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Capital Fringe Festival extension week has arrived, with additional performances for some of the lineup’s most discussed performances. Here’s what’s worth seeing and when.
THURSDAY, JULY 27
OUR PICK: Abortion Road Trip got some attention early on for attracting anti-abortion protesters outside the festival headquarters. But ultimately this poignant, uproarious show triumphs over that controversy, and earned this year’s Best Comedy award from the Fringe audience. The performance lives up to the hype. (5 p.m.; Logan Fringe Arts Space)
RUNNER-UP: If you’re looking for a slightly more fanciful comedy experience, I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is! might be for you. From the team behind last year’s Amelia Earhart…In Space! comes a biography of the former British Prime Minister that’s … considerably less stuffy than The Iron Lady and less rigorous than a textbook, to put it very mildly. (10:45 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lab II)
ALSO PLAYING: Numesthesia; Clara Bow: Becoming ‘It’; The Regulars; Joe Charnitski’s Funeral; Wit and Wrath: The Life & Times of Dorothy Parker; Tiresias’ Tits
FRIDAY, JULY 28
It’s What We Do takes a nuanced look at Israel and Palestine. (Photo courtesy of Capital Fringe)
OUR PICK: “Nuance” isn’t a word typically associated with tensions between Israeli and Palestine. But “It’s What We Do”: A Play About the Occupation tries valiantly to put a human face on the conflict. Our Seth Rose found the show’s efforts commendable, and audiences agreed, giving it the 2017 Best Drama award. (6 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lab II)
RUNNER-UP: The Laramie Project documents the aftermath of the brutal murder of gay high school student Matthew Shepard. The Fringe revival from Tectonic Theatre Project took home this year’s Best Dance/Physical Theater award. (7 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger)
ALSO PLAYING: Paper; Wit and Wrath: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker; Numesthesia; Help Me, Wanda!; Orson the Magnificent — The Magic of Orson Welles; J-Swizzle (and D-Man’s) Epic Awesome Swaggy Broventure for Sweet Rhymes
SATURDAY, JULY 29
Exit, Pursued by a Bear seems to take its title fairly literally. (Photo courtesy of Capital Fringe)
OUR PICK: Anyone who sees Exit, Pursued by a Bear should be very afraid of scorning their spouse anytime soon. The jilted lover at the center of this show makes the title oh-so-literal for her ex-husband. The result is a “frenetically absurd” first half anchored by a slightly more somber second half, according to our Seth Rose. (6:15 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lab II)
RUNNER-UP: Nothing is more unpleasant than having a group of drinking buddies interrupt a first date. But watching someone else’s date get interrupted in The Regulars? Bring it on. (2:30 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger)
ALSO PLAYING: Wit and Wrath: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker; Orson The Magnificent — The Magic of Orson Welles; Joe Charnitski’s Funeral; 5 Epiphanies; ‘It’s What We Do’: A Play About the Occupation; Blue Over You; The Laramie Project; Help Me, Wanda!; Tiresia’s Tits; J-Swizzle (and D-Man’s) Epic Awesome Swaggy Broventure for Sweet Rhymes
SUNDAY, JULY 30
The story of a student who accuses his professor of racism plays out across multiple perspectives in Paper. (Photo courtesy of Capital Fringe)
OUR PICK: Seth Rose thought Paper — in which a female student accuses her male professor of racism, with predictably contentious results — was Fringe-tastic. (3:45 p.m.; Logan Fringe Arts Space)
RUNNER-UP: Is there any topic larger than life? I’m not being glib—there’s a Fringe show called Life: A Comic Opera in Three Short Acts, and it’s very much an ambitious undertaking. According to Julia Hurley of DC Metro Theater Arts, it’s “neither quite an opera nor a musical; it is not a really a comedy or a drama.” What is it? It’s life. (8 p.m.; Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger)
ALSO PLAYING: The Laramie Project; Exit, Pursued by a Bear; Blue Over You; Orson the Magnificent — The Magic of Orson Welles; ‘It’s What We Do’: A Play About the Occupation; Paper; Tiresia’s Tits; Joe Charnitski’s Funeral; I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is!
