It is almost time for the Rogue Festival again--it will be taking place March 1-9 in the Tower District of Fresno. Here are 3 more Rogue Performer Preview articles and we will be posting 3 more next week before Rogue starts! We will also be posting several show reviews once the festival begins!
The wonderful arts festival known as the Rogue Festival, which takes place in the Tower District of Fresno, is nearly upon us again! This year it will be running from March 1-9. While the general idea of the Festival remains the same each year, there are always subtle differences, so we took a moment to chat with the always witty Jaguar Bennett to find out what this year’s Rogue has in store for us! Hopefully, we will get him to tell us about his show this year as well!
I’m glad to be coming back to Fresno for my eleventh Rogue festival! A lot has changed since 2009 when I first was here performing Hooray for Speech Therapy. At the end of 2019, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. Which brings me to my current show, The Jester of All Maladies, which is the story about my cancer journey from diagnosis to remission.
The idea for this play came from a full-length play I've been working on where the supporting character Marty dominated the script even though that play doesn't revolve around him. The original full-length play is my "Covid play," and centers around a firefighter's journey from childhood to promotion, featuring the people who helped him along the way.
Have you ever been fired? Imagine getting fired from your first job ever. That’s what happened to me when I was 16. I was working at Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips, a fast-food chain in New York, all the way from London. When I got hired, my mother told me to ask them if they had a pension. Apparently, she thought I’d have that job for a long time. It lasted three weeks. The exact reason why I was fired is a blur. The indignation that I felt at such an impressionable age would last for years to come. Little did I know that I would be fired from a series of jobs to follow for the next two decades.
Terrance saw way more shows than I did in 2023 so he takes the lead on this one. I will share a few of my thoughts at the end, and there were many more shows in this Valley that we weren't able to make it to. When it comes to theatre, this Valley is blessed!
The 2023 Fresno Rogue Performance Festival has come and gone, but the memories remain. For The Great Food Search, some of the best memories are of food. As I went from venue to venue, reviewing strange and amazing shows, one thing became obvious: even reviewers need to eat! Since the venues for the Rogue were in the Tower District, restaurants in that area were the obvious choice for the hungry reviewer. Therefore, here is a selection of where I went and what I got for Rogue ’23.
Blood Harmony—A performance by The Murray Girls, who create amazing vocal combinations that enhance everything from folk murder ballads to Sixties pop.
Who Is Janice Noga? is a tour through the life of a performer who has gone far, a tour divided between descriptions and songs.
Dorian Follansbee’s Rogue show, Other People’s Showers, begins just there – in a shower. Speaking from behind a shower curtain over the sound of running water, Dorian offers musings on showers in a lengthy, charming monologue. But when she emerges, in her fuzzy bathrobe and hair in ponytails, the atmosphere changes.
