Colorado-born actor Naomi Grossman is going from “American Horror Story” to “American Whore Story” as the headlining act of the 2024 Denver Fringe Festival.
The Emmy-nominated Grossman, perhaps best-known as the tiny-headed Pepper in Ryan Murphy’s TV horror franchise, is bringing her one-woman autobiographical story back to where it all began.
Colorado-born Naomi Grossman of “American Horror Story” is coming home to headline the Denver Fringe Festival with “American Whore Story.”
Grossman grew up performing in community theater productions in Parker and graduated from Ponderosa High School. Her award-winning stage memoir has been described as a “side-splitting love letter to ‘American Horror Story’ fans.” She calls it “an autobiographical ode to self-compromise” that includes having a boyfriend in a coma and a transformative trip to Burning Man. She performs “American Whore Story” – not to be confused with another fest offering called “She Was a Conquistawhore” – at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St.
If you are one of those trepidatious people who equates the word fringe with the word weird, be assured the Denver Fringe Festival is a safe space for you. “You will be surprised by how much you like it,” said founder Ann Carey Sabbah. “You will really enjoy seeing new, intimate work in a boundary-pushing setting. It’s strangely appealing and addictive.”
Zachary Schumacher’s “Eggs n Breakin,” part of the Denver Fringe Festival’s new FringeART program, is an acrylic painting on canvas available for $200 at denverfringe.org.
The Denver Fringe Festival, running Thursday through Sunday in 20 venues spanning northwest Denver to Aurora, is an annual, uncensored showcase of more than 60 wide-ranging original shows involving more than 250 creative artists. The lineup, concentrated primarily in the RiNo Arts District, includes aerial, immersive, standup comedy, dance, puppetry, magic, virtual reality and even a few good old-fashioned theater plays. That in addition to sudden sidewalk pop-up performances, free “Kids Fringe” activities at the Savoy Denver and, new this year – a FringeART show featuring 30 local artists. Nothing costs more than $15.
“Fringe is essentially alternative art that otherwise would not typically be seen in a standard theater,” Sabbah said. “It is all original, often provocative and always creative. In other words, it is the flip side of traditional, large-scale, generously funded performances.”
The Fringe is entering its fifth year on a roll, having experienced a 50 percent jump in attendance in 2023. Carey is enjoying watching her baby grow – but not too fast.
“I feel like it’s got roots now, and it is feeling very solid,” Carey said. “This has become a really good thing for Denver. But I don’t want it to get too big, because bigger can mean impersonal. I want this to grow into a festival that is always about community and camaraderie.”
It’s always a reach to try to wrap a thematic bow around more than 60 distinct creative projects, but it is apparent to Sabbah what artists are talking about in 2024.
“There are a lot of marginalized voices out there, and the Fringe Festival gives them all a platform to tell stories from within their vastly different lived experiences,” Sabbah said.
A scene from local acting studio Visionbox’s presentation of ‘American Addict” at last year’s 2023 Denver Fringe Festival, held at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre.
Including “American Whore Story,” here is a sampling of 10 representative titles being staged this weekend at the Denver Fringe Festival:
• The Fringe is always pushing performance boundaries, and “Gamer Girl” fits that PlayStation 2 bill. In Stephanie Dees’ story, when a powerful video-game character called Battle Girl glitches out and shows up in the real world, she faces the daunting reality of what it means to be a human. 5 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Sunday at The Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St.
• “Life of the Party” marks the launch of a new local arts org called Raw Groove Presents. This first in a series of immersive cabaret-style events celebrating the essence of nightlife, dancing and the richness of Black creativity is described as “an Afrofuturistic journey through various movements and sounds of the Black diaspora” – all set to timeless club classics. It’s written and performed by Constance Harris – stage name “Connie Love,” who says: “To be able to produce a show and have the right exposure is hard to come by. The network that the Denver Fringe has in place cuts out some of the obstacles and allows artists to produce what they want.” 9:30 p.m. June 7 at the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St.
• “Safety First!” is an incredulous true story of life, death and treasure-seeking told with magic and puppets. According to legend, Forrest Fenn hid $2 million in the Rocky Mountains in 2012, and six people died looking for it. In 2018, puppeteer Cyndi Parr was convinced she knew where it was, so she went on a solo trek to find it in New Mexico. 8 p.m. Thursday, 9:30 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday at The Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe St.
• “Andy” is a “one-bro show” following a college hockey player who starts a sex-education club on campus. As is often the case with fringe shows, ready or not: The audience is both viewer and participant in Andy’s story, which creators describe as “part play, part best kegger of your life.” This play, an intersection of theater and drag, “will shake up what you think you know about gender, sex … and peanuts,” they say. 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at The People’s Building, 9995 E. Colfax Ave in Aurora.
Theatre Artibus is bringing back its recent production of “The Bluebird,” written by and starring Buba Basishvili, for the Denver Fringe Festival
• Theatre Artibus’ “The Bluebird” is a joyful, wordless immigrant’s odyssey inspired by Charles Bukowski’s iconic poem of the same name. The story was conjured and is performed by the great Buba Basishvili, an immigrant from the Republic of Georgia. His performance weaves pantomime, visual metaphor and physical comedy as a means for transcending language. 8 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday at The Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe St.
High school senior Sam Charney greets the crowd at the 40th Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival Friday, April 26, 2024, near Skyline Park in downtown Denver. The students paraded from the park to the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The festival is the largest and oldest student Shakespeare in the country.
• Cult of Gender, created and performed by recent Denver School of the Arts graduate Sam Charney, explores the negative impact of imposing universal gender expectations on children. “Starting at a very young age, society pushes the idea of boys or girls, forcing children into gender binary stereotypes – such as pink is for girls and blue is for boys,” Charney said. “Living beyond the binary has given me so much freedom to be who I am. I hope for a world where we can be whoever and whatever we want to be – but we are not there yet.” 5 p.m. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe St.
• A Saturday night highlight will be The Rocky Mountain Puppet Slam, an evening of curated demonstrations featuring everything from a haunting shadow puppet piece to a life-size pegasus. It promises to be an unforgettable variety show. 9 p.m. Saturday at The Lodge at Woods Boss, 675 22nd St.
• And finally, with “Don Toberman: PingPong Champ,” you can witness sports history as Chase Brantley attempts to become the world’s most decorated ping-pong player – by facing off against – and beating – the entire audience. It’s described as “an absurd clown show with wild audience interaction.” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Big Up Studios, 3410 Blake St.
A recent “King Penny” cast, from left: Lauren Bahlman, Tom Van Ness, Marc Shonsey, Adrian Holguin, Matt Zambrano, Libby Zambrano, Mitch Slevic and Brian McManus.
Bonus: ‘King Penny’
OK, one more: Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company will present “King Penny,” its monthly, mobile 1940s variety show, as a Fringe Festival offering. The (nearly) fully improvised tale, directed by married couple Matt and Libby Zambrano, features a top-notch and ever-rotating team of improv performers who bring back the Golden Era of Radio while you “knock back drinks, winks, and nods.” This ever-changing vintage variety show is based on suggestions from the audience and enhanced by live musicians, singers and a Foley artist. 8 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Sunday at The Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe St.
