Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland, a New York-based theatrical clown duo who perform as Xhloe and Natasha, had so much trouble mounting their play “And Then the Rodeo Burned Down” that they incorporated their problems into the script:
“We can’t afford many more lines,” says Dale, a rodeo clown.
“All we want to do is finish a flipping story,” Dale’s shadow agrees. “God, I wish we had budgeted for more profanity.”
But there is a happy ending — not for the rodeo, which burned down, but for the show, and its creators. “And Then the Rodeo Burned Down” is opening Off-Broadway at Ars Nova for a month-long run starting in May. All it took was four years… and thousands of miles.
Xhloe and Natasha are among the hundreds of New York theater artists each year who seek to break into the competitive Off-Broadway theater scene in New York by producing a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.
I wrote at length in HowlRound about the duo’s uncommon success in Scotland over the past four years: How they brought “And Then The Rodeo Burned Down” there in 2022, where it received so much acclaim (winning the prestigious Fringe First Award), that they were able to return the following three summers in a row – first with “What If They Ate the Baby,” then “A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson,” and then, for their fourth summer, an encore presentation of all three plays. Having won Fringe First for all three plays, they were turned into Fringe celebrities, their faces on billboards and local magazine covers
One by one, their Edinburgh plays have now been mounted Off Broadway (the other two at SoHo Playhouse, which frequently presents encores of Edinburgh hits). And Xhloe and Natasha are returning to Edinburgh in August for their fifth summer, with yet another new play, their fourth there, Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It, described on its edfringe.com page as: Two teenagers perform fake Bigfoot sightings in their Appalachian town, until a neighbour’s dog turns up torn to pieces…”
Below is a brief edited interview with them, followed by nine more shows at Edinburgh this summer (specifically labeled theatre) created by New York theater artists, with links to their pages on the edfringe.com website. (This is just the first batch; many shows aren’t on edfringe yet.) Some of this theater will be performed beforehand for brief runs in New York venues, as mentioned below.
Has it become easier to get a show Off Broadway now, because of Edinburgh?
Edinburgh Fringe has certainly been the catalyst for our opportunities in New York. It’s still not always easy. It’s ironic that we’re better known in the UK than here in the city we’ve been living and creating in for almost 10 years. We often get audience members at our Off-Broadway productions telling us they heard about us at Fringe.
How have the Off Broadway experiences, and audiences, differed from the Fringe?
There’s a level of stability with a five-week run in our home city that allows us to really focus on making the show as tight as it can be, we feel like the shows got better every night. And we’re certainly not complaining about getting to sleep in our own beds to recover each night.
The audiences were awesome. At Fringe much of your audiences are artists themselves, or at the very least theater enthusiasts. Here in New York it was so much fun to reach a diverse group, including people who were dragged there by friends.
Our shows are also often about American identity so there’s something really special to us about performing for an American audience.
How did you come up with the inspiration — and find the time — for your fourth show? What should we expect from it?
Something we are never short on is inspiration, we are constantly coming up with ideas or seeds for a play with each other from everywhere, theater we see, world events, our dreams, music, art. The idea for “Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I saw It” came from a funny coincidence of watching a Bigfoot documentary in the midst of a lot of conspiracy in our country, it made us step back and look at cryptids and American mythos.
Time, on the other hand, is a bit tight for us these days, but for good reason. We’ve been so lucky to have so many opportunities to perform and travel with our shows but it did mean we’ve needed to be quite strategic about planning and holding ourselves to deadlines. We think people will definitely recognize hallmarks of our work in this show, but it is a bit different from our past Fringe pieces, the scale is a bit bigger and there’s a bit of a spooky dangerous vibe that we’re excited for audiences to experience.
atticwife
Astrid Fisher is an influencer who goes from tradwife to trapped-wife when her husband locks her in their attic. atticwife will also be presented in NYC at the East to Edinburgh Festival at 59e59 in July.
The Bloody Battle of Bette Davis
A glittering horror-musical fantasia about Bette Davis battling ageism on the 1975 set of Burnt Offerings
A Cat in a Box
Tom Nemec explores love, loss and hope growing up in an alcoholic, dysfunctional family. A Cat in a Box will also be presented in NYC in May at The Tank.
Extra Dry
Michelle Rene Johnson dives headfirst into a chaotic and destructive romance with alcohol, Extra Dry will also be presented in NYC at the East to Edinburgh festival at 59e59 in July.
Kitty Daddy
How an unexpected cat turnedt Bob Brader’s life upside down, its determination to be left alone, inspiring Bob to confront his own desire for isolation. Kitty Daddy will also be presented in NYCi at the East to Edinburgh festival at 59e59 in July.
Most of My Moms Are Gay
Amy Goldfarb’s musical about having grown up with five mothers.
A Play on Words
Brian Dykstra’s play about Rusty and Max, who have been friends for most of their lives and they’ve been arguing almost the entire time. A Play On Words will also be presented in NYC at the East to Edinburgh festival in July.
Time Travel Postman
A clown (Sevrin Willinder) needs the audience’s help to deliver letters across time and space.
The Yellow Wallpaper
A dance-theater adaptation of the 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A 19th-century woman falls into psychosis while undergoing “The Rest Cure.” Confined to a room of yellow wallpaper, the pattern awakens through visceral ensemble choreography.
