4th Annual Atlanta Fringe Festival Kicks Off This Weekend

The Atlanta Fringe Festival is proud to return to East Atlanta for the fourth consecutive year, once again bringing hundreds of local and national performers together for a four day celebration of live performances from all over the theatrical spectrum. This year's productions run a wild gamut, from family-friendly cabaret to puppetry, modern dance, aerial acrobatics, satirical comedy and everything in between, featuring a dozen companies from the Atlanta area. The festival is set to run today, June 4-7, 2015.

This year the Fringe is introducing a new feature for the artists: cash prizes for the favorite shows as selected by the audience, staff and a panel of judges from the Atlanta arts community. These include a $500 Critics Panel Choice, a $200 Producer's Award (chosen by the Fringe staff) and $150 awards for audience picks in the categories of Solo/Small Group and Ensemble Performance.

Per Festival's tradition, the 20 productions were selected via random, unjuried lottery -- literally pulled out of a hat -- from a pool of over 40 submissions from 9 different states. This year's lineup, with many productions based right here in the Atlanta area, features 7 companies returning for their second and in some cases third trip to the festival. This year's venues, all located in East Atlanta, include 7 Stages (returning as the Festival's headquarters), the Highland Ballroom, the International Montessori Academy and the Marianna event space at Wrecking Bar Brewpub.

"We're so excited to have so many familiar faces back, especially now that we can give back so much more to them through cash prizes and a larger share of the box office," says Festival Executive Director Diana Brown. "Our top priority has always been taking care of our artists however we can, so being in a place where we can put more dollar bills in their pockets really feels like an accomplishment."

In addition to the live performances, the Atlanta Fringe will once again feature their audio component: Fringe Audio. The only podcasting network of its kind on the fringe circuit, Fringe Audio will feature pieces of storytelling and radio theatre, most of them world premieres, submitted by local and national artists. The shows will be available for streaming via AtlantaFringe.org throughout the festival and will be completely free. This year's entrants include a healthy representation from Atlanta's live lit community, including Myke Johns of Write Club Atlanta and Jack Walsh, winner of the 2015 Creative Loafing Fiction Contest. Fringe Audio will be kicked off at a Fringe-themed edition of the popular storytelling series Carapace, Tuesday May 26 at Manuel's Tavern.

More information, including advanced ticketing opportunities and company information for the 20 productions in this year's festival, can be found at www.AtlantaFringe.org

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