Squeaky Wheel Fringe keeps the momentum going in its third edition

The 19th century showman P.T. Barnum gets credit for saying, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” and Megan Radish, who founded Sarasota’s Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival three years ago, would be the first to agree.

A lot of people in Florida hadn’t heard of fringe festivals until Gov. Ron DeSantis cited them during a press conference in June 2024 when he explained why he had cut $32 million in arts grants in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

“So you’re having your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the fringe festival, which is like a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff,” De Santis said in Polk County.

His words helped put Florida’s four fringe festivals — Orlando, Fort Myers, Tampa and Sarasota — in the spotlight. The festivals, which run back to back, with Orlando kicking off on May 13 this year and Tampa wrapping on June 22, are enjoying the added publicity. Their management has drawn closer since their perceived dangers were highlighted, Radish says.

Sarasota’s Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival runs from June 3-10 at the Jane B. Cook Theatre in FSU Center for Performing Arts. Last year’s festival sold 750 tickets, Radish said, a 20% increase over its premiere event in 2023. She expects the growth to continue, especially with the greater visibility that fringe has gained.

Radish is a Florida native who worked in regional theater for nearly a decade before forming Squeaky Wheel Theatre Group, the festival’s producer, in 2020. She didn’t take the governor’s words as an insult.

“I think that statement was made from a position of not understanding,” Radish said in an interview. “If he saw the greater picture of what fringe is, the narrative would be different. Yes, we are uncensored. We believe that art shouldn’t have boundaries on it. But I’ve seen worse in R-rated movies.”

All four of Florida’s fringe festivals, of which Sarasota is the newest, owe their existence to Edinburgh. The granddaddy of all fringe festivals, Edinburgh got its start in Scotland in 1947 and has been going strong ever since.

So what is a fringe festival, anyway? It’s described by Radish as a “smorgasbord” of performances that are uncensored. And it’s not one type of performance. It can be drama, dance, comedy, music or all of the above.

Still, fringe isn’t for everyone. Perhaps fringe festival veteran Keith Alessi, who came to town last year with “Tomatoes Tried to Kill But Banjos Saved My Life,” put it best. “Fringe is some of the best stuff you will ever see and some of the worst,” he said in an interview with the Observer.

Some fringe festivals use a lottery system to make their selections, but Squeaky Wheel relies on a group of adjudicators to decide who makes the cut. This year, there will be seven shows. All tickets cost less $19 including fees.

Artists are responsible for promoting their shows, but they get to keep the proceeds from the performances.

Searching for the universal in the personal

Many fringe shows, which generally run about an hour, tell personal stories that their creators hope will resonate with wider audiences.

Such is the case with Terrance Jackson’s show, “Did You Not Know?” The title comes from a conversation Jackson had with his stepmom in December 2021 when he learned that his father had passed away nearly a year earlier.

Jackson, a native of Sarasota who went to Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts program, recently returned to town to become director of education and engagement at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Prior to that, he spent five years at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, where he held a variety of roles.

In “Did You Not Know?” Jackson plays eight characters, including his mom and his stepmom, in what he calls a “love letter to Sarasota.” Working with his director Cat Brindisi, he’s tried to create “something respectful.”

Says Jackson, “I hope audiences will see themselves in one of the characters. It’s important to not point any fingers. My stepmom was doing the best that she thought she could.”

Courtesy image

Other familiar faces in the Squeaky Wheel Fringe lineup include Tania Vergara Perez of the Endedans Contemporary Ballet, who is presenting “The Paradox of the Mirror.” Drawing inspiration from Cuban artist Guillermo López González’s depiction of a mangrove, the work combines dance, video and painting to explore time, identity and memory.

Another dance-oriented program on the lineup is “Mamá Mala,” a one-woman bilingual dance theater piece that incorporates stand-up comedy. First presented in January at the Historic Asolo Theater in a Micro WIP (Works In Progress) show through The Ringling’s Art of Performance series, “Mamá Mala” comes to Squeaky Wheel Fringe more fully embodied.

Starring dancer Ivonne Batanero, a veteran of Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre in Miami, the performance reflects Batanero’s growth as an artist while coping with the responsibility that comes with being a mother.

In between dancing in Miami and moving to Sarasota in 2024, Batanero spent three years in Costa Rica, where she interviewed women from varying backgrounds and nationalities about motherhood. Although she drew from the experiences of other women to create her character, who is a standup comedian, “Mamá Mala” is also deeply personal.

“It’s kind of playing around with the complexities of womanhood and motherhood. There are the sacrifices and the inevitable imperfections as you try to get it right. It’s trial and error,” she says.

Although “Mamá Mala” is set in the 1980s, it’s not a linear story, Batanero says. Helping to set the mood in the dance theater performance and usher in scene transitions is a soundtrack created by Kenra White with background noise, voices and songs. 

Some troupes enjoyed their run in the 2024 edition of the Squeaky Wheel Fringe so much that they’ve come back for more. The Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble of New York City, who presented “The Lonely Death of L. Harris” last year, returns with the intriguingly titled show, “Wow Wee! Adventures of a Little Girl Killbot Christmas Special!”

Defined as a “post-apocalyptic ‘80s sitcom Christmas Special,” the improvised performance follows the Truman family and their girl robot as they search for the true meaning of Christmas while the world is ending.

Based on the description and the experience of its performers, we’re going to go out on a limb and declare “Little Girl Killbot” a prototypical “fringe” show, sight unseen. 

Maybe some folks can come down from Tallahassee and find the true meaning of fringe, right here in Sarasota.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of Keith Alessi.