Version 4.0 of the Capital Fringe Festival was supposed to get smaller, like the microchip, but instead it got bigger, like the American waistline. This year’s incarnation of the (largely) unjuried freakfest, which kicks off one week from today, will boast a super-sized lineup of more than 120 shows, sayeth Julianne Brienza, Fringe’s executive director. At a lengthy press conference/preview at RFD in Chinatown last night, Fringe organizers gave an overview of Fringe ‘09’s improvements over past iterations before ceding the stage to teaser performances from about two dozen of the acts on the bill.

Chief among those improvements: Geographic harmony. The five locations that will host Fringe performances this year are all within a few blocks of one another. Here’s a map. So if you’re settling in for an afternoon and/or evening of experimental theater, you can spend your ‘tween-show breaks at what’s now being called the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar rather than on the Metro.