Fringe is coming to Atlanta

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By Aaron Childers - email

ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -

Want to see original and uncensored theatrical works? The first annual Atlanta Fringe Festival will be here May 9th through the 13th.

This five-day extravaganza will take place in five locations around Atlanta and will feature 25 eclectic performances by artists from here as well as around the country, and even from Italy.

The "Fringe" mission is to provide an accessible outlet for all manner of performing artists who may not otherwise be able to produce or present their work. This can range from solo performance to spoken word, modern dance to cabaret, or comedic to dramatic productions.

Festivals like this provide these underrepresented artists opportunities to get their work in front of appreciative audiences, to network with other artists from across the country, and to even earn money from their craft, as they get to keep the majority of revenue from the sale of tickets to their shows.

The "Fringe" movement began in 1947 when eight performance groups, excluded from the invitation-only Edinburgh International Festival, showed up to perform along the festival's outer edges.

In 1959, the Festival Fringe Society was formed to give a name to the groups of artists who would just show up and perform year after year.

Fringe caught on and cities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Hungary and elsewhere, including the United States, all have their own Fringe Festivals.

Atlanta is now joining the U.S. Fringe circuit that includes other notable cities like Orlando, New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago.

Atlanta Fringe Festival Inaugural Lineup

*Production Company*	*From*	*Performance Genre*
Bottled Lightning	Atlanta	Drama
NOCO/fresNO dance COllective	California	Modern Dance
The Adventures of Les Kurkendaal	California	Spoken Word, Storytelling
Princess Dragon Productions	North Carolina	Solo
Tonya Jone Miller	Oregon	Solo Drama
OnStage Atlanta	Atlanta	Dark Comedy, Satire
Twinhead Theatre	Atlanta	Comedy
Purple Crush Productions	New York	Solo
O.C.I. Entertainment, LLC	Maryland	Solo
Thimblerig Circus	Atlanta	Circus, Clowning
The Circle Ensemble Theatre	Athens, GA	Drama
Twilight Productions	Indiana	Spoken Word, Storytelling
Fish and Bicycle Theatre Co.	New York	Physical Theatre
55BC	Tennessee	Cabaret, Variety
Suburban Vampire Productions	Atlanta	Solo
Beth Marshall Presents	Tennessee	Cabaret, Variety
Red Button Productions	Atlanta	Modern Dance
The W Projects	North Carolina	Modern Dance
Mixed Revues	Atlanta	Drama
Nick Shackleford Productions	Virginia	Classical Drama
Performance Gallery	Ohio	Performance Art, Poetry
Sara L. Gammaro	Italy	Opera
Hot Toddies Flaming Cabaret	Atlanta	Cabaret, Variety
Sobers & Godley	New York	Modern Dance, Musical Theatre
The Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure!	Minnesota	Solo Comedy

Festival venues are Beacon Dance, COREDance, Horizons School, The Mask Center, and WonderRoot.

Tickets will be $10 per performance, plus a one-time purchase of a $3 Fringe button. Buttons and tickets go on sale in March.

The Atlanta Fringe Festival is produced by Twinhead Theatre, a 501(c)(3), and is sponsored by Ambient Plus Studio, AM1690 The Voice of the Arts, Cherry DelRosario Designs, Creative Loafing, East Atlanta Copy Center, MINT Gallery, Scoutmob, Tex's Tacos, and WonderRoot.

Learn more about the Atlanta Fringe Festival at http://www.atlantafringe.org/.

CBS Atlanta 46Fringe is coming to Atlanta

Fringe is coming to Atlanta