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FORTRESS PRESS

Columbia College Today: Ones to Watch

“Kapusta and Donnelly founded [Corkscrew Theater Festival] in 2017, taking advantage of the opportunity created when the popular New York International Fringe Festival went on hiatus for a year. “We realized the time was now to fix the festival process and make it more artist centric,” Donnelly says. “There are a lot of people who can’t raise the money to put on a show at Fringe and we didn’t want that to be a hinderance to genuinely good art that was out there.”

Their collective experiences shaped the vision of the warm, collaborative space they wanted to create, and the two are thrilled by what they’ve already achieved. And now that Fringe is back on, they’re not worried. “[Fringe will] still be very good at what they do, which is producing a massive festival,” Donnelly says. “We want to be more curated. Corkscrew is a true incubator — we’re the place where artists can come to genuinely feel supported for their work.””

The New York Times: Rising Artists (and a Werewolf) at a New Summer Theater Festival

Steven McElroy: “Corkscrew, which aims to support early-career artists, includes five world premiere productions and a handful of readings. Given that they’re all new works by lesser-known writers, it’s hard to tell what to expect, but the festival seems to cover many themes in imaginative ways. One play, Robert Zander Norman’s “All of My Blood,” is about a young woman who struggles to express herself to her boyfriend and family — and who may be turning into a werewolf. Hmm … O.K., I’ll bite.”

WNYC’s All of It with Alison Stewart

Alexander Donnelly, Corkscrew Festival executive director, and Tom Kapusta, artistic director, join us to discuss the Corkscrew Theater Festival, which runs from July 10 through August 3 at PARADISE FACTORY (64 E 4TH ST). Playwright Morgaine Gooding-Silverwood, whose work will be featured in the festival, also joins the conversation. (Originally broadcast on July 11, 2019)

BROADWAY TRACK RECORD

Fortress Productions is proud to provide financial support to Broadway, West End, and Touring productions through equity fundraising and direct investment.

Since starting in 2016, Fortress Productions and our investors have seen recoupments for nearly all of its projects.