Chicago Fringe Festival was an annual performing arts festival showcasing traditional and non-traditional performances. CFF aimed to provide a space for artists to produce shows that would not otherwise be seen and a festival that was accessible to everyone.
History
All
Fringe Festival
Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fre ...
s trace their roots to the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
which began in 1947.
After producing shows at the
New York International Fringe Festival
The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across seve ...
and
Minnesota Fringe Festival
The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, every summer, usually during the first two weeks in August. The eleven-day event, which features performing artists of many genres and dis ...
, Executive Producer Sarah Mikayla Brown (previously Managing Director of
Tantalus Theatre Group) wanted to bring that kind of "glorious chaos" to Chicago. Chicago Fringe Festival was founded on December 30, 2008.
The inaugural festival attracted 156 applicants. A total of 46 groups (23 local and 23 non-local) performed in eight non-traditional venues in
Pilsen in September, 2010. After three years in Pilsen, CFF moved to Jefferson Park for the 2013 festival.
The festival ended programming in 2019 after 10 years of performances.
Past performers
*
Barrel of Monkeys Productions
* Duplicity Ensemble
* Instinct Theatre
* The League of Miscreants
* Mari DeOleo
* New Light Theatre Project
*
Oracle Productions
* Our Fair City
* Po' Chop
* Rebecca Kling
* Royal Kung Foolery
* Spartan Theatre Company
References
External links
*
United States Association of Fringe's Official Website
{{Fringe festivals in North America
Fringe festivals in the United States
Festivals in Chicago
Festivals established in 2009
2009 establishments in Illinois