Westport Bowery

The Bowery definitely has lots of interesting events going on, and I feel like no one knows about it behind the Flea! Usually it's a lot of live music, but I went to 2 one-man shows during Fringe Fest that were super fun! You can enter via the door from the parking lot behind Westport Flea Market, and it's off to the left. Plenty of parking in the lot! Or you can enter from a door in the Flea restaurant. There's a bar in the Bowery and a bathroom by the Bowery entrance. A lot of the events will let you bring food into shows too, so definitely grab a burger and curly fries before heading in. The bar is located in a weird spot, I have to say. It's like right next to the stage. So if you're at a live music show, it's really convenient. But if you are at a theater production, it's annoying to have people walking across your view to the bar if it's open during the show. They also kind of need to work on their soundproofing a little bit. For some reason, they have a lot of late night events on Sunday nights, and I can hear the music in my apartment, which is on the other side of the parking lot. I'm pretty chill with noise since I signed up to live in Westport, but on Sunday nights, it's not ideal to be hearing the lyrics of songs in my room at 11 pm.

I attended a Fringe Fest event here at 9:30pm on a Friday night. The production was excellent - Australian playwright / comedian / story-teller Jon Bennett delivered an hour of heartbreak and hilarity in his one man piece - "Fire in the Meth Lab". I have no issues with the space itself. With room for about 50, the stage is always close by and sound and lighting was great. The space is in the back part of the Westport Flea Market.My biggest complaint, and it is a big one; why in the hell do you have a bar that is less than 10 feet from the stage and 3 feet from my seat and allow it to be open during performances? Seriously??!! All throughout the performance I was distracted from the performance by audience members buying a drink. The loudest person in those transactions was the bartender! With Mr. Bennett's Australian accent and rapid delivery, the PAYING members of the audience really needed to focus clearly on the stage, not a bartender reciting what beers are available. Move the bar outside the performance area or at least install a heavy curtain for sound muffling. if you are going to run a performance hall, have some respect for the artist and audience!