By Mark Baratelli
June 1, 2010
I was sitting on The Green (I will not add the "... of fabulousness" until it is indeed fabulous) one evening during the 2010 Orlando Fringe Festival, and I wondered why the outdoor stage was bare. I scheduled some time for the next evening and had nothing planned for my hour. I showed up with one plan: talk.
I spoke about my cat who may or may not have cancer, waiting in line for a show I paid to see and then having to leave to move my car before it got towed, and other Fringe-related things... like how I felt the underuse of the outdoor stage was a mystery to me.
I came back the next night, same time, and did the same thing. People liked it and so did I. I spoke free association until I was talking about my time walking on stilts on a cruise ship in a parade.
The sound guy told me if there was open time on the schedule, I could come back another night. I came back a third night and was joined by my friend Christian. This "set" was more gossipy than the other two, so it wasn't as enjoyable for the audience.
It was fun to walk on stage and not know what I was going to say, and walk off 45 minutes later having entertained a few people in the The Green.