Atlanta Fringe Festival Returns With Live Performances in May

Ten years after its founding, the Atlanta Fringe Festival's latest installment will be its biggest and most ambitious outing yet, with 20 performance groups from around the country putting up live theatre, dance, puppetry, comedy, storytelling and more across five venues throughout four jam-packed days. This year's festival will also feature a free performance venue for family-friendly shows and activities, a variety benefit featuring local Atlanta talent, and a new season of audio artists whose work will be available exclusively via the Atlanta Fringe podcasting network. There's something for everyone at this year's festival, which takes place from May 16-22 at venues in and around Little Five Points and Candler Park.

"It's such a thrill to be back in in-person performances for the 10th birthday of the festival," says Executive Director Diana Brown. "Every year has been special and rewarding in its own way, and getting to look back on a decade of bringing so many incredible artists together in this city, and being able to celebrate that all together again, is really something special. We're pumped!"

The 20 companies from 7 different states that make up this year's lineup were primarily chosen, per festival tradition, via an unjuried lottery - literally pulled out of a hat from a pool of around 100 global submissions. As in years past, the 10th Atlanta Fringe Festival will boast live performances from across the theatrical spectrum, from avant garde puppetry to ensemble comedies, storytelling, dance, and circus arts. Festival artists will be eligible for cash prizes for the favorite shows in various categories as selected by the audience, staff and a panel of judges from the Atlanta arts community.

This year's festival will take place in traditional and converted performing spaces in and around Little Five Points and Candler Park, including 7 Stages, The Marianna at Wrecking Bar Brewpub, and Neighborhood Church.

In addition to the live performance core of the festival, there are some great extra features:

FREE family-friendly performances at Marianna. These will feature puppetry, storytelling, games, crafts and more, featuring shows appropriate for children ages 3 and up, Saturday May 21 starting at 10:00 AM. A full, updated schedule of performers can be found at AtlantaFringe.org.

FREE preview performance at 7 Stages. All 20 shows will get 3 minutes each to wow the audience at 7 Stages, Wednesday May 18 at 8:00 PM. This is a great way to get to know all the artists and is usually a standing-room-only event.

Benefit show - Five/5ths of Back the Future. The Festival kicks off by chopping up the classic movie Back to the Future into five parts and having them interpreted by five very different Atlanta performance troupes. This benefit performance will take place Monday May 16 at 8:00 PM at 7 Stages.

Further, the Atlanta Fringe is dedicated to preserving the health and safety of their artists, staff, and audience, so special attention will be paid to recommendations and regulations put in place by the CDC and the City of Atlanta regarding masking and social distancing (including moving some events to a virtual format, if necessary.) Already, the Festival has required all performers to provide proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests in order to participate, so that everyone can spend the week partying as safely as possible.

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 starting on May 1 and will be completely free, with a $100 cash prize offered to the winner of the Critics' Choice Award, recognizing excellence in podcast production.

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