Capital Fringe Festival, one of the D.C. region’s quirkiest — and most beloved — annual performing arts festivals is back for its 16th run, boasting affordable ticket prices and dozens of original plays from fresh names and veterans of the local theater scene.

For the second year in a row, the festival will return to Georgetown, this time bringing 28 shows and more than 130 individual performances to two vacant office spaces on Thomas Jefferson St NW, where Fringe has set up four separate stages. Fringe will also stage 15 productions at Theater J and Cafritz Hall, part of The Edlavitch Jewish Community Center (these numbers are still a bit lower than the last pre-pandemic Fringe in 2019, which had 90 productions).

The 12-day program, running from July 12-23, marks the ongoing relationship between Capital Fringe and the Georgetown Business Improvement District (BID) that began last year, when Fringe returned from a two-year pandemic hiatus. The BID reached out to offer vacant retail space for Fringe to host its shows, helping solve a years-long problem of finding affordable space for the festival’s productions. Fringe generally tries to keep tickets affordable and also generate revenue for its participating artists — $2.4 million across its previous 15 festivals, according to the website.

“The Fringe Festival returning is nothing short of a miracle,” Fringe’s founding director, Julianne Brienza, said in a press release last year.

Most of the writers, producers, actors, and crew — 75%, per a press release — are from the D.C. area.

“This year’s productions open up an exploration into an array of human experiences, ranging from the tragic Knickerbocker Theatre collapse to lighthearted brunch humor, from grappling with dementia and skin cancer to the comedic relief of stand-up performances,” reads the release. “There is a new two-person Romeo & Juliet and stories influenced by indigenous, Black, queer, and femme perspectives to a musical deep dive into legends of bluegrass music.”

The festival’s theme is “When life gives you lemons” — fittingly, lemonade will be served at all venues throughout the festival. In keeping with the zesty theme, the festival stages will have names like “Rind” and “Squirt” (nope, not kidding).

On Friday and Saturday evenings during the festival run, Fringe will host a community bar space right along the C&O Canal at event space Powerhouse (3255 Grace St NW), offering food and beverages as well as live music.

There will be a preview night offering more information on June 23, as well as a closing night party and award show on July 23.

Fringe will post the full festival schedule with a list of shows on June 21, when tickets will go on sale. Tickets will cost $15, plus a $2.51 handling fee.

Correction: This story previously stated that this is only the second year Capital Fringe has hosted a community bar space — it has hosted a similar space for most of the festival’s history.