In Dr. Wallace’s words, “the Orlando Fringe was established in 1992 by three area men, who sought to bring a Fringe Festival to downtown Orlando and increase the cultural vitality of Orlando. The founder is Terry Olson, who is currently the Director of Arts & Cultural Affairs for Orange County Government.”³¹ Seth Kubersky writes that “it all started with three members of SAK Theatre (Terry Olson, Andy Anthony and Rick Kunst) and a dream to start an unjuried, uncensored festival in the spirit of Edinburgh, Scotland’s famous Fringe.”³² The SAK Theatre Company first opened the SAK Comedy Lab on Church Street in downtown Orlando in 1991 as a professional ensemble of improv comedy actors.³³ The company originated in Buffalo, Minnesota, “when four individuals with a background in evangelical street theater began performing at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 1977.”³⁴ Olson, Anthony, and Kunst produced the first Orlando International Fringe Festival, which was presented by the Orlando Theatre Project and was performed outdoors and indoors, including “in four storefront spaces” (SAK Theatre Comedy Lab at 45 East Church Street was one of them).³⁵ The first festival brought “together 28 plays, comedy acts and musical revues from England, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States to give more than 160 performances in downtown Orlando in the space of 10 days,”³⁶ and it ran from April 24 through May 3, 1992.

The Orlando Fringe has become an Orlando institution; many people have helped the organization grow and have stayed connected with it over the years. Dr. Wallace has been connected with Fringe in different capacities over time. In our conversation, he shared: “I began volunteering in 2005 and, in 2007, I was awarded the Volunteer Excellence Award. In 2008–2009, I was Volunteer Coordinator and then in 2010 I began working mostly full-time, first as Director of Operations and then as General Manager. I was promoted to Executive Director in 2014 and left in 2017. For seven years I served as Vice President for CAFF, the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals. In 2017 I served as Associate Producer of Indianapolis Fringe and resigned following my first festival. I worked in some capacity for Orlando Fringe for 10 years and I am currently a sponsor.”³⁷ Other key figures have been part of the Orlando Fringe at different times. For example, the current executive director, Alauna McMillen Friskics, started her career at the Fringe as a new staff member in 2001 and helped the organization recover from the damage caused by a fire that destroyed the archives and other assets in 2002.³⁸ After working at other institutions, she came back in 2017, as executive director, and helped the Fringe through the COVID-19 pandemic.³⁹

In the course of its history, the Orlando Fringe has been through good and bad times. Dr. Wallace said that the years 2012–2017 were a time when the organization saw the largest growth.⁴⁰ In his opinion, the worst times “were the years 2001–2004, before moving. The organization faced many financial struggles and lost a great deal of props, etc. in a fire.”⁴¹ Hanemann discusses this dramatic fire and writes about “the loss of the Festival’s entire storage contents, which burned in the 2002 fire that destroyed the Old Bryan Hotel.”⁴² Elizabeth Maupin wrote in the Orlando Sentinel that “when the beat-up old Bryan Hotel burned Saturday afternoon, more than a shuttered flophouse was destroyed. Stored in the 80-year-old building on West Church Street were most of the belongings of the Orlando International Fringe Festival—slim pickings to somebody else, maybe, but prize possessions to the Fringe.”⁴³ The Orlando Fringe writes that “fire broke out in the old Bryan Hotel on West Church Street. It was where Fringe stored schedule boards, podiums, the colorful air tubes, and our archives. No programs or photos survived. Everything was lost.”⁴⁴ As mentioned in the previous section, Alauna Friskics was one of the people who helped the organization recover from the consequences of this destruction, and many others helped, including supporters who started fundraisers, benefits, and auctions.⁴⁵

When discussing the evolution of the Orlando Fringe, Dr. Wallace stated that “the most significant change, in my opinion, was the move, in 2004, from downtown, where empty storefronts had been converted to theatres, to Loch Haven Park, where there were professional theatres. It was the cultural hub.”⁴⁶ Hanemann discusses festival locations in chapter 5 of her dissertation⁴⁷ and writes: “The move happened in two phases starting in 2004, with the footprint split between Loch Haven, a 45-acre cultural park, and downtown Orlando.”⁴⁸ The City of Orlando states that “Loch Haven Cultural Park covers 45 acres and serves as the region’s premier cultural park”⁴⁹ and “is home to Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando Science Center, Orlando Repertory Theatre, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Fire Museum, Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando Ballet, Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, [and] Ivanhoe Village Mainstreet District.”⁵⁰ The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is not only expanding geographically; the number of shows and the size of its audience have grown over the years. Growing from 160 performances in 1992,⁵¹ the festival now features “850 ticketed theatrical performances and a free outdoor music festival.”⁵² Dr. Wallace stated that “the other significant growth has been in attendance”⁵³; Matthew J. Palm writes that “2019 was ‘the best year ever’ as attendance hit an all-time high”⁵⁴; and “just shy of 75,000 people attended the 28th annual festival.”⁵⁵ The increase in attendance, though, was unfortunately damaged by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Palm reports that about 45,000 people attended in 2021 and 48,000 people attended in 2022 (the 2020 festival happened online).⁵⁶ Other organizations have been facing similar setbacks as a consequence of the pandemic. Dr. Wallace remarked on the fact that the 2021 festival had a scaled-back in-person version and that the organization “faced significant financial loss.”⁵⁷ But, as an organization, the Orlando Fringe continues to “increase the cultural vitality of Orlando”⁵⁸ and continues to expand its important presence in the city. As mentioned earlier in this paper, a May 2022 partnership with the City of Orlando allowed the Orlando Fringe to operate the performance space that previously housed Mad Cow Theatre in downtown Orlando.⁵⁹

The conversation with Dr. Wallace touched on many important topics related to Fringe festivals. Dr. Wallace considers Fringe festivals essential to the performing arts landscape⁶⁰: “Fringe gives performers a platform to travel the world and workshop and showcase new and unique works.”⁶¹ In discussing how the Orlando Fringe fits within the North American Fringe festivals landscape, Dr. Wallace remarked that “it is unique in the fact that it is the oldest of its kind in the nation [the United States].”⁶² He also added that “the Orlando Fringe essentially kicks off the summer tour for many Canadian artists,”⁶³ a comment that underscores the importance of festivals beyond national borders. When Dr. Wallace talked about his growth within the organization, he emphasized how Fringe festivals rely on and nurture volunteers, as an integral part of the organization, and told the story of how a volunteer can move up to Executive Director. Dr. Wallace’s remarks about the original founding of the festival, with performances taking place in empty downtown storefronts, spoke to the importance of the arts in re-energizing communities. Hanemann also points out how the festival was founded “in defiance of the perceived chokehold that the area’s theme parks had on the region’s creative artists.”⁶⁴ Dr. Wallace also addressed the enormous growth of the festival, which Hanemann emphasizes, too. This is a testimony to the success and popularity of Fringe festivals, inspired by the original 1947 Fringe.

The ongoing success of Fringe festivals, and of the Orlando Fringe in particular, demonstrates how art is for all communities and not only for the elite; art is democracy and engagement, as this themed Performing Arts Resources volume shows.