2013 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Kicks Off Today

Taking place today, September 5-22, the 2013 Fringe Festival presented by FringeArts (formerly known as the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe) is bigger and better than ever in its 17th year, with a brand-new headquarters on the Delaware River Waterfront and 18 days of both presented and neighborhood performances in cutting-Edge Theater, dance, music, visual and multidisciplinary arts. This year's lineup of Presented Fringe includes seven International Artists, four world premieres and two reimagined productions from previous Fringe Festivals.

The 2013 Festival features a who's-who of international all-stars, including Italian contemporary artist Romeo Castellucci, Norwegian theater maker Jo Strømgren, Irish step dancer Colin Dunne, Berlin-based circus arts creator Tobias Wegner, legendary Greek director and ritualistic interpreter of ancient tragedy Theodoros Terzopoulos of Attis Theatre, British performance artist Ant Hampton and author Tim Etchells, in addition to world premieres from well-regarded Philadelphia performers BrIan Sanders and Geoff Sobelle and remounts of beloved Festival shows by Pig Iron Theatre Company and Swim Pony Performing Arts. Audiences can also expect incredible work from New York-based performers Reggie Wilson, Nature Theater of Oklahoma and S? Percussion; and a world premiere visual art project, This Is Not Theater. [Programming details follow below.]

As FringeArts continues its tradition of providing an unjuried platform for artists to develop their visions in total freedom from curatorial barriers, hundreds more artists will participate in the Neighborhood Fringe to bring their work to Festival audiences. This confluence of risk-taking, independently produced shows animates the spaces of Philadelphia and enriches the city's communities.

"The Festival is the centerpiece event of what is now our 12-month programming schedule," says FringeArts President and Producing Director Nick Stuccio. "With the opening of our new space this fall, we'll create an important new venue on the waterfront to bring the newest and most cutting-edge art to Philadelphia year-round."

Hosted in venues all over Philadelphia, including traditional theater spaces, a historic penitentiary, a library, and FringeArts' new performance space at Race Street and Columbus Boulevard, the 2013 Fringe Festival is a platform for daring and innovative artists, bringing leaders of the contemporary performing arts world to Philadelphia stages and giving local performers a chance to showcase their best work. Each year, the Festival draws tens of thousands of people who come to experience Philadelphia's thriving cultural scene and interact with hundreds of artists at thousands of performances.

Tickets to the 2013 Fringe Festival will go on sale beginning in June at FringeArts.com or via phone at 215-413-1318. Tickets to Neighborhood Fringe shows will go on sale beginning in July.

2013 FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING OVERVIEW

THEATER

[ 2013 FRINGE FESTIVAL CENTERPIECE ] Created by internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Romeo Castellucci, On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God is a visually transfixing, emotionally harrowing, deeply felt work that has stunned audiences worldwide. As the story of a man caring for his aging father unfolds on stage, followed by the powerful, multi-sensory and visceral abstractions that characterize the most boundary-pushing theater, the work explores the nature of faith and our desire to be in the presence of God.

[ LIFE-STORY MARATHON ] When New York's Nature Theater of Oklahoma asked one person to tell her life story, the company received 16 hours of raw material. The troupe has turned the transcript from this experiment into a serial musical extravaganza: Life and Times: Episodes 1-5, shown in installments and as a never-before-performed all-day marathon of all five episodes, tells the story of one subject, chosen not because her life is remarkable, but because her experiences are relatable. Each episode has its own genre, from period piece to mystery to Chorus Line-style musical.

[ REIMAGINED GREEK TRAGEDY ] A co-presentation with The Wilma Theater, Greek performance company Attis Theatre's U.S. premiere of AJAX, the madness is a contemporary study on war's paranoia, violence and conflict based on the tragedy by Sophocles. The performance, led by internationally acclaimed director of Greek drama Theodoros Terzopoulos, is grounded in ritual and extreme physical and emotional expression.

[ WORLD PREMIERE ] Beloved Philadelphia theater artist Geoff Sobelle's world premiere, The Object Lesson, embraces and ridicules the act of collecting in a dig-site of futile fascination with the world of antiquity. Alone in an enormous pile of dirt and debris, a man reaches into the heap and finds the flotsam and jetsam of life. From these objects come inspired stories of imbecility, fabricated events of great consequence and betrayals of emotion, in this hilarious ode to what is lost and forgotten.

[ NORWEGIAN COMEDY ] From Jo Strømgren, Norway's pre-eminent maker of contemporary physical theater and dance, The Society tells the story of a group of European coffee drinkers whose harmonious coffee-drinking ritual is broken by the discovery of a used tea bag. Investigations into a possible Asian infiltration unfold, and the question becomes: How far are coffee drinkers willing to go in order to bring the tea-loving traitor to justice?

[ PHILLY REMOUNT ] Reimagining its 2006 Philly Fringe hit The Ballad of Joe Hill with new historical revelations concerning its protagonist, Swim Pony Performing Arts and director Adrienne Mackey gather a ragtag band of vaudeville-inspired clowns to enact a troubled songwriter-turned-union leader's life from within the walls of Eastern State Penitentiary. Audiences can expect a railcar ride, a drugstore murder, a sham trial and a mystery woman whose reputation is in jeopardy, all told with music, humor and great physicality.

DANCE

[ WORLD PREMIERE ] Beloved Philadelphia Dance Company BrIan Sanders' JUNK, known for such Festival favorites as Urban Scuba (2009), Sanctuary (2010) and The Gate Reopened (2012), presents the world premiere Hush Now Sweet High Heels and Oak, a new site-specific dance for the 23rd Street Armory packed with raw physical prowess, striking imagery, live music and a "sweet" in-your-face attitude.

[ ARTIST IN RESIDENCE ] Renowned choreographer Reggie Wilson and his Fist & Heel Performance Group look at how we lead and why we follow with the world premiere of Moses(es), an intense, poetic work of nearly unlimited movement performed by six virtuosic dancers. Inspired by Wilson's travels to Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Mali, Moses(es) explores the migration of people and culture from Africa and explores the effects migration has on beliefs and body movement, all within a contemporary dance framework.

[ MEMOIR IN MOTION ] Best known for his work in Riverdance, Colin Dunne mixes his traditional Irish step dance with bold documentary-style performance in Out of Time. Projected films of dancers from the 1930s onward - including himself as a 10-year-old boy - accompany Dunne on stage as he weaves storytelling and movement to chronicle his journey from child dance prodigy to leading figure in step dance. According to Michael Seaver of Irish Times, the piece is "an intimate, sincere and funny artistic calling card which tells us why he is who he is, and how he is where he is."

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

[ CIRCUS ARTS ] Continuing FringeArts' interest in showcasing international circus and theater arts for all ages, Berlin-based circus arts creator and performer Tobias Wegner's award-winning Leo uses exceptional gravity-defying acrobatics to tell the story of an ordinary man's world becoming unhinged. Limitless worlds are created out of confined spaces thanks to ingeniously projected video animations.

[ PHILLY REMOUNT ] A pay-as-you-go circus/laboratory experiment/shopping experience, Pig Iron Theatre Company's beloved 2005 festival performance Pay Up is back for a labyrinthine choose-your-own-adventure, this time styled as a post-financial-crisis remount.

[ LIBRARY PERFORMANCE ] An interactive performance by England's Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells, The Quiet Volume is a silent, self-generated work for two at a time (a performance medium known as "Autoteatro," wherein you are both the performer and the audience). At the Philadelphia Free Library, during regular hours, two audience members sit side-by-side with headphones on. Taking cues from words written and whispered, they burrow an unlikely path through a pile of books and come upon the strange magic at the heart of the reading experience

[ WORLD PREMIERE ] Expanding FringeArts' entry into visual arts and social practice, three site-specific visual artist commissions comprise the world premiere This is Not Theater at Plays and Players Theatre. All The Sex I've Ever Had (Mammalian Diving Reflex) features autobiographical readings by senior citizens, while live focus groups interpret local news coverage for The Living Newspaper (Liz Magic Laser). Meanwhile, Navin Rawanchaikul will produce gigantic illustrative banners, a comic book and video portraits based on Plays and Players actors, directors and stagehands from the last 40 years.

[ LIVE MUSIC ] Contemporary music and performance come together with Where (we) Live, a composition by S? Percussion (Bang on a Can Marathon, 2011) about experimentation, collaboration and how our homes influence our personalities. Dance, theater and video artists, as well as guest artisans - a violin maker, a metal worker, a brew master - join S? Percussion onstage where everything becomes a musical instrument, from artists' tools to floor lamps.

FEASTIVAL

The fourth annual FEASTIVAL, a benefit for FringeArts, will be held on Thursday, September 12, from 6 - 9 p.m. (VIP hour, 5 p.m.) at a waterfront warehouse located on Pier 9, 121 N. Columbus Blvd., in Philadelphia. The 2013 event will feature a culinary feast from dozens of the city's top chefs, hosted by Stephen Starr, Michael Solomonov and Audrey Claire Taichman, with live performances by Festival artists and silent and live auctions. Says FringeArts Board President Richard Vague of the annual event, "World-class cities need world-class culture. FEASTIVAL celebrates both our artistic and culinary scenes - two great economic engines that push Philadelphia forward." For invitations, announcements and other updates, visit www.phillyfeastival.com.

The 2013 Fringe Festival runs September 5-22, 2013. Tickets for most shows are priced between $10 and $30; some shows are free. Students and Festival-goers age 25 or younger pay $20 for Presented Fringe tickets and receive $5 off Neighborhood Fringe tickets priced above $10. Discounted tickets are available to Members. Members save 30% on all shows (including year-round programming), can exchange tickets, receive admission to exclusive artist receptions and other special events, and enjoy priority seating at select performances. Groups of 10+ save 25%.

Festival tickets will be available for purchase beginning in June at FringeArts.com or at the Box Office at 215-413-1318.

A full schedule of additional festival events, performance dates, times and locations will be announced soon. Visit FringeArts.com for up-to-date Festival information. PNC Arts Alive is the 2013 Presenting Sponsor of the 17th annual Fringe Festival.

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