‘Turn Me On, Dead Man’ to be featured during Fringe Festival

“Turn Me On, Dead Man,” a show by two local performers, will be included in this year’s San Diego International Fringe Festival

The story is about a studio session for a band’s upcoming album that goes awry when the lead singer’s pursuit of the truth and distortion of reality sets in, according to the festival’s website.

“The show is essentially about the Beatles, but we never explicitly say it’s about the Beatles,” said Phillip Magin, who has recent acting credits at MOXIE Theatre, TuYo Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse WOW Festival and understudy work at San Diego Repertory Theatre. “But it’s about the conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney was replaced by a clone.”

The conspiracy theory gained traction in the late 1960s, when a Detroit radio DJ took a phone call on the air from someone who brought up rumors that the Beatles frontman died in a car crash and the band covertly replaced him with a look-alike.

Magin and his friend, Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger, are participating in the festival for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The festival, according to its website, focuses on “fringe artists and creating community.”

“I love creating new characters and being someone I’m not on stage,” said Magin, who graduated from San Diego State with a bachelor’s in theatre. “I really like the escapism of theater. I enjoy entertaining audiences and looking for ways in which people can reflect and enjoy a great form of storytelling.”

“It’s neat because we both have been involved since we were in high school,” added Geissinger, development associate at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

The two have known each other since they were theater school students at North Coast Rep more than 10 years ago, and have previously collaborated on projects for the Fringe Festival.

The pop up return of the San Diego Fringe Festival will be from June 2-12. For more information, visit sdfringe.org.