Michael DeBartolo’s path to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in a childhood of “profound shame” and a series of unhealthy infatuations with straight boys. Years later, now a New Yorker, he took to Facebook and posted 100 stories in 100 days about growing up gay.
Last night, he stepped onto the stage of The Tank, wearing Dorothy-like ruby red sneakers and gingham shorts, having adapted those experiences into “Tell Me Where Home Is (I’m Starting to Forget).” The solo play launched EdFest, a new week-long theater festival that’s presenting a dozen one-night-only previews of shows that will be debuting for full runs next month in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Edinburgh Fringe is the granddaddy of fringe festivals, about to start its 78th season, the largest performance arts festival in the world – and, for newcomers, the most intimidating. This is what gave Jess Ducey the idea for EdFest.
“It came out of my own experiences in Edinburgh,” says Ducey, who first attended in 2023, slamming head-first into the chaos. “You walk down the Royal Mile and, there’s 3,000 plus shows at the Fringe and so everyone is out there flyering, busking, promoting their show; there are potential audience members everywhere; there is so much happening, so much to choose from that it’s hard to know where to start. I think a lot of us start by looking for something familiar – a friend, a connections.”
EdFest is an effort to create those friends, and connections, and attention and an audience – “hopefully build a little momentum” – before “we all land in Scotland.”
Ducey knows of at least thirty New York-based shows that have slots in Edinburgh this summer. Twenty-five of them applied to be part of EdFest; there was only room for twelve.
“Tell Me Where Home Is (I’m Starting to Forget)” begins with DeBartolo telling us that Glinda from the Wizard of Oz was lying; you can’t always go home. It was in search of home – of belonging – that as a child, feeling lonely and insecure (“I wasn’t just different. I was a mistake”) he sought out the wrong kind of attention. The stories he tells are on one level horrifying. But the responses to his initial Facebook posts “made me realize these stories didn’t just belong to me; they could ripple outward. Now he says, “my goal is to strike a balance between the heart and humor, finding moments of levity, joy, and even the absurd.” (Read excerpt below.)
In the talkback after the show, the vulnerable and lonely Michael became the popular, assured, even dashing, DeBartolo, receiving hugs and flowers, and generously soliciting feedback about his show: “Was there anything not clear? Was there any part that you weren’t engaged, or was there anything you felt was missing?” Several of the audience members had seen previous iterations of the show and talked about it like pros; they noticed he had shortened the show.
“Everyone that I spoke to about Edinburgh, they were just like: Keep it simple… We’ll see how much space I actually have. I’ll probably have to make some adjustments.”
Tell Me Where Home Is (I’m Starting To Forget) will be at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1 – 23, at two different venues
A scene from “Tell Me Where Home Is (I’m Starting to Forget)”
So I’m suiting up for practice one day, where I make no eye contact with anyone, and retreat into a corner of myself which gives me the sense I may go
unnoticed. What makes this challenging is Dave, a hot junior who has a chiseled quarterback’s body and warm chocolate eyes. I often have this romantic fantasy of him inviting me into a private stall where…oh, I blow him. Not as romantic as I thought.
And on this particular day, Dave is ragging on his girlfriend and the other guys start to take turns dumping on her, calling her foul names and encouraging Dave to make it with one of the cheerleaders. And overcome by my desire to be one of the guys, I start to chime in, topping any given remark with a more clever insult and the guys, including Dave, start to lost it. They’re laughing and cheering me on. I mean I really kill. My material is good.
And suddenly Dave’s warm chocolate eyes harden into something cold and cruel, and he grabs me, pins me against the locker, and starts dry humping me straight on. He’s grunting, and the some of the seniors make wolf whistles as the other players crowd around and join the choir of taunting laughter. Dave gives one final thrust, throws me to the floor, and lifts his arms in the air as if he had just scored the winning touchdown, strutting about and high-fiving his teammates.
And part of me wants to disappear, and another part wants to scream out at the top of my lungs: “I’m in LOVE!! Can you believe it, me?!”
And that is the moment Dave becomes: UNHEALTHY INFATUATION NUMBER ONE.
But he never looks at me after that day, which is weird because we literally slept together on the first date. But I still long for him, because at that point being violated was the closest I had ever come to being loved.
Remaining performances at EdFest
July 15:
Furniture Boys
It Was Really Good to Know You
July 16:
Paperclip
kaddish (how to be a sanctuary)
July 17
FISH
The Other Mozart
July 19
Lizzy Sunshine
July 20
A Drag Is Born
Salem Witch Trial
Shell
