Philly Live Art and Fringe Festival 2009: Missed Connections, A Craigslist Fantasia

Ahhhh!!! Today, is the kick-off for the Philly Live Art and Fringe Festival 2009. I’m so excited for this year’s line-up of killer events. Including a Missed Connections play that is scheduled for tomorrow at the Calvary Center Sanctuary, tickets are only $15.00, you can get them here. Here’s some more details about the Missed Connection play and other McJAWN worthy performances, you ought to check out.

Today you were in the checkout line in a blue dress, buying soap. I was the guy with the economy size box of donut holes. I just know you’re the one, you’re my soul mate, and I can’t go on without you. If you don’t call me back, I don’t know what I’ll do.

Is personal-ad voyeurism addicting because people like donut man are desperate and hilarious? Or is it because we secretly hope that one of these days we’ll be the one in the blue dress? Liz Carlson, development director and concept creator at Curio Theatre Company, has a hunch it’s a little of both. This fall at the Fringe Festival, Curio will debut Missed Connections, A Craigslist Fantasia, inspired by that magical online realm where hopefuls reach out across cyberspace for a second chance at that missed connection.

Originally, Carlson had in mind dramatic readings of Missed Connections text, mirroring what she and her friends have been known to do while drinking together. Whether it’s craigslist, personal ads, or the “i love you, i hate you” page in City Paper, people get a kick out of reading, and re-embodying, the longings of complete strangers. “It’s something a lot of people are fascinated by,” says Carlson.

But that idea had a catch–”We realized that that wasn’t going to be totally interesting,” she says, “unless everyone was, in fact, drunk.”

Keep checking back for more picks!

Spotted at: http://www.livearts-fringe.org/blog/index.cfm/Missed-Connections-A-Craigslist-Fantasia