The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in New York, will present the 20th Anniversary Festival from August 12 - 28, 2016.
This year the festival will present programming by 194 of the world's best emerging theatre troupes and dance companies. Shows will be presented in 16 venues in downtown Manhattan. With attendance topping 75,000 people, FringeNYC is New York City's fifth largest event (just behind New York International Auto Show, Tribeca Film Festival, New York City Marathon, and New York Comic Con).
At press time, two performances have sold out their entire run: Everything Is Fine Until It's Not and The Thing That Never Happened. Everything Is Fine Until It's Not, which sold out on Monday, now holds the record for fastest sell-out in FringeNYC history.
Shows with individual performances that have sold out include: Black & Blue, Fresh Meat, Rent Control, and The Secret Life of Your Third Grade Teacher.
Other shows leading the pack in overall ticket sales include: From the Deep, Girls Will Be Girls, Movin' On Up, Murder at the Food Coop, Red Devil Moon, The Fall, To Protect the Poets, Walken On Sunshine, and Zuccotti Park.
FringeNYC is a production of The
Present Company, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Elena K. Holy. In 1997, New York City became the seventh US city to host a fringe festival, joining Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston, Orlando and San Francisco. FringeNYC has presented over 3000 performing groups representing every continent, prompting Switzerland's national daily, The New Zurich Zeitung, to declare FringeNYC as "the premiere meeting ground for alternative artists." It has been the launching pad for numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers, long-running downtown hits, and regional
Theater Productions including Urinetown, Matt & Ben, Debbie Does Dallas, Dog Sees God, Brandon Teena, Dixie's Tupperware Party, The Irish Curse, Jurassic Parq and Silence! The Musical; movies including WTC View and Armless; and even a TV show ('da Kink in My Hair). The festival has also presented the New York premiere of new plays by
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa,
Rolin Jones,
Edna Walsh,
David Greenspan,
Arlene Hutton,
Daniel MacIvor,
Conor McPherson, and
Mike Daisey, among others. Other FringeNYC alumni include
Bradley Cooper,
Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory),
Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me, CNN's Inside Man),
Mindy Kaling, Tony Award winner
Diane Paulus (Pippin),
Leigh Silverman (Violet), W. Kamau Bell (Totally Biased),
Michael Urie (Ugly Betty),
David Anders (iZombie) and
Kristen Schall (Last Man on Earth), among countless other success stories.
FringeNYC shows run 2pm - midnight weekdays and noon - midnight on weekends. Tickets are $18 each ($13 for kids under 12 for FringeJR shows only), available at
www.FringeNYC.org. Discount passes for multiple shows (including the Fiver and the all-you-can-see Lunatic Pass) are also available. For more information visit
www.FringeNYC.org.
