2014 SF Fringe Festival Kicks Off Today

The 2014 San Francisco Fringe Festival is back for its 23rd year, running today, September 5-20, at the EXIT Theatreplex, 156 Eddy Street in downtown San Francisco.

The second-oldest Fringe Festival in th U.S., SF Fringe brings the best of bright, new, edgy performances of theatre, dance, clowning, magic, and other sorts of presentations for three consecutive weekends, from Friday, September 5 to Saturday, September 20 dark on Mondays.)

The 35 shows for this year's Fringe were chosen, as always, by lottery from the more than 100 entries received. All Fringe performances will take place in one of the three venues within the EXIT Theatreplex at 156 Eddy Street.

The public lottery to choose the participants in the 23rd Annual SF Fringe was held at EXIT Theatre on February 15, 2014. Participants were selected in four categories: Local shows in 60 minute slots, Local shows in 90 minute slots, Non-Local shows in 60 minute slots, and Non-Local shows in 90 minute slots. Complete results are below.

The Festival includes 25 shows from the Bay Area and features companies from - besides San Francisco - Oakland, Berkeley, San Rafael, and Nicasio.

Local samples include: from Oakland, a show called A Mischief of Rats. From San Francisco comes a show with probably the longest title in the history of the Fringe Festival - An Evening of Mental Miracles and Physical Wonders as Presented by Sebastian Boswell III. Millbrae is represented by what might well be a dance piece, Ballet Russe Spectacle Variété. Or maybe not. This is, of course, the Fringe Festival.

Non-Local productions come from New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Jamestown, RI, Bloomington, IN, and Melbourne, Australia.

The 2014 Fringe Festival Shows are as follows:

LOCAL 60 MINUTE SLOTS

An Awkward Sensation
If and When
San Francisco

Genie and Audrey's Dream Show!
EGADS! Productions
San Francisco

Campo Maldito
Jesca Prudencio and Bennett Fisher
San Francisco

Conversation After a Film
Slacker Theater
San Francisco

My Body Love Story
Dominika Bednarska
Berkeley

An Evening of Mental Miracles and Physical Wonders as presented by Sebastian Boswell III
Sebastian Boswell III
San Francisco

Assorted Domestic Emergencies
Frank & Frederick
San Francisco

Animal Love: A Tragicomedy
Annette Roman
Berkeley

Hang On
Theater Dinamundo
San Francisco

A Mischief of Rats
AlulA Ensemble
Oakland

Mandarin Orange
Kate Robards
Berkeley

This Is My Brain On Drugs
Gloria Bromberg
Berkeley

A Life Of Play
Matt Weinstein
Nicasio

TWENTY
Maryclare McCauley
Berkeley

Yellow Heaven
Debi Ham
San Francisco

Dream Jockeys
David Caggiano
San Francisco

Deal With The Dragon
Kevin Rolston
San Francisco

Ballet Russe Spectacle Variété
Ballet Russe Spectacle Variété
Millbrae

Matthew Shepard Meets Coyote
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) and the Center for Art, Religion, and Education (CARE)
Berkeley

Safe Journey
Jean Gregory
Oakland

LOCAL 90 MINUTE SLOT

Blues for Charles
Blues for Charles by "Rich'd"
San Mateo

Dam/aged The Musical
Creative Dream Society / Bronche Tayson
Stockton

The Oy of Sex
Alicia Dattner
San Francisco

Through the Eyes of a Clown
David Magidson
San Francisco

Daffodil
BrickaBrack
Oakland

NON-LOCAL 60 MINUTE SLOTS

Me & My Monkey
Bradley Spann
Los Angeles

Spinning the Bottle
Krissi Reeves
Las Vegas

The Road to High Street
Andrew Potter Productions
Jamestown Rhode Island

Ceremony
Michael Kass
Los Angeles

And She Bakes, LIVE.
Daliya Karnofsky
New York city

A Date for the Evening
Celestial Zenith
New York

Two Ruby Knockers, One Jaded Dick
Tim Motley
Melbourne, Australia

StoryZilla
Nell Weatherwax
Bloomington IN

NON-LOCAL 90 MINUTE SLOTS

Cabaret Terrarium
Harrington & Kauffman
New York

Love At Home
Mary Matoula Webb
New York

The San Francisco Fringe Festival is an open-access, non-juried, uncensored theatre festival where performers are selected through a lottery. The SF Fringe returns 100% of box office earnings to the performing company.

To complement the 35 Standard Venue shows, the festival will include a number of Non-Traditional Fringe Venue (NTFV) performances. NTFVs are for site-specific work, and in previous Festivals artists have performed on moving buses, in local parks, museums, bars, and other locations outside the traditional theatre setting. Shows designed for Non-Traditional Venues may be of any length.

Artists applying to perform their work at Non-Traditional Fringe Venues must arrange for a site and meet NTFV guidelines. NTFV shows are not chosen by lottery. Deadline for submitting an NTFV application is midnight (PST) May 30, 2014.

ONLINE ADVANCE TICKETS for shows in the 2014 San Francisco Fringe Festival will be available by July 2014 after the schedule is completed. A percentage of all Fringe tickets are reserved for sale at the theater starting 30 minutes before the performance. Ticket prices range from $5 to $10 per show (some may be free), with $10 the top price. Frequent Fringer Passes will be available, providing discounted admission with five- and ten-show passes. For more information, go to www.sffringe.org.

The San Francisco Fringe Festival presents live theatre in an informal, accessible and inexpensive environment. It strives to break down traditional boundaries between audience and artist, encouraging open dialogue between theatre-goers and theatre-creators. Local and national performing companies benefit from working together and learning from each other in a vibrant and exciting festival atmosphere.

Audiences are invited to experience the work of seasoned veterans alongside that of emerging artists. Fringe-goers are encouraged to post reviews of the shows they see on the SF Fringe web site.

In order to stimulate artistic innovation, applications for participation in the Fringe Festival are accepted through a non-juried lottery. Traditional economic boundaries are broken down as well, with 100% of the box office going to the performers.

The 2014 San Francisco Fringe Festival will bring over 200 performances of more than 35 new shows to the EXIT Theatreplex, plus site-specific venues, over its 14-day run. The Fringe Festival features fresh, exciting theatre of all kinds for open-minded audiences of all persuasions.