Edinburgh Fringe Festival Post #1

(Moderator's Note: Steve Meshenberg is a KSU Theatre student who is working with Professor Jakyung Seo and the FACE Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Steve's agreed to write some blog posts about his experiences there-- we all can't wait to hear how it goes. Congratulations to Steve!)

Hello from the Cleveland Airport! I am sitting in the terminal, waiting to board the first of three planes scheduled to take me from Cleveland, Ohio to New York, then to Amsterdam, then finally to Edinburgh, Scotland some twenty three hours later. When I arrive in Scotland, I will take a black cab to an apartment in the center of the city, where I will live for one month. After finally arriving at my apartment, I will sit down with three theatrical designers and a director/actor and will systematically work through each page of the hour-long play which I will stage manage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for one month!

The catch(es): my crew of two, who will be doing the work of three, do not speak English as their first language. They, like the rest of the entire theatrical company - which will be one of over two thousand performing at the festival this month - are from South Korea. We will have one day to prepare, one day to rehearse, and we will open the next night! I have never seen the show and I do not speak Korean.

What I do have are experience and training, and I owe these to my experiences and professors in the Theatre Department at Kent State University. My name is Steve Meshenberg, I am an undergraduate senior theatre major at Kent State University, I am the Stage Manager for FACE, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival during the month of August, I will be blogging about my experiences in working as a technician with an international crew in a foreign country, and I am so ready!

You can check back here for updates on my experiences. I’m not sure how often I will have internet access while I am away, but I will update as frequently as I can! Soon, I will post a special email address, where you can talk back, give suggestions and feedback, or ask questions about my experiences. I’m excited to undertake this experience, and I’m excited to share it with you. As our professor Terri Kent famously says, “Theatre is a communal art form, and our work is not complete until we share it with an audience.”