(Martin Denton’s article appeared in the Villager, 8/11-17.)
On Friday, August 12, the New York International Fringe Festival will open its doors — 19 of them, counting the one at FringeCENTRAL. For the 15th consecutive year, tens of thousands of audience members will see nearly 200 productions from all over the world during a 17-day overstuffed smorgasbord featuring performances of every stripe.
I’ve been attending FringeNYC for all 15 years, and I guess I’ve seen somewhere around 300 shows by now. I’ve hosted the Opening Ceremonies for the festival more times, I think, than anyone else (three times in Washington Square Park, several times at various FringeCENTRAL locations, last year outdoors on Spring Street in SoHo and even, long ago, at The Present Company Theatorium). In 2002, I hatched the zany idea to review all of the festival’s productions on nytheatre.com (the website for which I am editor and chief reviewer). With the help of several dozen amazing volunteer reviewers — most of whom were current or former FringeNYC participants — we did it…and we have done it every year since. (We’re gearing up for our 10th consecutive crack at it right now.)
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_433/fringenyc.html
Visit the FringeNYC Web site: http://fringenyc.org/