Underground Art

Rogue Performance Festival gives overlooked artists a chance to shine in local spotlight

By ERIKA LINDQUIST and CHRISTY ARNDT

The Rogue Performance Festival is a celebration of independent performance and art that started four years ago and has grown in popularity ever since.

The festival brings theater, dance, music, puppetry, storytelling, spoken word, visual art and film to the Tower District and downtown Fresno.

It started on Thursday and continues through Saturday at several locations, including Javawava, the Starline, Veni Vidi Vici, Ashtree Studio, Full Circle Brewery, and Dianna’s Studio of Dance. Each show costs between $3 and $6, and it all goes to the performers.

Most of the performers are local, but some come from places as far away as New Zealand and Canada to show their talents.

Michael Aguilar, a Fresno State student majoring in art and psychology, showed a short film he produced titled “They Represent” that was inspired by his personal experience as a construction worker.

“I wanted to provoke the viewer to look at the world through the eyes of [construction workers],” Aguilar said. “I wanted to give a sense of hope to the men that lost or stopped believing in dreams.”

Aguilar originally made his film for an art theory assignment last spring.

“I entered it into a student film fest and took third place,” he said. “I have come to realize that it is my predestined purpose in life to create and inspire.”

Other events, such as the Inner Ear Poetry Jam, bring artists together by providing a forum for them.

Blanca Espino, a liberal studies major at Fresno State, helps out with the poetry events.

“You meet some great people that are open to speaking about whatever they please,” Espino said, “be it political, about love, hurt, nature. Or take it to the next level and rap about whatever is on their mind.”

At Dianna’s Studio of Dance, one of the two main stages, the lines were long all day Saturday.

Featured performance groups included Improver Behavior, Big Weird Pop Ensemble and All Too Real.

Improver Behavior is a fast paced, in-your-face improv comedy show; nothing is scripted and nothing is rehearsed.

The four improvisational actors shared a great group dynamic while keeping the show appropiate for all ages. Although this can eliminate the risk factor in comedy, they consistently kept up the audience participation.

Notes piled up on the wooden main stage, inviting the four improvisational actors to say a random line throughout the comedy sketch.

The performances were innovative, full of energy and did not go over the top. As one actor put it, “OK, I’ve had a lot of coffee.” At times, the humor was a mockery of daily redundancies.

At the end of the night, there was a “beggar bowl” at the door to fund the Rogue Festival, because the entrance fees go to the actors. Plans are already developing for 2006.

“I think the whole Rogue Festival is incredible,” Espino said. “I love the fact that through this festival, artists have an outlet to show other people their passion.”