(Photo by Paul Clark)
ORLANDO | Orlando Fringe announced March 19 that its annual theatre festival would be cancelled for the 2020 season leaving performers and fans to wait another year before they can get their Fringe on.
To help sate that theatre appetite until Fringe 2021, performer John Michael announced he is releasing his hit show “Meatball Séance” — which played to sold-out crowds at both Orlando Fringe 2019 and its Winter Mini-Fest earlier this year — available to watch at home.
“’Meatball Séance’ is a show in which the audience helps me cook my mother’s famous meatballs onstage to bring her back from the dead,” Michael said in an interview with Watermark in January. “The story came about because I wanted to find a better way of grieving. I was upset about her not being a part of my life anymore and the show is a great example of why I continue to do my art. Satirizing my traumas gives me clarity.”
“Meatball Séance” — which was filmed live at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago — includes audience participation, actual cooking on stage and a ton of laughs. Ben Kaye of Medium.com wrote a great review of the filmed show which you can read here.
“Meatball Séance” is available to stream now for $10. To watch, Venmo Michael payment at @John-Colgin and he will send you the link to the performance. Profits from the 52-minute show go to pay the show’s director and dramaturg.
Need more convincing? Watch Michael strip down at Edinburgh Fringe Festival to promote his show below.
