BitsFestival

Please make her welcome! This is our new Festival Director, Heather Cassidy.

I met Heather earlier this year when she was producing the fabulous short film “Lola The Magnificent”, winner of best cinematography and best director at Shorts on the Green, and the show the pretty much cleaned up all the nominations for QNFA – awards to be announced shortly.

Lola The Magnificent TRAILER from Grace Bentley on Vimeo.

Heather spent three years working in theatre in many capacities in Tassie before moving to Queensland to study film at QUT. Heather is a delightful, charming and highly efficient person, and she will grace the Festival Directorship beautifully.

I’m pretty excited about this turn of events, and look forward to supporting her over the next few months. She will keep you informed on developments as we head down the next three months towards bitsFestival 2010.

I’m also extremely happy to report that our fabulous 2009 sponsor, designers Oblong and Sons, is supporting bitsFestival 2010.

See you in a bit of a show – soon!

I reckon there have been a few people scattered around Brisbane today mulling over their experience of our bitsFestival, whether they participated as creater/performers, or as members of audience at one or more of our four venues.

Right now, I’m busy putting together some short videos showing a selection of the shows. Here are a few stills to keep you going, it will be a couple of days before the editing process is completed, plus I’m still waiting for a few of the artists to sign the image release forms, giving us permission to show them to you.

If you couldn’t make it, you missed a treat. The range of shows was just a wide and deep as any fringe festival could hope for, we had wild and wacky, short and snappy, absolutely bizarre, scripted and improvised, sung and spoken, the most experienced world class performers, and the newest cabs off the rank dipping their toes in the water (howzat for a mixed metaphor?) for the first time.

If you were there, please use the comment box to share your experience and let us know what you thought.

No, it’s never too soon to talk about the After Party!

We give thanks to “Top Floor” who are hosting the after party on Saturday night from 9pm til 1 am (NB that’s 1 in the morning!!!). This is a great way to finish a great day and indeed celebrate all the hard work that has happened over the past 6 months organising the event. There will be Dj Dastardly Kuts playing tunes for the night and fortunately “Top Floor” is BYO (No eskies please). Bring your own alcohol and have “Top Floor” staff keep it cold and serve it back to you, whilst you enjoy mingling with audience, organisers and performers. Please remember you can purchase your tickets ahead of time for only $10 ($15 on the door, on the night) and there are only 250 available.

More After Party details After Party Flyers Colour

Hamish took some snazzy shots at the Launch Party on Wednesday evening (kindly hosted by Fringe Bar, Valley).

The pictures and promos are starting to come in. I’ll set up a link to a FlickR album, where you can see the artists, and get an idea of what you are in for…

THE MERCH GIRL

MacabraCadabra

The registrations are in, the program is falling into shape, and what a fabby shape it will be!

All will be revealed on Wednesday evening at the Fringe Bar in the Valley.  You are all warmly invited to help us celebrate as we announce the line-up for Saturday 28 November. From puppets to politics,  sonnets to singing clowns, improv to miniaturised historical drama, this Festival has it all – in bits.

Meet the BitsFestival team and artists before the event.

WHEN:             Wednesday 18 November 7:30pm

WHERE:            

Cnr Ann and Constance Streets, Fortitude Valley

See you there!

One day to go before registrations close, and we’ve already got almost everything you could ask of a Fringe Festival, from Shakespeare at his most intense (and look out for some Street Shakespeare in the lead up to the big day) to joyful puppets, ukeleles and political mayhem (not necessarily all at once, but you never know…).

We are just blown away by the ingenuity and inventiveness of those who have registered so far.

And thanks to our four generous sponsoring venues, there’s room for more.

So if you haven’t registered YOUR amazingly original bit of theatre, head for the website www.bitsfestival.com before 5 pm tomorrow (Saturday 14th November) and join in the fun.

Full programme launch takes place on Wednesday 18th November.

Here it is, the actual registration form, ready for you to fill in and send to us.

Registration Form Word Document

Registration Form PDF file

Here is the first Information Pack, outlining details about the bitsFestival, the venues, and lots of helpful information for you.

Information Pack Word Document

Information Pack PDF file

If you have any questions, send us an email, or phone. The details are all in the Information Pack.

We are so looking forward to seeing what you are all going to be doing.

I’ve just updated the ‘About Us’ page, with some bio details and a few pics of your volunteer Festival organising team.

The new website will be online tomorrow!  You will be able to download the Registration Form, clicking on the link, fill it in and then either email it to us, or post it in.

HOWEVER,  you are not actually registered until you have paid the fee of $25 (per performance group).  This part of the registration process will also be handled by the new website.  You will be able to pay online via PayPal or VISA, and you will also be able to pay by sending a cheque or money order by snail mail, or by cash if you arrange to meet up with me (Flloyd, Treasurer).  Just a little bit more patience, and it will all go into action.

Remember, this is fringe theatre, so you can let your imagination run wild. It is ‘poor’ theatre, not just because theatre makers have no money, but because the venues have very limited facilities, so you needn’t spend a lot of (any!) money on sets and lighting. There will be very fast turn-around bumping in and out (10 mins each way), so not a lot of point going in for fancy costumes and lots of props. As Jodi from The Joynt has suggested, bring only what you can carry into the building yourself in one trip.

I am SO looking forward to discovering what delights you have in store.

How do you like the new look?

And Another Thing…

Top Floor are hosting the final Themed Ball for this year TOMORROW NIGHT.

Tomorrow Night Saturday the 17th of October is “Jungle Ball”. This marks the end of an era. The “Jungle Ball” is the last ever themed Ball, here at “Top Floor”. So if you have not yet made it along to one of these fabulous nights make sure you don’t miss this auspicious event. Fabulous theatrical performances, music to thrill your sences, beautiful art to set your eyes upon and not to mention the amazing jungle installation. $15, 7pm til late, BYO Drinks, and prizes to be won
Visual Artists
Clarissa Bones
Anna Cooke
Alec Jenkins
Rozina Suliman
Mr Teapot
MC
Noel Sheridan
Performers
The Two Tutus (Acro- balancing routine)
ETC Extreme Team Comedy (Improvised Performance)
Mark Douglass is The Mad Hatter
Musicians
Darcy Dexter (Solo Vocalist/Acoustic Guitar)
Joey (Solo Vocalist/ Electric Guitarist)

Yorke (3 Piece Band)
DJ Colin

Team Top Floor
Top Floor
99 Elizabeth St, City
0413 829 047
team@topfloor99.com

Yes, it’s that close!  The lovely people at Oblong + Sons are uploading the content into our new website even as I write, and as soon as it’s done, the site will go live and the registration process will open.

We are still in the process of pulling together all the information you will need about the venues, to help you decide which venue will be the best space for your performance.  That will be ready in a couple of days. Don’t forget, these venues are being offered free of charge, out of the goodness of the hearts of the people who run them.  They are busy venues, with other things going on all the time, and I strongly recommend you go along to some of the events they run, so that you can get an idea of what’s possible.  It is important that we use their very generous offers with responsibility, integrity and generousity in return.

Also, do bear in mind the nature of this festival. As well as being NON-CURATED (i.e. no selection process, just a lottery), it is for one day only, with minimum facilities.  There will be a very fast turn-around of the different shows, with a maximum of 10 (yes TEN) minutes bump in, and 10 (the very same number TEN) minutes bump out.  That allows the audience to relax for 20 minutes between shows, and it allows the festival to provide the opportunity to more acts to perform.

So if you are thinking about getting a few actors together to prepare to create some theatre magic with nothing but their bodies, voices, minds and imaginations – plus a few items of clothing, give or take – then you are already almost there.  If you want to do Star Trek on Ice, the Roller-Darby version with symphony orchestra, working helicopter and swimming pool filled with icebergs and sharks, think again.

Go BitsF!