The San Francisco Fringe Festival, an international theatre extravaganza once home to such fancifully titled fare as Antonio Sacre's My Penis -- In and Out of Trouble and Doctor Emile's Theatre Tremendo's It Came From Beneath the Kilt!!!, ends its tenth year in the City by the Bay Sept. 16. The Festival, which began Sept. 6, featured over 53 separate productions including Liebe Wetzel's Brace Yourself It's Polio, Tiny Tuna Theatre's sex-filled sci-fi comedy Beaverzilla, Pauper Etiquette's The Condom, the Cucumber and the Girl From Ipanema and Sara DeWitt's The Last Smoker in Berkeley.

An international and national Fringe Festival, San Francisco plays host to companies from around the world and around the States. Among the foreign entries are England's Fleshpuppets with Charlie's Angel, Spinning Wheel's Farewell to the Flesh and Yarn Productions adaptation of Heart of Darkness as well as Canada's Wee Theatre performing By a Thread. American companies include Texas' Gypsy Baby with Loose Woman, Alaska's Barbara Brown in A Little Bit Pregnant and New York's 3 Noses Theater Company with The Macy's Account and Elisa DeCarlo in Toasted.

The Bay Area's own Stark Ravens Historical Players present Alice in Wonderland, while Kaliyuga Arts stages The Pilgrim Project and Theatre Au Naturel, What Big Teeth You Have! or Little Red Bites Back.

The Bring-Your-Own-Venue shows, created for those pieces whose length or technical requirements would not allow their involvement in the Fringe, are Unconditional Theatre's outdoor staging of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story, Ghost Town's sci-fi love story set underwater The Queen's Rain and Mark Kenward's The Yoga of Moby Dick.

Tickets are $8. All Fringe theatres are located in downtown San Francisco. For reservations, call (415) 931-1094. The San Francisco Fringe is on the web at http://www.sffringe.org. — By Christine Ehren