Mark your calendars—Capital Fringe starts up this week. For the next three weeks and change, theater venues across the District will feature shows every night but Monday. About 70 percent of this year’s participating artists are from the D.C. region. The annual festival has grown in recent years, and we want to make it easier for you to navigate Fringe. So, we’re teaming up with DC Metro Theater Arts and DC Theatre Scene, who are dispatching reviewers to cover all of the shows in the festival. Here’s a look at some great ways to dip your toes in Fringe during its first week.

TUESDAY, JULY 9

Controversial storyteller Mike Daisey has already started his 18-chapter performance of A People’s History, his show based on Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. Tuesday’s show is titled “Chapter 6: The Other Civil War.” While your first ticket to one of his performances costs $35, all subsequent tickets cost $20. DC Metro Theater Arts has been posting daily dispatches from the show, which the website has given five stars and named among its “Best of Fringe.” (8 p.m. at Cradle – Arena Stage)

The title of the play Shakespeare’s Worst is a reference to the famed playwright’s least beloved work, Two Gentlemen of Verona. The family-friendly comedy comes from Simpsons writer and showrunner Mike Reiss and Nick Newlin, a local clown and writer. The show is part of the Fringe Curated series. (8:15 p.m. at Strawberry – Arena Stage)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10

If you’re a fan of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, you might enjoy this twist on the classic tale. Our Town Plus Zombies tackles what life would be like if the industrial waste of Grover’s Corners awakened the dead. Fortunately, “Sam Craig, Professor Willard, and George Gibbs are on the case.” (6:30 p.m. at Pineapple – Riverside Baptist Church)

She Sings Light explores life in a post-apocalyptic world, where light and warmth are hard to find. But a solo traveler finds the solution, “using poetry, sound, movement, and light” to restore the earth. Claudia Rosales Waters’ play is also a part of the Fringe Curated series. (6 p.m. at Strawberry – Arena Stage)

THURSDAY, JULY 11

Passing is a drama written by John Sowalsky that follows three generations of women affected by the Holocaust as they grapple with antisemitism between 1945 and 2020. It tackles themes of persecution, identity, forgiveness, and justice.  (6:30 p.m. at Pineapple – Riverside Baptist Church)

Tara Lake presents a one-woman show titled I Know It Was the Blood: The Totally True Adventures of a Newfangled Black Woman. Weaving together church conventions, Sundays with the family, and extravagant reunions, this show celebrates of southern roots, queer identity, and one family’s love. (7:45 p.m. at Crocodile – Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church)

FRIDAY, JULY 12

Magic tricks, lies, and mind-reading—if you’re a fan of the unknown, this show is for you. A Gentleman & a Liar features master magician Mark Phillips and mentalist Brian Curry. (8:15 p.m. at Spider – Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church)

If you thought your own family Thanksgiving dinner was a tense event, you haven’t seen Thanksgiving at Macbeth’s. The show is a reworking of 10 of Shakespeare’s plays and 41 characters, inspired by “the reality-television art form.” (8:30 p.m. at Peacock – Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church)

SATURDAY, JULY 13

Erick Acuña’s one-man show, Acuña Acuna, explores his life in America as a Peruvian immigrant, using comedy and song to tackle some of Acuña’s hardest moments in a light-hearted way. In a first look from DC Theatre Scene, he says that the play features a mix of everything—“from filling out a medical form in English or never trying homemade chocolate cookies, to what is was like to be a 14 year-old kid living in the middle of a war.” (12 p.m. at Cherry – Westminster Presbyterian Church)

In this performance of EyeSOAR, presented by Jane Franklin Dance, longtime residents of an industrial town wrestle with coming changes to their neighborhood. The show hits close to home, focusing on the arrival of Amazon’s HQ2 in Northern Virginia. The performance is a multi-disciplinary event, featuring interviews with Arlington residents, dance, video, and more. (5:45 p.m. at Peacock – Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church)

SUNDAY, JULY 14

We’re All Going to Fucking Die! gets straight to the point—“this shit’s gonna end one day, so celebrate life right now.” Sex and relationship educator Twanna Hines tackles the trials and tribulations of modern life in this one-woman show. (12:30 p.m. at Plum – Arena Stage)

Capital Fringe lasts through July 28. Single tickets ($20) and multi-show passes can be purchased online, in-person at venue box offices, or over the phone.

Previously:

Capital Fringe 2019 Has 90 (!) Shows. We’re Especially Excited About These Five