Get To Know The 2025 Fringe Festival Artists: Edition #1
The 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival is hurtling towards us! As September approaches, lets take some time to get to know some of the artists with shows taking place early this coming month! These four shows push at the boundaries of the definition of performance art, tugging us into multitudinous mediums, into the past, as well as into the show itself. From day one of the festival, expect to be amazed!
The Legend of Yuliang - Margin Tianya Zheng
September 4-7th
FringeArts: Hello! Why don’t you go ahead and tell us about yourself! What’s your name? Where are you from? Where are you now? How did you hear about the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival?
Margin Zheng: My name is Margin Zheng, or 郑天涯 in Chinese. I live and grew up in the Philly suburbs. This is my second time being involved in the Philly Fringe Festival. In 2023, I hosted workshops for children through Philly Children’s Theatre’s Daydream hub, in which I guided kids in creating and performing a multisensory musical score.
FringeArts: Its great to have you on the blog (and as a part of this year’s Fringe Festival) Margin! Can you tell us some more about your show “The Legend of Yuliang”?
Margin Zheng: My show is part solo performance, part collective ritual. It takes as a point of departure the story of my father’s family’s folk religion, which existed for about 100 years, until the Chinese Cultural Revolution caused many folk religions to die out. The idea is that the audience helps me to rediscover Yuliang, the deity of that religion, and to create a new ritual that connects us to our collective pasts and futures. It is interactive and interdisciplinary, and every performance will look different.
FringeArts: That sounds pretty exciting! I love that every performance will look a bit different! Way to keep us on our toes! Your piece delves into a further past, but I wonder if you could tell us a bit about your past? What led you to the sometimes tumultuous life of an artist?
Margin Zheng: grew up doing classical music, and I majored in music (and mathematics) in college, focusing equally on keyboard performance (both piano and harpsichord) and music composition. But starting from my first year in college, I began to experiment with interdisciplinary and interactive approaches to music creation. For example, I created a solo piece for bassoon whose score was a video panning through a drawing I made. Later, I created a solo piano performance about my mental health and gender identity journey, in which I played on the piano strings using Chinese calligraphy brushes and also improvised based on a tarot card reading. I was supposed to perform this at New Music Gathering in 2023, but I got separated from my luggage, which contained the brushes and tarot cards, so instead, I cut my hair during the performance. I loved exploring this intermingling of music and performance art, so I decided to broaden my practice further and no longer just think of myself as a composer. People have always said that I’m very physically expressive when I perform on piano — now I get to explore physical and vocal expression in themselves and create what’s never been done before.
FringeArts: Wow! What an amazing way to use what you have to shift gears and still make great art! It seems like you embody the mentality of “the show must go on!” Could you tell us what you’ve found particularly compelling about working on THIS show?
Margin Zheng: I’ve been loving to explore using Chinese dance props, such as handkerchiefs and fans, as objects symbolizing aspects of the story I tell. In elementary school, I was in a Chinese dance troupe for a year or two, in which I learned to spin handkerchiefs. I loved the experience, but I had to stop when they moved their rehearsal location farther away. There are certain ways that these props are traditionally used, typically in an elegant and poised manner. But for my show, I’m not limiting myself to traditional techniques. I let the props transform themselves in the imagination. A handkerchief spun horizontally symbolizes a plate of food, and a parasol with the handle held sideways looks like the wheel of a chariot.
FringeArts: The way that you turn the classic on its head is something that feels incredibly in line with the overall ethos of the Fringe! Its clear that as a creator, you’re someone to keep an eye on during this festival! When you’re not performing, which Fringe shows are we going to find YOU at?
Margin Zheng: “Architectonica” and “Creative Dialogues: Poets and Painters / Femmepressionist”
FringeArts: Margin, thank you SO much for taking the time to tell us about you and your show! Just one more question! Please tell us, if you were to have ONE oddly specific superpower… what would it be?
Margin Zheng: As a child, I imagined having the power to attract plastics like a magnet, thus being able to easily remove litter and especially microplastics from the environment. Can science make that happen? It would be nice…
FringeArts: Now THATS innovation! Brilliant! We look forward to seeing you in “The Legend of Yuliang” from September 4th through 7th!
Kaidan: An Evening of 100 Spirits - Schreiben the Conjurer
September 5-7th
FringeArts: Wow! We are so lucky to have not one but TWO artists from Kaidan: An Evening of 100 Spirits! Thank you both for being a part of the blog! Why don’t you introduce yourselves!
Daniel Shriver: I am Daniel Shriver, on stage I am “Schreiben” in German means “to write”. I am a born and raise New Jerseyan, currently residing in Mullica Hill, NJ. I have known of the Philly Fringe Festival for awhile now, very excited to be a part of it this year.
Rob Buscher: I’m a film and media specialist, educator, curator, and published author who has held leadership positions in non-profit organizations for over a decade. As a person of mixed-race Japanese American heritage and an involved community member, I also has an expertise in cultural competency training, community organizing, and advocacy issues related to the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. My academic area of expertise is Japanese and AAPI Diasporic Cinema. Since 2017 I have lectured at University of Pennsylvania’s Asian American Studies Program where I teache courses on cinema and activism. I am the producer and host of Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation’s thirteen-episode podcast Look Toward the Mountain, and host of PBS WHYY’s six-episode television series Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders: A Philadelphia Story. I am currently co-producing a feature-length documentary Kiyoshi about Sansei HIV/AIDS activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya, in partnership with William Way LGBT Center.
I am working as a cultural consultant and dramaturg on the Kaidan production in the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. My Previous theater credits include The Mikado (Cultural Consultant), [The Savoy Company of Philadelphia], (Dir. Bill Kiesling); Madame Butterfly (Community Advisory Committee Member), [Opera Philadelphia], (Dir. Ethan Heard); The Raven (Community Advisory Committee Member), [Opera Philadelphia], (Dir. Aria Umezawa); Rashomon (Dramaturg), [Luna Theater Company], (Dir. Gregory Scott Campbell).
FringeArts: Its amazing to meet you both! It sounds like there are some great minds behind this show! Daniel, in your own words, could you tell us a bit about your show?
Daniel Shriver: Kaidan is collection of Japanese Folk Tales/ Ghost stories. Combining Storytelling and Magic, we are very excited to bring these almost forgotten tales back from the brink of extinction. Although some of these stories are old, it still speaks to our most primitive fears that lurk behind us.
FringeArts: It seems that by bringing the past into the present, you aim to touch the human condition! Thats an admirable goal, and its amazing the ways that art can touch every part of human experience! What led you both to this art-making life?
Daniel Shriver: There is nothing like the dropping of your stomach and release of dopamine when you take a stage, knowing everyone in their seat has come to see what you have created. Why not keep doing it until you’re called back to the great beyond?
Rob Buscher: In these times of great political divide, art still has the potential to bring people together in ways that allow them to grow and challenge their perspectives. I see the artist’s role providing the necessary perspective for a society to improve itself. While this particular show may not be the most radical politically, it can still challenge preconceived notions of Japanese culture. By demystifying these aspects of culture, we can better appreciate the similarities held between countries and communities.
FringeArts: Thank you for those thoughtful answers! We’re very lucky that you both felt called to the arts in this way! Otherwise, this amazing show wouldn’t exist! I don’t know about you, but thats not a world I want to live in! I wonder, for each of you, what has been the most rewarding (and perhaps fun) part of this show?
Rob Buscher: Sourcing Japanese antiques for use in the period setting has been especially fun. Shout out to the Swishers at Adams Antiques.
FringeArts: Thank you for calling attention to an often unseen part of the process of creating any show! Finding the physical pieces of a show is such an important part of world-building! It’s cool to get a bit of insight into this part of the creation process!
Daniel Shriver: My Favorite part has been the challenge and the reward of learning a different culture and its religion (Shinto).
FringeArts: You guys have clearly spent a long time creating a world for your audience to inhabit during the show. When you’re not living in that space during September, what are you going to be seeing at this year’s Fringe?
Rob Buscher: Fires on the Plain
FringeArts: An exciting show certainly! We can’t forget about Digital Fringe during September! Thank you two again for sharing so much about yourselves and your work for the blog! One more (important) question: Who would YOU be in a zombie apocalypse?
Daniel Shriver: The Project Manager (Even in the Apocalypse, you’ll need one 😉 )
Rob Buscher: The bard (musician)
FringeArts: It seems that even in the Zombie apocalypse, you two will be putting on a show! Fabulous! Once again, thank you for being on the blog! Everyone go see “Kaidan: An Evening of 100 Spirits” from September 5th to 7th!
BABYBABYBABY - Laila J. Franklin
September 13th
FringeArts: Hello! Thank you so much for being her on our internet-home-sphere! Welcome to the blog! We would love it if you introduced yourself!
Laila J. Franklin: My name is Laila J. Franklin. I’m originally from Washington, D.C., but have called Boston my home for a few years now. I have taken part in Philadelphia Fringe before (2018 with Ruckus Dance) and have admired it from afar for years! This year I felt ready to take the dive into self-producing after getting some more experience under my belt.
FringeArts: It’s great to hear from you Laila! We’re excited that you’re participating in Fringe again! And congratulations on your first self-produced show as a part of Fringe! Can you tell us a bit about your show?
Laila J. Franklin: My show is called BABYBABYBABY and it’s a dance about dances about love! When I first started working on the show, I was really enamored with romcoms and So You Think You Can Dance duets, and built a lot of material using those formulas and then broke them. As I began to work with a larger cast, I became interested in shades of love beyond romance and a broader concern for aesthetics of care. The show lives in that awkward space between parody and earnestness, making for a really curious and also (I think) at times funny and at times really moving meta-commentary about how we show up for ourselves and each other.
FringeArts: It sounds like we’re in for a treat! So… you act, you produce, it sounds like you’re pretty invested in the world of the arts. Tell us about what propelled you into the world of the arts?
Laila J. Franklin: The relationships I’ve made in and through the arts, there’s really nothing like it. And that isn’t just relationships with collaborators — even my friends that I don’t directly make art with, art still brings us together. It’s chaotic and usually a bit unstable, but the joy and care and intentionality and straight up love that I feel in the art spaces I get to be a part of is unmatched.
FringeArts: We totally agree, the community that comes from the art is pretty spectacular! Getting a bit more specific, I was wondering what about working on this show has been your favorite?
Laila J. Franklin: I’ve been working on this show for nearly 3 years now (so I guess a more appropriate title would be TODDLERTODDLERTODDLER) and it has been really exciting and affirming to feel confident and in collaborative agreement about decision making as we head into the premiere here at Fringe. Working with a group collaboratively for this long has really leveled up our listening and our trust in one another.
The original text and songs in the piece have been really resonant and a really special nugget all the creative team share. When we see each other outside of rehearsals, we’ll sing them to (or more like, at) each other, or drop one-liners from the monologues into conversations. This crew reeeeaaally loves compost bits.
FringeArts: So this show really is your BABYBABYBABY! Its so amazing to hear about the creativity and collaboration that builds and becomes a FringeFest show! I’m wondering though, in your free time this September what shows are you looking forward to seeing?
Laila J. Franklin: Carne Viva Dance Theatre’s “Dame La Receta!”; Heather Dutton and Grace Yi-Li Tong’s split bill, “SHEBANG”; Kayt MacMaster + Calamity Works, “hog ranch, hogwash, or putting lipstick on a pig“
FringeArts: Thats a pretty good list! We hope that Philadelphians follow your lead and get to even half as many shows as this! It’s a pretty special way to spend September! So… before we let you go, one more question: If you could choose anyone (a celebrity, a friend, a family member) to come see your show and they HAD to come, who would you choose?
Laila J. Franklin: Adele, and I think she’d be into it.
FringeArts: Well, if Adele is into it, we’re into it! Thanks for sharing! Everyone go see “BABYBABYBABY” on September 13th!
Haute Glue - Rose Luardo
September 6-13th
FringeArts: Hello! Thanks for being on the blog to talk about your show this FringeFest Season! Could you introduce yourself to our lovely readers?
Rose Luardo: Hello! I’m Rose! I’m addicted to Philadelphia and I’ve been here circa 1997! I’m in South Philly and you can find me wondering around ISO human shenanigans dripping and dropping all over this fine city. I love the Fringe season and all the exciting things that happen. Come at me bro!
FringeArts: I have to say, we’re pretty addicted to Philadelphia too! You’ve been here just about as long as us! One might say that you’re Philadelphia twins with Philly Fringe! And now, you’ve got your own show in Fringe! Tell us about what you’ve been working on!
Rose Luardo: It’s fine art. It’s performance art. It’s both. I’ve turned the Fairmount House Gallery into a rose-stallation where performances happen in front of the art work (sculpture, housewares and trinkets) that you can take home and enjoy. Haute Glue is a combo platter of craft, crafted performance and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Expect special guests, googoogaagaa dadaism, clown town, and razzle dazzle. Come on down – I shan’t turn anyone away!
FringeArts: You heard it here folks! She’s not turning anyone away! Get your tickets now! (No, seriously! Do it!) Tell us though, whats led you to the world that is working in the arts?
Rose Luardo: I have no choice. I was born to do it.
FringeArts: Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown and all that! Lets talk a bit more about THIS show though! What’s been your favorite part of working on Haute Glue?
Rose Luardo: I’m combining my all my art practices into a the cocktail of a lifetime that will shut down the government (if I’m lucky).
FringeArts: Well! The jury’s still out on a government shutdown of your show, but that energy is certainly aligned with the ethos of the Fringe Festival! And speaking of the festival at large… what shows (besides your own) are you looking forward to seeing this September?
Rose Luardo: Everything at Dumb Hub!
FringeArts: We do love our hubs, and we’re glad that you do too! Our final question today is this: you said that you’re addicted to Philly. What does your perfect Philly day look like?
Rose Luardo: It’s late spring or early summer. It’s sunny and warm. There’s plenty of coffee and I’m going to Philly AIDS Thrift. I spend 5 hours in the dollar bins. I take a long walk while listening to My Name Is Barbara. Home in time for cheese and crackers that I eat over the sink and to hang out with my spouse (Thom Lessner).
FringeArts: That sounds like a pretty great day! Ours would probably similar, but it would definiely involve some FringeFest shows as well! Thank you so much for joining us Rose! We hope that this has been enlightening for our readers and that they will join us at your show “Haute Glue” from September 6th-13th
Don’t forget to head to PhillyFringe.org to plan your 2025 Fringe Festival, September 4th-28th!
