Opening Night at Frontera

Saturday night we checked out the first Best of Week bill at Hyde Park's 13th Annual Frontera Fest. You might have read a thing or two about Frontera here on Austinist. Well, it has finally arrived in all its fringe-y glory. And before we forget, we'll tell you this now; if you want to start your very own blog about Frontera or pretty much anything artsy in Austin, you're welcome to check out the readers' blogs on Austin360.com. It's...an interesting concept.

But back to the Fest. It's been awhile since we've been to Frontera -- we're sad to say that we missed 2005 altogether -- so we weren't completely sure what to expect from the evening. We were treated to a smorgasbord of entertainment that ran the gamut...including dance, music, improv, stage combat, and more.

Things kicked off running with an amazing performance from Uprise! Productions: Power is Yours: Take It or Leave It. It's difficult to explain their work, so we'll use their words: "[The performance] is made up of four mediums of artistic expression: Spoken Word Poetry, Dance, Capoeira Da Rua, and Stage Combat." This was our favorite piece of the night. It was passionate, sometimes angry, and always powerful. We've never seen stage combat as intense and convincing as this. Now we're spoiled. It was truly unbelievable -- a fierce, high-intensity battle between four very fit men wielding very big sticks. As the woman sitting next to us exclaimed at the end of the piece, "Whoa!"

Next up was a delightful, snappy little piece from Yellow Tape Construction Company called I Don't Care. A Poignant Investigation of the Customer Service Industry, You Jackass. (YTCC are the folks who aren't sure whether Frontera Fest is fringe-y enough. They ask: "...where are all the adventurers here in capitol (sic)?" We wonder whether they've checked out, sayyy, The Vortex or Salvage Vanguard, both of whom do outstanding fringe work...but we digress.) Anyway, this piece was our husband's favorite, and we can see why. Among other things, it included a dramatic reading of the purported #1 complaint letter in the UK last year, and a hysterical rant about boutique shops of the same ilk as Blue Elephant. Great stuff, and while all the members of Yellow Tape were wonderful, the actress performing the boutique rant was a stand-out.

Finally, just before intermission we were treated to a brief, beautiful butoh performance, Frontier Dance, from a company punnily called Red, White and Blutoh. We admit it -- we're a fan of butoh. This was a fine interpretation of the dance form, and we were quite taken by the beautiful dancers and their approach to the art. While we're generally not all that into dance, we loved this piece. Our only complaint is that it could have been a bit longer. Clocking in at, oh, maybe 10 minutes, it was easily the shortest piece of the night.

The typical Frontera evening features three shows before intermission, and two shows after. Set-up and breakdown is usually lightening fast, and most productions keep things simple. For Saturday's show, the post-intermission act included a keyboard, speakers, etc., so there was a bit of roadie work to be done, which heavily featured the skinniest-man-butt-crack we've ever seen in our whole entire lives. (Yes, we did giggle. A lot. We can be juvenile.). So, yeah, watching the setup was an entertainment in-and-of itself. But we didn't vote it as best show for the night. Tempted though we might have been.

The lead in was somehow appropriate for Content Love Knowles' Time Alphabet. This mini-concert by Knowles explores time, death, stagefright (which seems utterly appropriate to us)...in a kind of cabaret-style performance. Knowles is a witty, compelling performer, and her work is a delight. We found ourselves daydreaming a bit about how she could turn the five original works into a full-length musical -- so it was an inspired piece, to be sure.

Last but not least was long-form improv from the relatively new group Tight. These folks sport some pretty impressive improv chops, and it's always fun to see well-oiled comedians at work. While sketch comedy isn't really the sort of thing we would have expected from Frontera, we got into it. The performers were having a great time, which is the fast & loose vibe you're supposed to get from good improv. Besides, we'd have been disappointed if we'd come away from the evening without getting something a little unexpected.

All in all, this was easily the best evening at Frontera that we've experienced. While it might be asking too much to expect the same every night, then again it might not. Ultimately, we left the theatre feeling impressed and inspired, and really, isn't that what a fringe fest is all about?

* Image (c) Brandon Cirillo on Flickr

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