The Capital Fringe Festival starts its sixth year this Thursday with over one hundred productions being performed at venues all over the city. Fringe is an opportunity for actors and production companies to get a moment in the limelight — whether they’re unknowns or big players doing some experimenting — and for arts-goers to see lots of theater for relatively little money. It’s an insane mix of genres and quality, and the most interesting gamble in town.
Tickets are a flat $17, plus a one-time $7 fee for the Fringe button, required for admission to all shows. Those of you who plan to see multiple shows should look into festival passes, ranging from $60 for four tickets to $300 for an all-access pass. You can also stop by the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent during the festival run for free music and events, or just hang out with a beer and hob-nob with Fringe actors and staff.
Last Friday, the Festival held their annual opening party and preview event, with a short sampling from about 30 offerings in the catalog that we culled through for you below. We’ve also spread our DCist writers all over town to give you quickie reviews over the next two weeks, so keep an eye on our Capital Fringe coverage for tips on how best to play your chips this year.
Promising Bets: These previews hit all the right notes and left us wanting more.
>> T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! — The grins that Kimleigh Smith in her cheerleader outfit brought to the audiences’ faces were as wide as her impressive jump splits. We’re not sure if a full 60 minutes might get wearisome, but something tells us her energy stays infectious throughout this road-to-womanhood show.
>> Pascal’s Aquarium — If you’re that guy who’s excitedly clicked “Share” in your RSS reader on every single new Muppets movie trailer that comes out (for real, stop), you’re probably the audience for Pascal’s Aquarium. These 12 puppet animals sing and dance in a restaurant’s “upscale fish tank” as the lobster Augustine embarks on an adventure.
>> for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf — In just a few words, these ladies made it clear this is a well-produced play with confident actors. Hear their “tales of women in all the shades of life’s experiences” through poetry and dance.
>> Assembly Required: Comedy from A to Y — Rob and Flick are kind of a riff off SNL’s Hans and Franz, but with less weightlifting and more spittakes. You’re required to attend this assembly and learn everything you ever wanted to know about comedy.
>> The Beasts — This puppet show centers around a mysterious gathering of animals and seems to have enough humor to take the audience down the deeper “who are really the animals, us or them?” path.
Need More Information: It’s admittedly difficult to deliver a real feel for your production in 2 to 5 minutes. The following are entries we’d recommend giving a try if you find yourself with a free evening.
>> Priscilla Dreams the Answer — The company did a “quickie summary” during the preview instead of a scene snippet, but I think the full 80 minutes are needed to find out if Priscilla’s alien contact and quest to save the world is as fun as it sounds.
>> Illuminate: A Martial Arts Experience — I suspect it might be more interesting to watch this team of black belts perform under lights and not via LED gloves and footware in total darkness. Still not sure if this will be Karate Kid or Lightsaber Kid.
>> Destination? Slammer! — Nationally acclaimed storyteller Geraldine Buckley tells about her “true adventures” that lead to becoming a chaplain at a maximum security prison in Maryland. I have no idea what “her stories are pilates for the funny bone” means, but I suspect the story is interesting enough to find out.
The Absurd, When Vulgarity is Seen as Substitute for Clever Writing, and Other Risky Bets: Or, “It’s not a boring period piece; we say fuck and cocksucker all the time.”
>> The Super Spectacular Dada Adventures of Hugo Ball — The appropriately named Pointless Theatre Co. produces this piece of absurdism on the life of Hugo Ball. Those who favor normal narrative should pass, but we suspect the unabashed weirdos might pull this one out for an hour of WTF-style entertainment.
>> On the Rag to Riches — A young woman sticks maxi pads to the stage and makes jokes about how great it is to be a woman because we can blame our personality disorders on PMS, as she “tries to figure out why she cannot have a healthy relationship.” I wonder how that goes.
>> The Storehouse — The aforementioned it’s-not-boring-because-we-say-cocksucker piece. YMMV.
>> An Adult Evening With Shel Silverstein — This production might pull through to something fun as long as it’s more than a woman yelling, “you think the Koreans fucked you in the ass!” over and over and over.
>> A Day at the Museum — The summary’s intriguing: a wordless comedy from the point of view (literally) of a nude painting hanging in a gallery “watching” the art-goers. However, five minutes of preview can best be described by my tablemate who leaned over and whispered, “Jesus, do you think the whole play is like this?”
