A Fringe Quickie (#52) with ‘The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis’

Questions answered by John P. McEneny.

Q1: Aside from this Quickie, what is the most desperate marketing tactic you plan on using to get bums in seats this August? 280 chars

We’re creating a custom Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis tarot deck filled with witches, movie stars, demons, and bad decisions. If that fails, we’ll do what every Fringe artist does: stand in the rain handing flyers to people avoiding eye contact.

Q2: Cancel culture has finally come for your show. What sins has it committed?

Goat abuse. Witchcraft. Unauthorized demon summoning. Berating ungrateful children who write tell-all books about Bette Davis. Improper use of a silver compass. Several counts of glamour-related misconduct. One cockroach uprising. We deny everything.

Q3: We all have weird pre-performance rituals. What is yours, and how confused would a normal person be if they walked in on you doing it?

Before every show, Laura moisturizes her goat udders, Aaron rehearses being unsober, Annie (a certified Wiccan) checks for demons, Coleson communes with Bette Davis, and Grace rebalances her chakras. We call it a warm-up.

Q4: How will the audience remember you the morning after?

Hopefully they’ll remember the witches, demons, movie stars, and one extremely judgmental goat. But mostly, we hope they’ll remember that being seen is scary, getting older is weird, and fighting for your place in the story is worth it.