For eleven days, San Francisco's Union Square will be blazing with live art. The Sixth Annual San Francisco Fringe Festival, will take place in five theatres, each in walking distance from one another, in San Francisco's Union Square theatre district, September 4-14.

This year, the non-curated, non-censored festival will include 260 performances, all under 60 minutes, by 50 theatre companies from around the world. The theatrical styles range from straight drama, comedy and dance, to avant-garde, experimental and magic, to works that "defy categorization."

With cabarets, contests, and improvs, no performance in the entire festival costs more than $8, and all revenues go to the performers.

This year's line-up includes entrants from Tokyo, London, Kiev, Montreal and the Canadian Yukon. There'll be a children's musical based on the "Babar The Elephant" stories, a campy Norma Desmond Stratagem, a satirical Celestial Congress, and a Ukranian troupe offering The Old Women.

The Sixth Annual San Francisco Fringe Festival, Sept. 4-14 takes place at five theatres, among them: The EXIT Theatre, 156 Eddy St., The EXIT Stage Left, 156 Eddy St., and The Shelton , 533 Sutter St (lower level). Tickets are $8 max and available at the door only. For information and further listings, call (415) 673-3847. --By Blair Glaser and David Lefkowitz