Tim Sauers: Looking for artists at Edinburgh Festival Fringe to present at Overture

“Edinburgh is one of my favorite places on Earth,” said Tim Sauers, Overture Center’s chief artistic experiences officer, upon return from the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, held Aug. 5-29 in Scotland’s capital. “It is an amazing environment with a cool vibe. Everybody is in town to see shows, and everybody is talking about the shows on the streets, in the pubs, in the venues.”

Celebrating its 75^th anniversary, Edinburgh Festival Fringe is known as one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture in the world. This year’s Fringe featured more than 3,100 shows representing 63 countries in 300 venues across the city. Permanent and makeshift stages were set in theaters, auditoriums, University of Edinburgh spaces, former government buildings and historic structures. More than 3,300 street performers took to the outdoor stages and spaces as well in St. Andrew Square and Cathedral Square.

“My purpose for attending the Fringe was to see works of artists from all over the world in my search for shows to bring to Overture,” said Sauers.

During his trip, he made connections with new agents, artists and producers from Australia, Great Britain, Canada and other countries, and held meetings to discuss programming opportunities for Overture.

Sauers’ first trip to the Festival Fringe in 2019 resulted in two bookings for the 2021/22 season: Tape Face (from New Zealand), unfortunately canceled in November 2021, and Doodle Pop (from South Korea) in May 2022. A Simple Space (from Australia), coming in May 2023, was also booked from the festival.

Sauers appreciates the variety of shows at the festival, from well-established companies to artists hoping to get noticed or seeking agency representation. He explained that Broadway reps discovered the musical “SIX” at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

“I love that that can still happen,” he said.

Sauers spent eight days at the festival and saw 35 shows.

“My strategy was to see specific pre-chosen shows while allowing time in my schedule to add popular shows and crowd-pleasers that I heard about while there,” he said.

One of his favorite shows was “The Importance of Being… Earnest,” a comedic play that recruited audience members for the lead, “Earnest,” and other roles.

Sauers saw a dozen cirque performances, including “Rebel,” a live circus rock tribute to David Bowie, “La Clique,” a circus-comedy-cabaret piece, and “Cirque Alfonse: Animal,” coming to Overture March 25-26, in which circus, song, dance and theater all come together, driven by original live music.

“I also saw ‘Ballet Freedom,’ a phenomenal ballet presented by a world-renowned ballet company from Kyiv, Ukraine. It told a story about the moment of life, when knowing yourself, your love and your loss, you can truly see yourself in the mirror,” he said. “And I saw a really funny stand-up comedian, ‘Randy Feltface: Alien of Extraordinary Ability’ from Australia.”

Sauers was successful in making worldwide connections—and, surprisingly, even local ones.

“A woman sat down beside me and asked where I was from,” he said. “I replied that I was from Madison, Wisconsin, and she said she was too! She was there with her daughter, a programming director with one of the presenting cirque companies from Montreal.”

Sauers later met with the woman’s daughter. The two discussed TOHU Cité des Arts du Cirque, a group that presents and develops cirque shows, which Sauers is considering joining.

“The festival is all about making connections to see if anything will work in the future for Overture,” he said. “Attendance also gives us greater international visibility.”

The Fringe is a valuable place to be, bringing together artists, the international arts industry and media alongside loyal fans and new audiences. Sauers hopes to make it an annual trip.

“The whole environment and seeing everyone come together to support the artists is truly inspiring,” he said.

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