Fringe Arts Festival Debuts in Manila, Featuring THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM, 2/12-3/1

Manila, Philippines--The Fringe Arts Festival, the world's largest multi-arts festival, which took root in Edinburgh, Scotland seven decades ago and remains robust till this day--hosting 49,497 performances, 3,193 shows in 299 venues in its latest annual edition in Edinburgh--is finally setting foot in Manila, Philippines from today, February 12 through Sunday, March 1.

Thanks to Fringe Manila Festival Inc.'s board of directors, Festival Director Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan ("Right Here, Write Now," "Standby"), Executive Producer Brett D. McCallum (Darwin Festival, Adelaide Festival), Program Director Eric Villanueva dela Cruz (School of Design and Arts-De La Salle College of Saint Benilde) for pulling out all the stops booking performance spaces for the slew of local and foreign performing artists who are about to showcase their original works in 90 events, featuring around 300 performances, in the next 18 days at prestigious venues such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), De La Salle University, De la Salle College of Saint Benilde, National Commission for Culture and Arts Gallery, Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple, Sev's Café, 1335 Mabini, 98B Collaboratory, Mabuhay Restop, UP Manila, and Fort Santiago.

Fringe Manila is also running Michael Lluberes (book and lyrics) and Joe Maloney's (music and additional lyrics) multi-award winning musical THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM, which premiered in Manila in The Sandbox Collective's The Imaginarium Arts Festival last October. Directed by Toff de Venecia ("Dani Girl," "F(r)iction"), THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM, starring Topper Fabregas ("Rabbit Hole," "The Producers"), Caisa Borromeo ("Little Women," "Sa Wakas"), and Sheila Francisco ("South Pacific," "August: Osage County"), plays CCP Huseng Batute Theatre on Thursday, February 19, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, February 21, at 5:30 p.m.

THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM, which was originally developed at the annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), tells the interesting life story of 25-year-old David (Fabregas) who has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), an anxiety disorder. David locks himself in the bathroom for more than one year, and survives with small servings of food thin enough to be slid under the bathroom door by his mother, Pam (Francisco).

David then meets Julie (Borromeo) and falls in love with her.

THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM won four NYMF Excellence Awards, including Best Book and Best New Musical.

Equivalent to New York's Off-Off Broadway theater productions and Europe's "free theater" groups, Fringe Art Festival shows have always been scaled-down productions, but have produced theatrical gems throughout the years such as "Potted Potter," "Dani Girl," "12 Angry Men," "Urinetown," "Matt & Ben," and "Silence! The Musical."

Notable Fringe Arts Festival alumni include Bradley Cooper, Melissa Rauch ("Big Bang Theory"), Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me"), Mindy Kaling, Tony winner Diane Paulus, Alex Timbers, Leigh Silverman ("Violet"), and Michael Urie ("Ugly Betty").

To check out Fringe Manila's featured artists, shows, and schedule, visit fringemanila.com and/or like facebook.com/FringeMNL.

To buy tickets, visit ticketworld.com.ph.

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