Renegade Theatre Festival was an opportunity created by Chad Badgero to address the lack of theatre production and representation in the otherwise ubiquitous local festival scene. Theaters organized to produce and perform plays that were exploratory, experimental or did not fit into their season’s schedule. They would do so in any available spaces, from baby clothing stores to restaurants and bars. What started as a free, three-day event culminated into a festival that spanned two weekends and included theatrical performances, day-long workshops and live music.
The first year was hosted in 2005, 8 theaters gathered in East Lansing’s alleys, coffee shops, abandoned buildings and art galleries to produce their plays. In 2007, the festival took a year off when finding venues became difficult in East Lansing. They were pointed in the direction of Old Town by Melissa Kaplan and in 2008 the Renegade Theatre Festival was reignited for what would be an almost 20 year run.
For the first year hosted in Old Town, Ciesa Design built the brand image and logo, worked on concept, creation and print for the posters, artwork and promotional materials and built and hosted the website for the festival, all as an in-kind donation. For the next few years, Ciesa Design would continue to produce artwork for the festival; a notable creative solution from this series is Dotty’s hand-sewn cross stitch version of the Renegade Theatre’s Logo. In addition to direct creative work, Ciesa Design also provided a performance space on our patio. Overlooking the Grand River, people gathered on the planks of the rivertrail bridge that ran underneath to watch the live performances.
In 2022 the Renegade Theatre Festival board voted to retire the event on a high note. With success in their wake they stepped back, allowing the space for other opportunities to arise and focusing on supporting their theatre communities in different ways. A bitter sweet ending, but a highly successful event thanks to many passionate, creative people and the community that supports them.
For more details on the history of the festival, visit the Renegade Theatre Festival site directly at: https://www.renegadetheatrefestival.org/