Men and women can be lovers, but can they truly be friends? Yes, they can...at least in the special relationship Kate Nugent and Joe Salvatore celebrate in fag/hag, playing the New York City Fringe Festival Aug. 16-24 at Charas/El Bohio.

Using real-life interviews and stories, Nugent and Salvatore created a performance piece highlighting the "other" relationship between men and women, that of a gay man and straight woman. Comic and serious, fag/hag follows the men and women who spend night after night gossiping on the phone, cruising for men together and dancing the late hours away in clubs. A retro and contemporary disco soundtrack accompanies the two-person piece.

Nugent co-authored Emily Unplugged and The Mad Dad Show. She currently teaches and works with Massachusett's Sleeveless Theatre.

Tickets are $12. Charas/El Bohio's Teatro 214 is located at 605 East 9th Street.For information and reservations, call (212) 420-8877 or (888) FringeNYC. The New York International Fringe Festival is on the web at http://www.fringenyc.org.

-- By Christine Ehren