Fringe Festival 2016 Guides Are Out, So Start Narrowing Down

It’s the 20th year for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

The Renegade Company’s interdisciplinary Fringe Festival show is the Philadelphia-set, George Orwell-inspired Animal Farm to Table. Photo by Daniel Kontz

The Renegade Company’s interdisciplinary Fringe Festival show is the Philadelphia-set, George Orwell-inspired Animal Farm to Table. Photo by Daniel Kontz

Philly’s 20th Fringe Festival includes more than 1,000 performances over two weeks, so even the most ardent theatre fan is only going to see a small fraction of them. Organizer FringeArts just released a guide to the festival that lists out all the shows, plus ticket and venue info, with hard copies available at various locations — mostly coffee shops — around the city. Or check out the guide here.

The fest, running September 9th–24th, is broken up into 15 curated shows, which are the bigger performances from both Philadelphia and around the world invited by FringeArts, and the grassroots “Fringe Around the City” shows put on by anyone with an idea and the discipline to make it happen (who registered in time).

The shows go beyond the quirky experimental plays you might be associating with Fringe, falling into the categories dance, music, theater, film, comedy and improv, visual art, spoken word, interdisciplinary and “happenings” — example: Death Is A Cabaret Ol’ Chum: A Graveyard Cabaret at Laurel Hill Cemetery — in every corner of the city, as well as a few in the ’burbs, and there’s enough of them that I lost count looking through the guide.

In addition to the shows, there will be music, food and drink at the FringeArts building on the Delaware River waterfront every night of the festival.

Macbeth from Third World Bunfight is part of the Fringe Festival’s curated lineup. Photo by Nicky Newman

Macbeth from Third World Bunfight is part of the Fringe Festival’s curated lineup. Photo by Nicky Newman

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