Irreverence is all part of the fun at the Fringe Festival, which takes aim at contemporary society in such shows as POPE! AN EPIC MUSICAL
Multiple venues
August 13-29, $15-$18
Fiver Pass $70, Flex Pass $120, Lunatic Pass $500
www.fringenyc.org
One of our favorite things to do when the Fringe Festival, now in its fourteenth year, comes to town is to check out some of the coolest, most absurd, and craziest titles. Among the finest this time around are THE ALTOONA DADA SOCIETY PRESENTS THE VELVET GENTLEMAN, AMSTERDAM ABORTION SURVIVOR, THE BATTLE OF SPANKTOWN, HEADSCARF AND THE ANGRY BITCH, JEW WISH, MACCHIN: THE LAMENTABLE TRAGEDIE OF JAY LENO, OMARYS CONCEPCION LOPEZ PEREZ GOES TO ISRAEL (TO SPEAK TO GOD AT THE WAILING WALL), TERMS OF DISMEMBERMENT: A MUSICAL WITH HEART . . . AND OTHER BODY PARTS, and BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY, KILL KILL KILL! As always, there will also be numerous takes on Shakespeare, with this year’s victims being HAMLET, AS YOU LIKE IT, JULIUS CAESAR, and RICHARD III. Of course, the Fringe is about much more than just impressive names; it gives alternative, cutting-edge, and experimental theater a chance to shine at such downtown venues as Dixon Place, the Kraine Theater, La Mama, the Lucille Lortel Theatre, the SoHo Playhouse, HERE Arts Center, and other locations. Among the shows we’re looking forward to are Susan Dworkin’s ALL DAY SUCKERS, set in the maelstrom of the health-care system; HEARTS FULL OF BLOOD, from Chicago-based company the New Colony; Edinburgh Fringe Festival fave WEST LETHARGY, about an Old West pioneer couple on their way to California; Stephen Padilla’s political drama PICKING PALIN; Elissa Lerner’s ABRAHAM’S DAUGHTERS, which investigates interfaith dialogue; Seth Sikes’s BUNKED!, a musical following the exploits of five summer-camp counselors; and the Contasia Players’ STRANGE LOVE IN OUTER SPACE, which promises an alien princess, a mad-scientist worm, a bloodthirsty merman, and a doggish pirate.