Four New York performers who are bringing solo shows to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe explained the tangled, often chance, encounters that connected them long before they ever booked a trip to Scotland.
Andrea Coleman (3 Times I Killed), Simone McAlonen (Wild Wild Christian), Aarushi Agni ((Emoji: Thesix Hieroglyphs of Our Time, or how I learned to stop worrying and send the risky text) and Austin Jennings Boykin (A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings) all say New York’s reputation as “the world’s biggest small town” held true in the run-up to this year’s Fringe, with friendships and collaborations criss-crossing between their shows.
Coleman and McAlonen’s paths first crossed at a venue in Brooklyn, where McAlonen was finishing a set as Coleman arrived to start hers. The pair were wearing near-identical jogging suits, in different colours, and only realised months later that they were both bringing shows to the Fringe.
Coleman also credits Agni as a friend who prompted her own journey to New York’s fringe scene, the pair having met while booked on the same storytelling bill at the celebrated Joe’s Pub. Agni said it was Coleman who pushed her to apply for New York City Fringe, where EMOJI went on to sell out its run, describing a chain of coincidences. This included a raffle win for a bag embroidered with the words “So be it. See to it,” a phrase associated with the late sci-fi author Octavia Butler – that convinced her to bring the show to Edinburgh.
McAlonen, meanwhile, said mutual friends put her in touch with both the EMOJI and A Gay Masseur’s Guide teams once it became clear all were Fringe-bound this year, while Boykin said a close friend connected him with McAlonen the moment he committed to Edinburgh. “Everything really is six degrees of separation in New York,” he said.
Beyond the personal links, the artists point to shared themes running through their shows. Coleman’s 3 Times I Killed examines the professional and social masks people wear to survive – a theme Boykin, who works as an actor and massage therapist, said resonates strongly with his own show. He said he feels most authentic “when I’m able to just be present with someone, without needing anything from them.”
Several of the artists also referenced Agni’s idea of the “risky text” – taking a chance on something brave – as a lens for their own leaps of faith. For Coleman, a practising lawyer, that moment was pressing send on her Fringe application for a show she describes as unusually revealing for the legal profession. For Boykin, it was turning down a screenwriting fellowship at the American Film Institute to keep developing his show, after a producer friend told him to “always bet on yourself.” For McAlonen, it traced back to childhood, when she compiled a list of questions about religion, and interviewed everyone at the Christian summer camp one year…
On whether New York still offers genuine connection in an increasingly digital age, the artists were divided. Boykin and McAlonen described a strong community feel and a growing appetite among New Yorkers to put phones away, while Agni warned that gentrification and “hostile architecture” were eroding the informal spaces where connection used to happen. Coleman said the city’s crowded subways had a way of “yanking you out of solitude” whether people liked it or not.
All four shows are running at this year’s Fringe, offering Edinburgh audiences a cross-section of New York life – legal, spiritual, digital and deeply personal – shaped by a circle of friends and collaborators who found each other first at home.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/3-times-i-killed
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/wild-wild-christian
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-gay-masseur-s-guide-to-happy-endings
