SEATTLE -- The longest running Fringe Theatre festival in the U.S., Seattle's 8th Annual Fringe Theatre Festival, this year dubbed "Naked Fringe" kicks off Sat. Mar. 7. with a day of preliminary activities heralding the actual festival which runs Mar. 12-22. A parade featuring 250 Fringe theatre artists and supporters in costume begins at 10 AM at 1st and Pike in the Pike Place market, continues up Pike, turns Left on Broadway to Pine St., stopping on the bricks of Broadway Performance Hall. The BPH also houses the Fringe Box Office that opens at noon. There will be proclamations from major personages, including the Governor, the King County executive, the Mayor, and the festival mascot, A naked chicken.

Also starting at noon there are show previews every 10 minutes, free inside the Performance Hall. With 90 theatre companies doing 518 performances at 11 venues, "Naked Fringe" promises to be quite an event. More Fringe news to follow here at Playbill On-Line.

-- By David-Edward Hughes
Seattle Correspondent