The Fallout Fringe Festival will be the first experience some of you will have with the Las Vegas theater scene.
Just know that it isn’t always like this. You usually can’t walk into just any small studio space in the valley and expect wildly original, genre-defying works.
But they’re out there if you know where to look.
We asked three of the top creatives involved in the inaugural festival for some recommendations.
Ernest Hemmings: TSTMRKT
“I’m going to rep Vegas Theater Company all day long,” Hemmings says. “I absolutely love everything that they stand for and they do.”
As examples, he touts the company’s recent works “The House on Watch Hill,” a world-premiere musical from Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor, the Vegas-based writers of the Tony-winning “Bandstand,” as well as “Abandon,” the visceral original work about the Marquis de Sade.
“As much as I adore what A Public Fit does with stuff that’s already been curated and performed in other cities — or what Troy (Heard) is doing with refreshing things that are out there or doing parodies of stuff — VTC is taking super big risks,” Hemmings says. “They’re like, ‘This hasn’t been tested at all, and we’re going to dump a budget into it.’ ”
Daz Weller: Vegas Theatre Company
“I love Ernest and his work, and he’s got a really strong, subversive voice,” executive artistic director Weller says. “I love what Troy does over at Majestic. And, of course, A Public Fit Theatre Company always produces really high-quality work.”
He’s been happily surprised by a number of immersive, site-specific works, staged by recent UNLV grads, that exist for a night or two.
“It’s really encouraging that young people are kind of self-producing and writing, creating their own works and making them happen,” Weller says.
Outside the Fallout Fringe Festival, Vegas Theatre Company hosts burlesque showcases and a weekly session where a group of Cirque du Soleil clowns works on new material that, every few months, results in a pop-up show. As part of each First Friday, there’s Cockroach Cabaret, which Weller calls “a variety show put together of the best and brightest in town at that moment.”
Looking ahead, Weller says he’s in negotiations to open a multipurpose space in the Arts District that would provide larger theaters for local productions as they grow.
“There’s definitely a need for more midsize spaces in town as this robust community that has a strong voice and wants to be able to tell our stories builds new works.”
Troy Heard: Majestic Repertory Theatre
“Anytime you see Erik Amblad in a cast, go see it,” Heard advises.
The same goes for Jason Nious, the Cirque du Soleil veteran who founded the Las Vegas-based body percussion ensemble Molodi.
“There’s people from Majestic who are starting to branch out, which is really cool,” Heard says. He highlights stage manager Ana Gudino, who’s been directing shows around town and is starting to develop her own projects.
As for other local groups, Heard recommends UNLV’s Nevada Conservatory Theatre under the leadership of Kirsten Brandt.
“Some of the most exciting things I’ve seen in the past year have been student-developed over there.”
Once the curtain falls on Fallout Fringe, Majestic will bring back Adam Szymkowicz’s “Clown Bar,” which was so successful during its first two runs, Heard staged the world premiere of “Clown Bar 2” in 2022.
Then comes “The Craft’d: An Unauthorized Musical Parody,” a retooled version of the show that opened before the unexpected success of Majestic’s “Scream’d: An Unauthorized Musical Parody.”
“I’ve rewritten the script. We’re tightening up the music. It’s going to be a brand-new staging,” Heard says. “I’m really excited to get back into that world.”
Christopher Lawrence