Fringe Festival will have a new producer in 2020
The 2020 Orlando Fringe Festival will have a new producer. Michael Marinaccio, who has produced Central Florida’s largest and best-known theater fest since 2011, is taking a new role with the Fringe, the organization will announce today.
In the newly created position of show director, Marinaccio will focus on special events such as the Winter Mini-Fest, fundraisers and other entertainment presented by Orlando Fringe throughout the year. The main festival, which takes place each May in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park, will now be produced by Fringe veteran Lindsay Taylor.
During his tenure as festival producer, Marinaccio significantly grew the nation’s longestrunning Fringe fest, an extravaganza of short plays, musicals, cabarets, comedy acts, dance recitals and other performances. In 2011, about 80 shows brought in more than $250,000. In this
year’s record-setting festival, more than 120 shows earned about $446,000.
Attendance shot up, as well — from about 30,000 patrons during Marinaccio’s first festival to nearly 75,000 this year.
“Mike has dedicated over eight years to growing the Orlando Fringe,” said executive director Alauna Friskics in announcing the staffing changes. “He has toured the world inviting artists to apply for the Orlando Fringe lottery, which has had a direct result in elevating the quality and bringing never-beforeseen productions to Orlando.”
Marinaccio had been involved with the festival in varying capacities since 1997. Upon becoming festival producer, Marinaccio said his mission was to expand the fest by diversifying its offerings. He loved to emphasize the family-friendly performances at the Fringe, but also celebrated the out-ofthe-mainstream weirdness that defines the festival.
“I don’t want to change the Fringe, I love the Fringe,” Marinaccio said in 2011. “What I would love to see happen is a change in the perception of the Fringe.”
Through the years, the organization has increasingly programmed events outside its flagship May event. While performers in the main festival are selected by lottery, other events feature entertainment hand-picked by Fringe staff. That’s what Marinaccio will focus on in his new position, Friskics said.
“Mike’s relationships with Fringe artists around the globe will be harnessed to take Fringe to the next level with curated content like Winter Mini-Fest and our year-round events,” she said.
Replacing him at the helm of the May festival, Taylor will be given the title of theater producer. For the past two years, Taylor has been the fest’s associate producer. A longtime artist, writer and director, Taylor has toured the North American fringe circuit to festivals across the U.S. and Canada since 2013.
Among the Fringe Festival shows Taylor has worked on are“Lil’ Women: A Rap Musical,” “Go
Fish” and “Robyn da Hood.” In 2012, she won the Fringe’s new producer award for “Lil’ Women,” and in 2017 won the festival’s Beth Marshall Spirit of the Fringe award. As a co-writer of “Robyn da Hood,” she was honored with a Critics’ Choice Award for best book of a musical in 2015.
At the 2019 festival, Taylor led an initiative to make sure theatergoers disturbed by particularly heavy content in the festival’s dramas could find emotional support through counselors from the Victim Service Center of Central Florida.
“With our continued growth, we are constantly looking at how to serve the needs of the artists and the patrons best,” said Kenny Howard, president of the Fringe board of directors. “In these new roles, both will benefit greatly.”