Emily Piro acted in Midnight's MISTAKES WERE MADE with Joe Hanrahan in August, 2011, under the direction of Midnight's Sarah Whitney. During that process, Emily and Joe had several discussions about Fringe Festivals, and St. Louis and Fringe Festivals. Joe, who'd gone to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival several years before with Midnight's production of THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS, was all for Fringe Festivals. Emily, who'd had some experience with them, was all ears and all for it. Before you knew it, Emily had gone to Fringe Festivals, talked to everybody on the Fringe circuit, and was getting the first real St. Louis Fringe Festival off the ground. While Joe stayed behind the scenes during the early days of getting organized, his partner Sarah Whitney jumped right in, and entered the Festival based on an original idea of hers. She developed the script - titled ALL EARS - a cautionary retelling of three Greek myths - aimed at kids 6-12 - cast three excellent, versatile young actors - Shale'ya Anderson, Tyler Linke and Taylor Steward in the cast - and got into it. Sarah developed a beautiful, simple show - true story-telling - compelling stories, with lessons' to be learned about the importance of listening (and thus, remembering) illustrated by a few simple lighting effects, great original music, an ingenious use of puppet theatre, and the imagination of the cast. While its two performances wasn't seen by enough kids (the Fringe had a definite adult theatre slant and vibe), ALL EARS was an accomplished, polished piece of work, admired by all who saw it. Discussion is underway about taking this unique new show into other venues in the near future. Stay posted.