Familiar locations around Grand River Avenue will become the stage for free theater this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The first East Lansing Renegade Theatre Festival kicks off Aug. 17 and runs until Aug. 19. It will feature performances by four Lansing-area theater companies at locations in walking distance from each other.
The Peppermint Creek Theatre Company, The Gate Performing Arts Center and Lansing Civic Players are slated for performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. each night of the event, and All-of-us Express Children's Theatre will have one performance at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
East Lansing arts coordinator Sharon Radtke said depending on the turnout, the festival could become an annual event.
Radtke said the city is paying only for the lighting at each location and expects a strong turnout.
"There's a group of people in the community that just really love theater, and we (already) have festivals for almost anything else," she said.
The idea for the event came from The Peppermint Creek Theatre Company's artistic director, Chad Badgero, and executive director Louis Balestra.
On a small scale, the event was created to give East Lansing a theater festival, Balestra said. In the long-term, however, he hopes that in coming years, the event will grow into a fringe festival, or an event that encompasses many forms of art, including dance, music and visual arts.
"We're throwing a party, and we hope somebody comes," Balestra said.
The festival creators are also the directors for the plays the company will perform at the festival — "Stop Kiss," a contemporary romance, and "Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)," a one-man show.
As one of the two main characters in "Stop Kiss," MSU theater junior Danielle Hoskins plays Sara, a New Yorker who falls in love with her friend Callie, played by MSU theater and communication junior Blair Wojcik.
Hoskins said the story is focused on the characters' relationship and not on labeling their sexual preference.
"Through their relationship, they realize that they fill the voids and shortcomings in each other's lives," Hoskins said. "I believe these characters aren't necessarily lesbians, but fall in love with each other as human beings."
"Stop Kiss" was chosen for the festival because it fit within the shorter time slots for performances and does not depend on an elaborate set, Hoskins said.
"It really fit into the Renegade theme, along with the fact that the story is one that can't be forgotten," she said.
Thom Pain (Based on Nothing), which will be performed at (SCENE) Metrospace, is about deep-impacting life events that can easily go undiscussed, despite the fact that they are universal.
Balestra said the show is a dark, tongue-in-cheek performance of Thom Pain venting and pleading with the world.
Okemos resident Spencer Smith plays Pain and said people don't share these experiences often enough, or with enough depth.
"We don't delve into them," Smith said. "We don't enjoy them or fear them enough for what they really are."
Radtke said "Aesop Says," which will be performed by All-of-us Express Children's Theatre, and The Gate Performing Arts Center's "Funky Broadway Motown Review" are the shows that are family oriented.
Bill Gordon, a director for the Lansing Civic Players, said his company's production of "A Dopey Fairytale and Friends," which is a one-act take on the frog prince story, is also completely family oriented.
The players will also be performing script readings.
Performances will be taking place at the Marriott at University Place, 303 M.A.C. Ave., (SCENE) Metrospace, 303 Abbott Road, The People's Church, 200 W. Grand River Ave., and the old Aroma Gourmet Coffee and Tea, 110 Charles St.
For more information visit www.cityofeastlansing.com
