“I am Star Trek” was a sendup of the original TV series, Erica (right) says. And it was as much about the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry. “There was as much drama off camera as there was on camera,” she says. After performing in the London premiere, Erica went with the show to Edinburgh, where it was a monster hit.She left for London long ago, on a quest to break into one of the world's great theatre scenes.

But after a decade of success as an award-winning producer and actor across the pond (including a stint on the starship Enterprise), the Rochester native is back in town. And she's leading a new effort to put the city on the map—the world map—for its performing arts.

Sure, Rochester already has a full plate of festivals every year. Many of them famous in their own right. Jazz. Film. Lilacs. But what's been missing is a showcase of all the arts combined, from theatre to music to visual.

Enter Erica Fee.

She's the force behind the new Rochester Fringe Festival, which makes its debut this September. The term “fringe festival” originated from independent shows that sprang up around the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland—a festival Erica knows and loves.

Erica made a name for herself in London as a producer, with shows like “Bicycle Men,” which starred Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, which also starred Rochester native and Second City alum Joe Liss.Shortly after graduating from the University of Rochester in 1999, Erica moved to London, England, to study acting at Arts Ed London, where she received her MA. She got an agent, started getting parts in shows, and starred in some TV commercials in the U.K.

“I started acting in London theatre, did a lot of commercials. In 2001, I was cast in a show that went to the Edinburgh Fringe, called 'I am Star Trek.'”

“That show was so much fun. There were nine of us and we played over 70 characters. And it had come out of the New York Fringe.”

Erica went on to produce shows for the Edinburgh Fringe. That first-hand experience with one of the world's most popular performing arts festivals has served her well this year as she leads the charge to launch one in Rochester.

But her journey home began in 2009, by way of Chicago.

On her way back to London from the Windy City, Erica stopped in Rochester for a visit. She had a chance to check out the Rochester International Jazz Festival for the first time. She was blown away.

“It was fantastic,” she says. “And I thought 'wouldn't it be nice if we had something like this for all of the performing arts?'”

Serendipity—and some local friends—connected her with the fledgling effort to launch a new performing arts festival in Rochester.

“I was asked to come back to head this up,” Erica says.

At first, she didn't plan to stay for good.

“I put all of my things in storage in the U.K.,” she says. “Then this idea took off and it's been so exciting—there's so much momentum,” she says.

By January 2011, Erica's return to Rochester was permanent.

Of all the places she thought she might settle—London, New York, Los Angeles—Rochester was never at the top of the list. But it's good to be home.

“I wish all Rochesterians would leave Rochester for a few years and come back,” she says.

Good advice. Of course, with Erica on the playbill, Rochester's going places, too.

 

 

 

EricaSee more: ericafeeproductions.com and rochesterfringe.com and the Rochester Fringe Festival on Facebook

Say hi: emf@ericafeeproductions.com and on Twitter