Published: July 25, 2008 09:31 am      

ART: Buffalo Infringement Festival in full swing

By Anthony Custode Jr.

Infringement is a term that means one has trespassed on someone else’s right or privilege. So how can it be used to describe a festival?

“(Infringement) came from a few disgruntled men from the fringe festival in Montreal. So they wanted to call it an infringe festival,” said Scott Andrew Kurchak, co-founder of the Buffalo Infringement Festival, which starts today.

With more than 300 performances and 50 venues, the one-time small idea is taking the Allentown neighborhood streets by storm.

“This is our fourth festival,” Kurchak said. “Our first one in 2005, we literally had no money and we were able to raise enough for posters and ads and we put the festival with a budget of just a couple of bucks. This year, we raised the most money we ever had, $2,000.”

The festival is a 11-day event including nearly every artform one can conceive.

“What’s a little different for us is most fringe festivals have just theater. We have theater, musical theater, film, art, photography, etc. We have just about everything,” Kurchak said.

Although all performers are given the right to charge up to $10 for entrance, most, like Kurchak, would rather allow free admission and pass around a hat afterward.

“We’re not in it for the money. We’re in it for the art,” he said.

Not only is Kurchak a co-founder of the festival, he is also a performer. Kurchak’s production of the one-man play “Byrdbrain” will take place Friday and is also scheduled for Aug. 1-3.

“The play is about a high school teacher who is completely burned out ... the system has broken him down,” Kurchak said.

In the play, teacher Mark Byrd is locked in a storage closet by a couple of his students, and he is left there to spend the entire three-day weekend.

“One of the realizations he’s made is, ‘Oh my god, I’ve become every teacher I hated,’ ” he said.

With “Byrdbrain” being a one-man play, Kurchak realizes all the pressure is on him.

“(Doing a one-man play) is probably as close as I’ll ever come to walking on a high wire. There’s no safety net, nobody to bail me out,” he said.

Kurchak said the festival is unique in that it doesn’t require a performer’s fee.

“It’s a great opportunity to work on something for little or no money,” Kurchak said. “There’s no fees for me ... so I’m charging no admission.”

There’s no question the festival has grown since its debut four years ago, but Kurchak says bigger doesn’t necessarily mean more complex.

“We decided to keep it as simple as we can,” he said.



IF YOU GO

* WHAT: Buffalo Infringement Festival

* WHEN: Through Aug. 3

* WHERE: Various venues

* MORE INFORMATION: Visit infringebuffalo.org