Decade-Old New York International Fringe Festival Kicks Off Summer 2006, Aug. 11

By Ernio Hernandez
11 Aug 2006

An assortment of images from this year's Fringe selections.
An assortment of images from this year's Fringe selections.

The New York International Fringe Festival launches its 10th anniversary season Aug. 11 at various downtown venues, celebrating its decade-long presence with a crop of new works as well as some of the fest's greatest hits.

Produced by The Present Company, the event is headed up by producing artistic director Elena K. Holy. FringeNYC shows and events will take place over two weeks, as usual, and will include artists from around the world. The schedule ends Aug. 27.

For its special anniversary, the Fringe welcomes back 10 productions which played in previous years, including 24 is 10: The Best of The 24 Hour Plays, Americana Absurdum, Complete Lost Works…Samuel Beckett, Minimum Wage: Blue Code Ringo, Never Swim Alone, Pith!, The Bicycle Men, The Pumpkin Pie Show: la petite mortes, Todd Robbins' Carnival Knowledge and Tuesdays and Sundays.

As is tradition, among the more than 200 works are some attention-grabbing titles — some political, some naughty, some long and some all in capitals. Some eye-catching shows are:

  • An Off-White Afternoon
  • Anna and The Annadroids: The Robots Dream Tour
  • Aspiration: Housewife
  • Big Doolie
  • BLUE BALLS: In & Out of Uniform with the NYPD
  • Breathe... Or You Can Die!
  • Don't Spit the Water!
  • Eenie Meanie
  • Fatboy Romeo
  • Fornicationally Challenged
  • HA! HA! Club
  • Happy Sauce
  • I Coulda Been A Kennedy
  • I Was Tom Cruise
  • My Nasty Bitch Wife
  • Reservoir Bitches
  • soledad.es
  • Some Kind of Pink Breakfast
  • Take On Me (adoption, addiction, and a-ha)
  • The Armageddon Dance Party
  • The Fartiste
  • The Geranium on the Window Sill Just Died
  • The Impotence of Being Earnest
  • The Inconstant Infection
  • The Kitchen Sink
  • The Penguin Tango
  • The RABBI and the CHEERLEADER
  • This Won't Take Long

    As previous alumnus Urinetown did, a number of shows announce their genre within their name, including:
  • ...categories (a simple play)
  • Band Geeks: A Halftime Musical
  • Fear Up: Stories from Guantanamo and Baghdad
  • HENRY KISSINGER-A ROMANTIC COMEDY
  • i want to be MUSASHI: a clown samurai fantasy
  • It's a Hit (A Killer New Musical)
  • Melo-llama: A Melodrama
  • MUSCLE-MAN vs. SKELETONMAN: A Love Story... the musical
  • Nutmeat: A Burlesque Fairytale
  • Plugged: A Rock Opera
  • Suicide, The Musical
  • The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos
  • The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Romantic Comedy
  • The Tell-Tale Heart - a musicabre

    And, the standard lengthily-monikered shows feature:

  • Harriet Hopperdoodle's Hair-Brained History Test!
  • I'LL SELL THE HOUSE IN WHICH I CAN LIVE NO MORE
  • Imminent, Indeed (or Polly Peachum's Peculiar Penchant for Plosives)
  • Moral Values: A Grand Farce or Me No Likey The Homo Touch Touch

    Ticket sales are on par with the 2005 Fringe NYC which took in just under $25,000 (all at $15 per ticket) in its first 24 hours. With a growing track record, Fringe NYC has churned out such shows as Off-Broadway's Debbie Does Dallas, Never Swim Alone, 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, Matt & Ben, The Joys of Sex and Dog Sees God. The most successful show to come from the downtown exhibitor is Urinetown — which graduated to Off-Broadway, then Broadway and has since toured across the country.

    Since its inception in 1996, FringeNYC has been joined by other theatre festivals in New York City: the Midtown International Theatre Festival, the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, the Summer Play Festival and the New York Musical Theatre Festival among them.

    For more information including schedule, production details and volunteer info, call (212) 279-4488 or visit www.FringeNYC.org.