Centenary Stage Company to Present 2026 Fringe Festival

Centenary Stage Company's annual Fringe Festival returns this November with three intimate, unconventional, and thought-provoking theatrical experiences. Featuring Too Fat for China, Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman, and Unseen, this year's festival explores adoption, art and mental illness, and the often-unseen people who make the magic of theater possible.

All three productions will be presented in the Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown, NJ.

The festival opens with comedian Phoebe Pott's Too Fat for China, running November 5–8.

Follow Phoebe Potts, comic storyteller and professional Jew, as she tries, fails, and eventually succeeds to adopt a baby. After a U.S. adoption goes horribly wrong, Potts finds herself surprised, disgusted, and ultimately resigned to the role she plays as a middle-class white woman in the business of adopting babies in the United States and internationally.

Funny, candid, and deeply personal, Too Fat for China examines the complicated realities of adoption while confronting questions of race, privilege, identity, and the expectations placed on prospective parents. Potts transforms an intensely personal journey into an honest and often hilarious theatrical experience.

The festival continues with Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman by Erica Knight, running November 12–15.

In February of 1916, Ralph Albert Blakelock's haunting landscape, Brook by Moonlight, was sold at auction for $20,000—a record price for a painting by a living American artist. The sale made him famous. Newspapers called him America's greatest artist, and thousands flocked to exhibits of his work.

Yet at the time of his triumph, Blakelock had spent 15 years confined in a psychiatric hospital in Middletown, New York, while his wife and children lived in poverty in a ramshackle cabin in Leeds.

While Blakelock's early works were heavily influenced by Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School painters, the onset of schizophrenia pushed his paintings into increasingly controversial and radical territory.

This remarkable solo show, created and performed by Blakelock's own great-great-granddaughter, explores the life, times, and madness of one of America's most celebrated and exploited painters, whose brooding, hallucinogenic landscapes anticipated Abstract Expressionism by more than half a century.

The 2026 Fringe Festival concludes with Unseen by Kimberly Prentice, running November 19–22.

Grab your “all access” pass into the mysterious world of Broadway's backstage!

Follow veteran “star dresser” Pam as she works her magic through complex costume changes, confrontations, and quirky actor demands, all while staying hidden in the shadows with the rest of the crew. When the stress of invisibility gets heavy, supportive allies rally around her and equip her to stand up, curse like a sailor, and finally be seen.

Through humor and heart, Unseen shines a spotlight on the people audiences rarely notice but who are essential to every performance. It is a celebration of the backstage professionals who make theater happen—and a reminder that every person deserves to be recognized.

“Fringe is an opportunity to step outside the traditional theatrical experience and encounter stories that are personal, provocative, unexpected, and sometimes wonderfully unconventional,” said Chris Young, Artistic Director of Centenary Stage Company. “This year's festival offers three very different theatrical experiences, but all three invite audiences to look at familiar subjects from a new perspective.”

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Performances for all three Fringe Festival productions are held in the Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.

Thursdays: 7:00 PM
Fridays: 7:30 PM
Saturdays: 7:30 PM
Sundays: 2:00 PM

Ticket prices range from $27.50 to $30.00 for adults with discounts available for students and children under 12. Thursday evenings are Buy One, Get One Rush Ticket Special. Audiences can purchase one regularly priced ticket and receive a second ticket free for Thursday evening performances when purchased in person at the CSC box office beginning at 5:00pm on the day of the performance.

TOO FAT FOR CHINA by Phoebe Potts
November 5–8

GHOST DANCE: PICTURE OF A MADMAN by Erica Knight
November 12–15

UNSEEN by Kimberly Prentice
November 19–22