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(Rochester, NY) August 25, 2026—Organizers of the 2026 ESL Rochester Fringe Festival today announced that 10x award-winning show JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU and 2026 WOW Festival standout TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD will be making their Rochester Fringe debuts on September 15 and September 17, respectively, with runs through the duration of the festival in the new Garden Studio space at One Fringe Place, located at the corner of Main & Gibbs Streets, downtown Rochester.

JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU is a 10x award-winning contemporary clown show by artist Cam Porter featuring dreamy lounge-singer Carl Poteraychke who is ready to serenade, seduce, and show people what it means to love—just for an hour. Equal parts absurdist comedy and heartfelt longing, Porter uses character comedy and audience interaction to turn one man, one song, and an increasingly desperate need for connection into something hilariously surreal.

Porter has performed JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU for Fringe audiences around the world from Edinburgh, Scotland to San Diego and Adelaide, Australia to Hollywood. The show was awarded 2026 Best of Fringe New Zealand Fringe and 2026 Audience Choice Award Clown at Denver Fringe. Additionally, The Skinny calls it, “A clowning masterclass,” and the San Diego Union Tribune calls it, “A looping, increasingly surreal experience.”

“The idea for this show came to me while I was walking through the streets of Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,” said Cam Porter, who is trained in improv, sketch comedy and modern clowning. “I just kept thinking to myself that I needed to create a character that was enamored with the idea of receiving a nonstop encore. The format of JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU allows me to have so many natural, unplanned moments between Carl and the audience. It’s a little bit different each time and so much fun to see how the audience reacts to all of the antics.”

Porter is a Los Angeles-based comedic performer, clown, host, and creator whose escapades have taken him to the quarter finals of America’s Got Talent and to stages around the world with his acclaimed one-man clown show JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU.  Porter also has a decade-long run co-hosting the comedy podcast and video series Sex Talks with My Mom and teaches clowns across the United States through his popular Instagram series Clown Notes.

Performances run from September 15 through September 26. Tickets start at $22. The show is recommended for ages 13+ and is capped at 60 attendees. More information can be found here.

TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD offers a quiet and reflective moment away from the hustle and bustle of Fringe with a small-audience, multi-sensory experience that invites participants to remain playful in dire circumstances. A standout at the 2026 WOW Festival in San Diego earlier this year, TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD invites guests to partake in exquisite tea and parlor games. In designing this show, creator/performer Jessica Creane was inspired by her time in the Arctic Circle, where she was an Artist-in-Residence in 2022. She further drew inspiration from the ritual comfort of loose-leaf tea and the unfathomable cost that being alive in a beautiful and disappearing world exacts on our ability to connect and find purpose.

Creane has also worked in partnership with The National Parks Service, Princeton's with High Meadows Institute, and as a contributing author to The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Pig Iron Theater Company and holds an MFA in Devised, Physical, Ensemble Theater. She is a Professor of Game Design at Drexel University and the founder of IKantKoan Play/s–the production company producing TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD–and is serious about play, and playful about the things we are often most serious about.

To that end, TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD doesn’t shy away from various explorations of life and death. As part of the show, Creane asks her guests to play a game called the “Perfect End” where they imagine their last day, with audience members offering one small detail that made it perfect: “I will feel like I’ve had enough time,” “the taste of mulberries,” and “there will be a campfire.”

Performances run from September 17 through September 26. Tickets start at $29. The show is recommended for ages 16+ and is capped at 30 attendees. Drinking tea will be offered at different times during the experience. More information can be found here.

All performances of JUST TO BE CLOSE TO YOU and TEA PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD will be performed in The Garden Studio, which has been added this year as a secondary performing arts space at One Fringe Place and can accommodate up to 60 people or less depending on the intimacy level needed for the show.

“The caliber of performance at this year’s Fringe is undeniable,” said Erica Fee, CEO & Festival Producer. “These artists have performed on stages all over the world and now bring their gifts to Rochester. Audiences will love the close interaction with the actors that create spontaneous moments, eliminating the fourth wall, and creating a hyper personal experience.”

Also joining the lineup at The Garden Studio is (Rochester favorite) BUSHWHACKED: BIG JOY FUN TIME REVIVAL, which is an interactive, high-energy comedy spectacle where salvation comes in the form of pure, unfiltered joy. Hosted by the wildly charismatic Tim and Pammy Shea Fakker, created and performed by the amazingly talented local comedic duo of Abby DeVuyst and Kerry Young, this “revival” trades fire-and-brimstone for bubble guns and questionable life advice. The inspirational duo will lead audiences through absurd testimonials, musical numbers, and miraculous transformations fueled entirely by laughter and good vibes. Come ready to clap, cheer, and possibly be “healed” from your afflictions in the most ridiculous way possible.

Performances run from September 15 through September 26. Tickets start at $27. The show is recommended for all ages and is capped at 20 attendees. There is also a “boozy” version of the show available for ages 21+ with tickets starting at $49, including adult beverages. More information can be found here.

The Fringe takes place September 15 – 26. Tickets to all shows are available online at rochesterfringe.com, via phone at (585) 957-9837 (additional phone fees apply) or via the Rochester Fringe Festival App, which is available for download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Tickets for all shows may be purchased in-person at the festival’s main box office at One Fringe Place at the corner of Main & Gibbs Streets starting September 13 and at the doors of all venues one hour before curtain.

Rochester’s not-for-profit Fringe has become one of the largest, most successful, and most prominent fringe festivals in the nation, the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festivals in New York State, and one of the region’s most anticipated festivals each year. The 2026 Fringe will feature 715 performances of 297 productions at 45 venue locations in just 12 days, including Comedy, Theatre, Dance, Music, Multidisciplinary & Circus, Kids’ Shows, Spoken Word, and Visual Arts & Film.

ABOUT THE ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The 12-day ESL Rochester Fringe Festival is one of the nation’s largest fringe festivals and has been recognized by the New York Times as “one of the country’s more prominent multidisciplinary events.” It is also New York State’s largest performing arts festival and the current winner, three years running, of CITY Magazine’s Best of Rochester Award for Best Arts Event. This year, the Fringe celebrates its 15^th season. Nearly a million people have attended more than 7,000 performances and events at the Fringe since its inception in 2012. The non-profit organization’s mission is to offer platforms for artists, new audiences for venues, and unparalleled public access to incredible art. It strives to be diverse and inclusive, as well as to stimulate downtown Rochester culturally and economically. The Fringe showcases the work of regional, national, and international artists from emerging to superstar. Audiences at Fringe also have the rare opportunity to attend a performance at the Spiegeltent, which is one of the most unique performing arts venues in the world.

ABOUT ESL:
With more than 100 years of locally owned history, ESL Federal Credit Union serves as a full-service financial institution to more than 465,000 members and 18,800 businesses. Founded in 1920, the company provides personal banking, business banking, mortgage services and wealth management services through its locally based 33-branch network; telephone, mobile and online banking; and live chat center. The Rochester-based financial institution employs more than 1,000 people in the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes region and holds more than $10.8 billion in assets. Since 1996, ESL has paid out 30 consecutive years of Owners’ Dividends to its members totaling more than $350 million. Since the creation of its Community Impact initiative in 2018, ESL has reinvested more than $182 million in grants throughout the community. The company has appeared on Great Place to Work® lists since 2010. ESL Federal Credit Union is headquartered at 225 Chestnut Street, in Rochester, and can be found online at www.esl.org.

ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE SPONSORS:
ESL; Rochester Area Community Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; 7Crest Financial Partners; Dr. Dawn F. Lipson; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; City of Rochester; Monroe County; University of Rochester; RIT; Mary Mulligan Trust; Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation; Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Foundation; Konar Enterprises; Golisano Foundation; The Rubens Family Foundation; Lake Beverage; The Inn on Broadway; Hyatt Regency Rochester; Nazareth University; St. John Fisher University; Monroe Community College; The Pike Company; Hamilton A/V; Wilkins RV; McCarthy Tents & Events; Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care; Liccardi Radio Services; Finger Lakes Distilling; Aspire Transformation Services; Visit Rochester; The Spindler Family Foundation; The Harley School; Wegmans; City Blue Imaging; Canandaigua National Bank; Yelp!; AdHouse Productions; Walk Up Advertising; Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC; and House of Guitars.

2026 FRINGE VENUES:
Aerial Arts of Rochester, Austin Steward Plaza, Biltmore Bar & Lounge, Blackfriars Theatre, Bop Shop Records, Centerstage Theatre at the JCC, Central Library of Rochester, Century Club at the Strathallan, Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Delmonico and Dugdale, Eastman School of Music, The Focus Theater, Garth Fagan Dance Studio, Genesee Valley Park, George Eastman Museum, Gibbs Street, The Harley School, The Hochstein School, Java's, Joseph Ave Arts and Culture Alliance at the Lincoln Library, Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, La Marketa at the International Plaza, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Memorial Art Gallery, Mt. Hope Cemetery, MuCCC, Parcel 5, Photo City Music Hall, The Little, RIT City Art Space, RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium, RMSC: Garden of Fragrance, ROC Cinema, Roc City Circus, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, The Rose Room, Salena's, School of the Arts, Dawn’s Spiegelgarden, Spiegeltent, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, University of Rochester – Sloan Performing Arts Center, Vanni’s Jazz Lounge at the Inn on Broadway and Washington Grove.

ABOUT FRINGE FESTIVALS:
In 1947, eight theatre groups showed up - uninvited - to perform at the newly established Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. Although not listed in the official program, the groups performed anyway, at venues they found for themselves. The following year, a Scottish journalist coined the term “festival fringe” to describe these non-curated shows that began turning up annually. The Edinburgh Fringe is now the world’s largest arts festival and the third largest event after the Olympics and the World Cup.  Today, there are more than 250 Fringe Festivals worldwide, with nearly 50 in the United States. The ESL Rochester Fringe Festival was the first in Upstate New York.