FRINGE!!!

In 1947, when 8 univited theater groups performed around the edges of the Edinburgh International Festival, they kicked off a festival series that -- more than 60 years later -- is larger and wilder than ever. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival today, with more than 2,000 shows in 250+ venues, may be the great-granddaddy of the international Fringe events, but there are several local FringeFests coming up that are worthy contenders. image by Eva Surany

The New York International Fringe Festival has been around since 1997, and coming up this August 14th - 30th, 2009, some of the top theater groups and independent performers in the world will converge in our frontyard for our entertainment. And this year, among the groups juried in, will be a contingent from Mercer County Community College.

"1-900-SELFPLEX," written by MCCC adjunct instructor Alex DeFazio and directed by Jody Person (coordinator of the college’s Theatre/Dance program) features 3 recent graduates of the MCCC Theatre Program: Deena Jiles, Patrick Martin and Michelle Wood in the feature roles. A 2009 graduate of the college, Eva Surany, is doing ad design for the production and Bob Terrano (coordinator of the college’s Entertainment Technology program) is the technical director. It will premiere on August 17 at The Studio at Cherry Lane Theatre. For tickets, additional times, and ticket information, check out the NYFringe schedule.

The Philly Fringe will be coming up September 4 - 19, so I'll post more on them later in the summer. If you haven't made it to a Fringe Festival yet, you owe it to yourself to start checking out these packed full schedules and planning a couple of visits.