to a whole, new city and group of people. Performers and commenters alike leave the experience with new perspectives and ideas, feeling more enriched and fully entertained.

Please visit rochesterfringe.com for a complete schedule and more information. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door starting one hour before curtain.

ROCHESTER, NY — Have you ever heard of Tom Willard?  The Rochester-based standup comedian plans to put on his first one-man show during the upcoming KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival.

“TOM WILLARD:  A Comedian You’ve Never Heard Of” will take place 7 pm Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018 at Writers & Books, 740 University Ave. in Rochester’s Neighborhood of the Arts.  Tickets are $10 and available through the Fringe website (rochesterfringe.com).

Willard started doing standup comedy in July 2016 at the age of 58.  Having gone deaf slowly while growing up, he talks in his act but also uses sign language.

“I do that for three reasons,” he explained.  “To make my act accessible to deaf people, to give hearing people a chance to see sign language up close, and so I can understand what I say.”

He talks about deaf-related issues such as hearing aids and lipreading (“I don’t even know if you’re talking to me or chewing gum”) but also shares his thoughts on pot policy, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the cat who pees on his things (“It’s not a medical issue, he’s just an asshole”).

Willard grew up in Westfield, N.J. and began to lose his hearing at age 8.  He moved to Rochester in 1980 to attend Rochester Institute of Technology, home of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.  With support from NTID’s interpreters and notetakers, Willard earned an RIT photo degree in 1985.

Upon graduation, he founded Deaf Artists of America, a nonprofit that he ran for 10 years.  Since then, he has worked as a journalist in the deaf community for more than 25 years.  He decided to transition into standup comedy two years ago, he said, because “Frankly, I’m burned out.”

He’s seen some early success, beating 15 other comedians in Photo City’s “Who’s Got Next?” contest in Feb. 2017, performing at Toronto’s Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club and New York City’s Dangerfield’s and Broadway Comedy Club, and making it to the quarterfinals of this year’s Toronto Comedy Brawl.

This fall, he will try out for next season’s “America’s Got Talent.”  He is represented by the same Los Angeles casting producer who represented last year’s winner — Darci Lynne, the teenage ventriloquist who will bring her show to Rochester’s Auditorium Theatre in December.

Willard is also a longtime advocate who is encouraging the comedy world to become more inclusive of people with hearing loss.  In early August, he was successful in obtaining real-time captioning for comedy shows at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in Jamestown, N.Y.

He acknowledges that he faces long odds in his goal of becoming a successful touring standup comedian, but he is steadfastly optimistic.

“Plenty of comedians you’ve never heard of make a good living from comedy,” he said, “and so that’s my goal, to become one of those comedians you’ve never heard of.”