Fifteenth annual Fringe Festival features many shows that take aim at pop culture
Multiple downtown venues
August 12-28, $15
Fiver Pass (any five shows): $70, Flex Pass (any ten shows): $120, Lunatic Pass: $500
www.fringenyc.org
The fifteenth annual New York International Fringe Festival is another mélange of nearly two hundred serious, wacky, and cutting-edge theatrical productions, held in eighteen downtown venues August 12-28. The first thing we always do when looking at the lineup is scan for the craziest titles, and here are some of this year’s gems: All Atheists Are Muslim, Anna & the Annadroids: Memoirs of a Robot Girl, Bad Arm — Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer, The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady, Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies, Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!, Carnival Knowledge: Love, Lust, and Other Human Oddities, Epic Win Burlesque Presents the Star Wars Debate: Trek vs. Wars, Em O’Loughlin Was a Big Fatty Boombah!, Flaccid Penis Seeks Vaginal Dryness, I Light Up My Life: The Mark Sam Celebrity Autobiography, and Jersey Shoresical: A Frickin’ Rock Opera, and that’s barely the first third of the alphabet. In addition, FringeJR features family-friendly shows, FringeAL Fresco presents Much Ado About Nothing outdoors for free, and FringeCLUB hosts the Variety Power Hour at the Bowery Poetry Club. Tickets for all shows are a mere fifteen bucks, so pick a few plays and enjoy this always engaging festival.