Wed 7/20-Sun 7/24
The BorderLight Festival returns live and in person, the way theater is best experienced, with 140 performances over five days, taking place at eight venues and 15 stages downtown from Public Square to Playhouse Square. It includes the International Showcase, Cleveland Collaborations and Fringe Festival.
Performers come from all over the world, including Mexico, Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia and Puerto Rico, as well as from the immediate area, offering a variety of performances, many of them more performance art (often interactive) than straight theater. The Fringe Festival in particular includes experimental performances that may include comedy, dance, spoken word, storytelling, film and an “audio experience” walking tour.
For instance, there’s Cleveland Heights artist Catherine Butler’s riveting Fragile Eggsistence performance (pictured), which she did at Ingenuity in 2019, in which she appears in bird mask, carefully laying out and then rolling over on eggshells. Pacific Paradise entertainment of Strongville presents a Polynesian show, and Cleveland’s Dancing Wheels showcases its distinctive blend of stand-up and wheelchair dancers in “Quest for Equality.”
Tickets range from $15-$45. For a full schedule and descriptions of all performances go to borderlightcle.org/2022-festival/.