The New Orleans Fringe Festival, one of the largest arts festivals in the world, will return to New Orleans for its seventh year from November 19th through the 23rd.
Originally conceived of in Edinburgh, Scotland, by a group of eight acts that were deemed too deviant for the regular theater festival, Fringe Fest is a grassroots organization that showcases non-mainstream theater, puppetry, spoken word, and other types of performing arts in various venues throughout the cities that host it.
Ticket prices are low, content is uncensored except in specifically family-friendly shows, and venues tend to be cheap and “fringey.”
This year, the festival-managed venues will include Mardi Gras Zone, the Shadowbox Theater, the Marigny Opera House, and the Old Firehouse in Mandeville, to name just a few. Through the festival’s BYOV (bring your own venue) program, participating artists have arranged over 30 additional venues for themselves.
All shows, be they burlesque, dance, comedy, poetry, adult, 14 plus, multimedia, or one of the many other categories, run for an hour or less.
If you can’t decide what to see, compare free sneak previews at the “Peep Shows,” which run from 5-7 p.m. on November 19th and 20th at the Free For All Lounge in Architects Alley.
Other free events include the first New Orleans Fringe Procession of the Personal Saints on November 22nd, a walking procession through the Bywater where participants dress as or carry homemade figures of their own personal “saints,” whoever or whatever they may be.
Holy libations are courtesy of the festival.
The November 23rd In Voce Veritas spoken word event is free as well, as are all of the “Family Fringe” events and the five awesome after parties that will take place at a different bar or venue each night.
For the rest of the shows, festival goers need to purchase a $3 Fringe Button. After that, tickets are $8 for a single show, $40 for a six-show pass, or $99 for an all-access pass.
Each ticket is good for any Fringe Fest show and can be purchased online, at the Central Box Office, at Mardi Gras Zone, or at the door.
For more information, visit http://www.nofringe.org/.
