RIT students, faculty, staff and alumni bring more than 30 performances to this year’s Rochester Fringe Festival

Rochester, New York – Visitors exploring the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival this year may find themselves seeing a lot more RIT talent than they expected. More than 30 performances at the festival feature Rochester Institute of Technology students, faculty, staff and alumni, creating what has become something of an unofficial celebration of the university’s creative community.

The Rochester Fringe Festival began Sept. 15 and will continue through Sept. 26, with many of the RIT-connected performances taking place during the weekends. The university’s participation stretches across several forms of art and entertainment, giving festivalgoers plenty of ways to see the work being produced by members of the RIT community.

Among the events is an Indie Book Fair Zine Festival at RIT’s City Art Space. Other offerings include a presentation featuring some of the best films from RIT’s School of Film and Animation, as well as a comic art slideshow. Student dance and singing groups are also part of the festival lineup.

For RIT, the connection to Fringe goes back to the beginning of the festival itself. Lisa Stein, executive director of Events and Conferences, said the university has continued to be involved because the event provides a natural place for members of its arts community to share their work.

“RIT has been proud to be part of the Fringe community since its founding,” said Lisa Stein, executive director of Events and Conferences. “The festival is a wonderful reflection of RIT’s creativity and vibrant arts community, and we love seeing our students, faculty, staff, and alumni contribute their talent and energy each year.”

Music is another major part of RIT’s presence this year. All eight of the university’s a cappella groups are performing, with their appearances spread across several blocks of programming. Members refer to these stretches as “a cappella hour,” when two or three groups perform short sets one after another at The Little Theatre.

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For the students involved, preparing for Fringe can be intense, particularly at the start of the academic year. Colin Rills, a third-year computer science student and member of Proof of Purchase, described the period around the festival as one of the busiest parts of the fall semester.

The group must revisit a semester’s worth of songs from the previous academic year while also introducing new material to members who have recently joined. All of that preparation takes place in a relatively short period.

“It’s a real challenge,” said Rills. “But it’s also a lot of fun to just jump headfirst into learning some music. It really gets our brain going.”

Savanah Montanaro, a third-year physician assistant major with a minor in psychology and president of Proof of Purchase, was already familiar with RIT’s a cappella scene before she became a student. She had researched the groups before arriving on campus and remembers how quickly her first Fringe performance came together.

During her first year, the group had only two rehearsals before taking the stage. This year, the preparation has been somewhat less rushed.

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“We got lucky with a late Fringe slot this year,” Montanaro said.

Proof of Purchase is scheduled to perform on Friday, Sept. 25, at The Little Theatre alongside Kaminari and Grace Notes. Its set will include arrangements of songs by Foo Fighters and Laufey, along with a cover of Fitz and the Tantrums’ “Out of my League.”

With performances ranging from music and dance to film, comics, books and zines, RIT’s involvement adds another layer to this year’s Rochester Fringe Festival. For the university’s performers, the event offers a chance to step outside campus and share their creative work with a wider Rochester audience.