The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a

fringe theater 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 ...

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 several neighborhoods in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, notably the Lower East Side, the East Village, and

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Most of the venues were centered on the FringeHUB. Yearly attendance topped 75,000 people.

Festival

Unlike most Fringe festivals, FringeNYC uses a jury-based selection process. Around 200 shows, out of a much larger pool of applicants, are selected for inclusion each year. However, from 2018 the Festival reduced the number of shows. The festival was founded in 1997 by Aaron Beall, John Clancy, Jonathan Harris (also known as

Ezra Buzzington Ezra Buzzington is an American character actor in film and television. A figure in underground cinema, Buzzington is also the founder of the Seattle Fringe Festival and co-founder of the New York International Fringe Festival. Career With ov ...

), and (current Artistic Director) Elena K. Holy, and is produced by The Present Company. Notable shows that premiered at FringeNYC include ''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bu ...

'', ''

Dog Sees God ''Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead'' is a play written by Bert V. Royal. An "unauthorized continuation," the play reimagines characters from the popular comic strip '' Peanuts'' as degenerate teenagers. Drug use, child sexual ab ...

'', the musical adaptation of ''

Debbie Does Dallas ''Debbie Does Dallas'' is a 1978 pornographic film starring Bambi Woods. The plot of the film focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas to try out for the famous "Texas Cowgirl ...

'', and the American English-language premiere of ''

The Black Rider ''The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets'' is a self-billed "musical fable" in the avant-garde tradition created through the collaboration of theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Tom Waits, and writer William S. Burroughs. Wi ...

''. Other feature shows included

Charlie Victor Romeo ''Charlie Victor Romeo'' is a 1999 play, and later a 2013 film based on the play, whose script consists of almost-verbatim transcripts from six real aviation accidents and incidents. "Charlie Victor Romeo," or CVR, derived from the aviation phon ...

, which premiered at New York Lower East Side theatre Collective:Unconscious. FringeNYC includes many component events, such as FringeU (educational events), FringeART (art events), FringeAL FRESCO (free outdoor performances), and FringeJR (children's events). At the conclusion of the festival out of 200 shows, around 20 shows are selected to participate in the FringeNYC Encore Series which runs for an additional two weeks in September. The festival went on hiatus in 2017 to revise its format and develop ambitious long-term plans. It ran in the fall of 2018 and 2019 with fewer performances and smaller venues, and included performances in the outer boroughs. After the 2019 festival, there was no further activity. The website was taken down in May 2021.

References

External links

*
NYCFringeGuide.com
*

Festival

See also

References

External links

Further reading