There are 84 ‘fringe festivals’ held annually, around 20 of which take place in the USA. Capital Fringe takes place, well, in the capital. Make sense, I suppose! This year’s festival will be held in 11 different locations around Washington DC over 17 days and will comprise of some spectacularly creative and outlandish, eccentric events.
There will be one act plays, musical performances, stand up comedy shows, poetry, dance, improvisation, clowns, mime, jazz, hip-hop and then a whole other category of performance that is so off the wall that they’re referring to it as ‘unclassified’.
All the festival venues are in downtown Washington DC this year and the performers and artists are local, national and international. This is not a free event, with tickets starting at $15. And if you do not already have a ‘fringe button’ (which it is mandatory to wear at ANY fringe venue or event) you must buy one for $5. This is just a one time purchase, however.
The performances vary in target audience with some being family friendly, some aimed at those aged 13 and over and some for a strictly adult audience only. To reproduce a full event listing here would have you here reading for hours but performances will includeBad Hamlet, All Good Men, Born of a Fairytale, Children of Medea, Flying to America, Freakshow, Headscarf and the Angry Bitch and Good Enough for Government Work.
The 11 venues are all centrally located with a good number of performances scheduled at each. There will be performances at Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church, The Shop at Fort Fringe, The Bedroom at Fort Fringe, The Gypsy Tent at Fort Fringe, The Phillips Collection, Warehouse – Next Door and Warehouse – Main Stage, The Bodega – at the Trading Post and a few more besides.
Fringe festivals offer a really alternative set of performances and appeal to a massively broad audience. I therefore suggest checking out full details of venues and performances at the official CAPFRINGE website.