Act I: Renegade returns
When organizers announced the return of the Renegade festival this spring, they promised that REO Town would become a place where audiences might encounter art almost anywhere.
Now they are ready to deliver.
The newly renamed Renegade Fringe Festival will fill businesses and gathering spaces throughout the neighborhood Aug. 7-8 with nearly 20 performances from established arts organizations and independent producers.
The original Renegade Theatre Festival ran from 2005 to 2022, becoming known for transforming unconventional spaces into temporary theaters. Its new incarnation expands beyond theater to embrace a wider range of performing arts while retaining the experimental, accessible spirit that made the original festival a much-missed part of Lansing’s cultural calendar.
Audiences can choose among original dramas, comedies and staged readings, as well as improv, dance, music, spoken word, audio theater and puppetry. The lineup ranges from new works such as Raymond Goodwin’s serio-comedy “Funk & Wagnalls” and Kathryn Funkhouser’s “Will You Be My Nemesis?” to adaptations of “Peter Pan” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Those looking for something outside traditional theater can find a four-part dance, an open mic presented by The Poetry Room, live music from Mid-Michigan Band Aid and puppet shows with titles including “Trash Holiday” and “A Ludicrous Circumstance.” Bare Bones Improv will offer three community showcases over the course of the weekend.
Performances will take place at The Robin Theatre, the REO Town Clubhouse, ALT Printing, Steven Glynn Photography, Blue Owl Coffee and the REO Town Marketplace. With multiple events offered during most time slots, festivalgoers can select a planned itinerary – or embrace the Renegade spirit and see what they discover while moving through the neighborhood.
Shows begin at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday. Most events are free, although a few request a $10 donation and recommend reservations. While most are suitable for all ages, several recommend parental discretion or are intended for adults.
For the complete schedule, venue information and reservation links, visit renegadefringe.org.
ACT II: From first drafts to Avonlea
Theatergoers can also see work at very different stages of development, from short plays by student writers to the first musical produced by one of the area’s newer theater companies.
Riverwalk Theatre will celebrate the winners of its 2026 Emerging Playwrights Competition with a free festival at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1.
The annual competition gives area high school students an opportunity to move their words from the page to the stage. This year’s festival features five original plays, each no longer than 12 pages. Two will receive full productions, while three will be presented as staged readings.
The plays cover a broad range of subjects. “Hope,” by Sage Shauver, follows children navigating the frightening adult world of factory labor, while two very different men find connection in a hotel lobby in “Hobo Hotel” by Sheperd Richardson. “St. Dymphna” by Gwyneth Rangel enters the disjointed thoughts of a psychiatric hospital patient; secrets emerge when two strangers meet in an empty coffeehouse in “There Is No Coffee in North Baltimore” by Ainsley Richard; and friends gather around someone in need in “Live With a Smile” by Mohammad Omar Bakhshi.
The festival takes place in Riverwalk’s Black Box, 228 Museum Drive in Lansing. Admission is free, and a light reception will follow.
The following weekend, Alive Theatre will stage its first musical, “Anne of Green Gables — The Musical,” at Waverly High School.
Based on L.M. Montgomery’s novel, the family-friendly show follows imaginative orphan Anne Shirley as she unexpectedly finds a home with siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert in the community of Avonlea. The production stars 17-year-old Kiyah Marcellus as Anne, with Doug Irving and Kimberly Michalcewicz as Matthew and Marilla.
Alive founder Christine Hall directs the 33-member cast, whose performers range in age from 10 to 62. Mandy Stone is music director, and Amanda Tollstam is choreographer.
Performances are at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 and 14 and at 2 and 7 p.m. Aug. 8 and 15 at Waverly High School, 160 Snow Road in Delta Township. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for people 62 and older and $15 for children 12 and younger. For tickets, visit alivetheatrics.com.
Encore!
Jazz will take over UrbanBeat on Aug. 9 as one of the world’s great jazz singers, Phillip Manuel, will perform “Pzazz, an afternoon of poetry and jazz” from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. He’ll be joined by Alex Hoberty, Twyla Birdsong, Julian Van Dyke and Ruelaine Stokes. Tickets are $10 regular, $5 students
David Hunsberger, the assistant carillonneur at the University of California, Berkeley will perform Mendelssohn and Barber along with contemporary works and traditional Irish tunes in the next concert in the 29th Annual Muelder Summer Carillon Concert Series. It takes place at 6 p.m., Aug. 5 at Beaumont Tower
All-of-us Express Children’s Theater presents its summer musical, Shrek Jr., on July 31 to Aug. 2 and Aug. 7-9. The company will perform at the Okemos High School Theatre with performances at 7 p.m. on Fridays and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: New works and classics mix for varied summer theater
Reporting by Bridgette M. Redman, For the Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bridgette M. Redman, For the Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
