Organizing Unorganized Chaos

Meet the Media, 2 for 1, Venue Passes

Edinburgh in August is like Times Square on New Year's Eve. 

Living in George Square is amazing. From the moment we walk out the door in the morning until the moment we come back at night we are right in the middle of everything. People are lined up literally across the street with insane costumes, creative flyers, and incredible street performances. 

Today was an event called Meet the Media. While it officially began at 2pm, show representatives began lining up at Fringe Central around 11am to have an opportunity to speak to some of the biggest journalists covering the Fringe.  Because there are so many competing companies, reviews will make or break a show's success.  There were people in costume, people in business attire, and people handing out free beer. Yes it was 11am, and yes it was completely normal. That's the incredible culture of this place.

Though each show is technically competing with one another, the overall atmosphere is extremely supportive. While in line we spoke to many companies to see what their goals were for the media event and the Fringe as a whole.

Our purpose for being at the event was two-fold. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Traverse Theatre, and Fringe University is hosting a series of talks by theatre practitioners and scholars reflection on Traverse's history, influence and future. As Fringe University students we were merely observing the atmosphere of a media event, but as Traverse Through Time we spoke to The Scotsman and Broadway Baby to convince reviewers to attend and write a review to help get the word out.

Tomorrow is opening night, so if you're reading this from Edinburgh or if you're planning to be here for any part of the Fringe, be sure to stop by Summerhall to check out our series! All talks are free but ticketed.

After Meet the Media, we went to Gryphon to see Serotonin Syndrome, a two-woman show about taking control of memories. Since I am working with the Serotonin Syndrome Productions Company, I received a venue pass for access to Gryphon. 

Ticket 2 for 1 deals are on Monday and Tuesday so the 10 of us are trying to create a system of buying tickets that allow us to see as many of the shows that we want to see in the most cost efficient way.  It's pretty cool to be living with a group of managers because each of us brings a different method of organization to the table, and together we were able to come up with a system that makes the most of our passes, participant discounts and 2-for-1 ticket sales.