Nick Stuccio has been pretty busy this summer: scheduling a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the original Fringe Fest; working on last-minute details for Live Arts Festival/Philly Fringe 2011; planning to open a performance space and hub at the base of Race Street in 2012; buying a suit for the Feastival benefit thrown by Philly's finest restaurateurs later this month.
You wouldn't think he'd have time to concern himself with a bar - except to have a cocktail to ease the stress.
Yet here he is, thinking about this year's official Festival Bar at RUBA Club, a multilevel space in Northern Liberties that will host thirsty crowds starting Friday after a night of Live Arts and Fringe-ing.
But this season, rather than using DJs as in recent years, the official Festival Bar will embrace theatrical events, performance art, and burlesque, all booked by Philly's Brat Productions and its honchos, Madi Distefano, Lee Etzold, and Jess Conda.
"After we decided to situate our Fest Bar at the RUBA and knew that Brat was in residence there, we asked everyone concerned, and they all thought it was a great idea," says Stuccio. Everyone wins, especially aficionados of down-and-dirty theater and drinking.
But for Scott Johnston and Mike Cristaldi - hosts of the Late Nite Cabaret and "unofficial Fringe bar" they launched in 2008, when the festival switched to DJs - the booze, burlesque, and renegade-theater after-party vibe never stopped. After years of moving nightly from place to place during the festival, all of the 2011 LNC is at the Wolf Building on North 12th Street.
"We're the real official late-night cabaret," crows Cristaldi, wearing his love and dedication like a badge of honor.
Love is a particularly meaningful notion to these crews. Distefano and Conda will host LNC events this year, and Stuccio provided Johnston and Cristaldi with space and time for their cabaret during 2010's Festival Bar.
"The LAF's done nothing but help us since we split off, and we are always thrilled to work with them," Cristaldi says.
Johnston has produced and directed video promotional documentaries for several Live Arts shows since his 2007 departure as the Festival Bar's cabaret programmer and program sales associate. (He stayed on Live Arts' staff until 2008, and Castaldi held positions as venue manager and light designer during his six years with Live Arts.)
