Fringe is back!

Egads! It's The Shape of Water returning to DC in living color! Actually, no, it's Arma Dura, one of the acts at  2023 Capital Fringe as he showed up at the preview party.  Arma's costumes are well worth the price of admission.  More, below/By Patricia Leslie

 

Arma Dura, one of the acts at 2023 Capital Fringe, descends into the Fringe preview party/By Patricia Leslie

Come one!  Come all to any of the 49 plays which sport outrageous, hilarious, serious, entertaining, provoking and sometimes difficult scripts plus music and dance when Capital Fringe starts up again July 12 through July 23 with 275 cast and crew members in "almost entirely original theatre, dance, and unclassifiable productions." 

 Arma Dura at  the 2023 Capital Fringe preview party/By Patricia Leslie

Arma Dura, one of the acts at 2023 Capital Fringe, at the preview party/By Patricia Leslie

Many current topics are natural themes this year, from skin cancer (Onion Skin) to Charlottesville to abortion (My Name is Norma), and some celebs from yesteryear (Watergate's Martha Mitchell in Shut Up, Martha) and comedian Gilda Radner show up, too. 

Sarah Marie Hughes at the 2023 Capital Fringe preview party/By Patricia Leslie

Finding Home: Dance Journeys, one of the acts presented at the 2023 Capital Fringe preview party/By Patricia Leslie

Finding Home: Dance Journeys at the 2023 Capital Fringe preview party/By Patricia Leslie

At the preview party, Samuel A. Simon delivered a few lines from his Dementia Man, An Existential Journey, one of the acts at 2023 Capital Fringe/By Patricia Leslie

This year's Capital Fringe theme is based on lemons:  "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"/By Patricia Leslie

Maybe you can find yourself in Who is my authentic self? Can it change?, but you'll surely want  to eavesdrop on an evening with Ernest Hemingway and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in Tender. 

Share love in a new Shakespeare version (Only Love) or, anyone for puppets?  Try Attack on Tunggorono (for adults only). 

Enjoy magic and comedy with Charlie Ross Comedy & Magic. 

See dance (A Moment in Time and Finding Home).  Hear original music (TBD: A Devised Theatrical Celebration, Bell Wringer).

Explore memory and hope in Between Raindrops, based on  the 1922 collapse of DC's Knickerbocker Theatre which killed 98. 

The audience participates in several shows like the comedy and murder mystery, Who Did It? and help a young woman to route herself to the nunnery in The Holy One.

Of course, nudity and profanity are not to be forgotten: Brunch with the Boys, Dildos and Body Parts, Mutu Sakata and Rivershe Collective Arts are some titles.

Plus, on July 19 at 8 p.m., the Alliance for New Music-Theatre will present a free reading in English of six short-plays by Ukrainian artists, commissioned by the Center for International Theatre Development since the Russian Invasion. The shows include Ukrainian folksongs and although free, donations will help support Ukrainian artists. July 19, 8 p.m. at the Rind, 1025 Thomas Jefferson; enter on 30th.

The Fringe website lists choices of genre, dates, creators, and venues (many shows with profanity; for mature children.) 

Julianne Brienza, Fringe's founding director and programmer, chose this year's theme:  "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” which will be available for purchase at all venues. 

Short skits of 20 of the shows entertained guests at the free preview party at Georgetown's Powerhouse ("grand central" for festival-goers and crews) last weekend. 

Fringe is fun; the shows are different, original, and some, delightful!  Some, so naughty!  And they run 50 to 75 minutes each Wednesday through Friday, 6 - 11 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m at venues in Georgetown and at the Jewish Community Center and Theater J at 1529 16th Street, NW.

Artists will keep 70% of the $15 tickets which will have a handling fee of $2.51 added.  There are no cash sales.

Major sponsors are the Georgetown Business Improvement District, the DCJCC, Theater J, JLL, JBG Smith, Powerhouse, and Brick and Mortar.

According to its website, "Capital Fringe’s annual festival is the only unjuried, self-producing live performance festival in the Washington, DC area. Since 2006, we have presented 14 festivals featuring over 52,000 artists to an audience of 380,000 ticket buyers. The festival has generated $2.37 million in artist revenue. At our most recent festival in July 2022, 87% of available tickets were sold."

The awards ceremony (including, for the first time, audience awards) and the free closing party will be July 23, 7 - 11 p.m. at the Powerhouse.

Better get tickets while you can!  Some shows will certainly sell out.  For more information: capitalfringe.org.

patricialesli@gmail.com