Beginnings

It started with a group of young teen (and pre-teen) actors who journeyed up from the far reaches of Long Beach and Orange County to support some of their fellow acting students in hard-hitting dramas produced in black box theatre Los Angeles. They were excited and inspired by what they experienced and wanted a chance to do it themselves. Thus - in the spring of 2017, the Hollywood Fringe Project in the Take the Stage Long Beach Working Pro Class was begun. The goal was set - the creation of a play from scratch. Conceive it, write it, rehearse it and present it in Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018.

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There was a great deal of discussion about what these young actors wanted to explore. Topics ranged from body image, suicide, sexual abuse, drugs, bullying - these Disney-style film, animation, commercial, and musical theatre veteran performers wanted to challenge themselves and their audiences with topics they weren't generally able to explore in their professional work and their current high school performance opportunities. Over the course of six months, they began to lay the ground work for 13 very different, very specific characters and to flesh out their stories. 

script complete

By January 2018 - working just one day a week - these 13 talented storytellers had created iconic and individual people whose stories now needed not only to be told, but to intertwine. And a setting was decided upon - largely because of the time and production constraints imposed by the fringe format. Each scene takes place in the walkways of a Southern California public high school. The only characters we see during the play are the 13 created by the cast. Scenes take place before and after school. During passing periods or at lunch. Much like the Peanuts cartoons or comics, the voices of family, teachers or any other adults are absent or unintelligible. By the end of March 2018, the first draft was finished.

fringe on the horizon

Shifting from playwright/dramaturg/ improv artist into actor wasn't always an easy transition. But once the fourth draft was agreed upon and printed and handed out, it was time to begin production preparation. Rehearsals meet more frequently than once a week now; Tickets are on sale at HollywoodFringe.org; the idea that began a year ago with a baker's dozen of young actors is now tangible. 

Join us on our journey through the rumor, humor, drama and trauma that was, is, and (probably) always will be high school and puberty - a frustrating, exciting, unpredictable, and important part of growing up.