Aspie Works will present Wallace Shawn’s solo monologue The Fever at the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival on Thursday, September 25 at 8:00pm & Saturday, September 27 at 2:00pm. Both performances will be at the MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Avenue in Rochester. Tickets are available for $10, at rochesterfringe.com.
The play focuses on an entitled American who travels to a Third World country and discovers social & political conflicts which lead to a questioning of his own humanity.
Acclaimed character actor Roger Gans stars in the performance, directed by Aspie Works founder Justin Rielly, who posted the following comments on Aspie Works’ Facebook page:
Tomorrow night is the premiere of Aspie Works’ production of Wallace Shawn’s The Fever, and I can’t begin to tell you how deeply thrilled I am to present this.
The show has many themes lined up with this label’s mission of exploring the human condition through theater: social and financial inequality, the sense of entitlement among certain people, the struggle to survive in war-torn countries, and the possibility of trying to change one’s life to be better for humanity on their own terms and for others.
The journey in getting to this show has been exhausting and rewarding all at once. Working with the talented Roger Gans as the traveler has been a joy. Roger is one of Rochester’s finest actors, and the amount of time he has put into this has been astounding, and I have learned a lot from him over these last few weeks in creating the show you will see this weekend.
I have gained a lot of knowledge in my course of learning to direct, and I say bless those who direct theater on a regular basis for I have nothing but absolute respect. Writing a show is one thing, but directing is a whole other beast entirely. You guide the actors and the setting (no matter how small the look) and make sure the dots connect to create a stimulating experience for the stage.
The journey has had its share of bumps, but I regret none of them. The road to tomorrow night has been a rewarding one, and now we – myself and Roger – are looking forward to presenting the audience with a play that may make you think, challenge you, or at the very least, see the world and human nature in a different light.
We are very proud of this play, and we can’t wait to present it tomorrow night and Saturday afternoon. We hope you can join us.