Member Profile // Wesley Fruge: Multi-tasking, Theater-Modernizing Renaissance Man

When we (finally) caught up with Wesley Fruge, he was in the process of signing the lease on a new apartment, starting a new job, and running rehearsals for production of his play, Friend Andy. But then, the actor/singer/dancer/writer/director/producer/video editor/event planner is used to being that busy.

"I love performing," says the native Houstonian, "but I wanted to bring theater into the modern age. We don't need more Guys and Dolls. I mean, it's great, but it's been done." So: Friend Andy is about a blogger who goes viral overnight, almost unwittingly. It uses video projections to capture the kind of madcap media stimulation most of us experience every day (i.e. like how you may be reading this on your phone while watching a DVR'd New Girl and idly clicking around on your Macbook--though we truly hope not.)   "By using multimedia, we're giving the audience what they're used to," Fruge says.

If any 3rd Ward members have got anything you'd like to submit, Fruge is now welcoming video submissions. Though if you'd rather just watch, there will be a workshop production on February 7, and they are in the process of applying to New York Fringe.

All of this has put his party-planning crew, UnOfficial Presents temporarily on the backburner, but we've got a feeling it'll be back in action soon. 

Meanwhile, you can find Fruge at 3rd Ward editing video in the new coworking space and using studios for promotional shoots. Chances are--given his 10,000 interests and skills--you'll have something in common.

--Layla Schlack