FringeArts Unveils Winter-Spring 2026 Season And A New Artist Residency Program
Productions include we come to collect: a flirtation with capitalism, Baby Everything, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Dec. 08, 2025
For the first time since before the pandemic, FringeArts will launch a Winter-Spring 2026 Season and a new artist residency program, both at its home on the Delaware Riverfront.
"FringeArts is a home for bold artists, projects, and experiments; a place where Philly can come together to celebrate the arts, each other, and the power of community," said Bang-Jensen. "With these two new programs, FringeArts aims to bolster the vibrant artistic ecosystem already existing in Philly and introduce Philly artists and audiences to works that push the boundary of what's possible in the performing arts."
The 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival saw record-breaking participation from both artists and audiences. Over 1200 performances of 350 shows and events took place during the month of September. Audiences increased 15% from 2024, with more than 35,000 Fringe Festival tickets sold.
In partnership with the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation, FringeArts has revealed a new creative residency program: the Albert M. Greenfield Residency at FringeArts. This program leverages FringeArts' resources and space to promote the development of new work in a trust-based selection model. Adjudicated by a panel of artists who represent Philadelphia, the residency is aimed at developing new pieces in line with FringeArts' overall mission and vision. The goal is to help artists with their process in a way that is not prescriptive. Artists are not required to deliver a specific product at the end of their residency, and are given space, time, money, and mentorship to develop their work. Three companies or artists will be selected for the program's inaugural year in 2026.
The new Winter-Spring Season seeks to bring audiences to FringeArts' home on the Delaware Riverfront more consistently year-round. This new model moves away from the organization's previous mini-festival model, which featured weekend-length programs Blue Heaven Comedy Festival and Hand to Hand Circus Festival. Audiences can expect to encounter different types of art and artists experimenting across disciplines. The season model will allow FringeArts to prioritize depth of support for artists and their works, meeting each individual featured project on its own terms.
The season will feature we come to collect: a flirtation with capitalism, written, co-directed, and performed by Jenn Kidwell; Baby Everything, written and performed by Lee Minora; assimilating and Moving State 1, choreographed by Hirokai Umeda; and Girl Dolls: An American Musical created by Pax Ressler & Jackie Soro.
Scratch Nights will also return in 2026. Each of four variety nights will be curated by one of our Fringe Festival Hub partners. Additional Scratch Nights will feature longer-form works-in-progress.
FringeArts 2026 Winter-Spring Season
we come to collect: a flirtation with capitalism
Written, co-directed, and performed by Jenn Kidwell
Thursday January 22, 2026 at 7pm
Friday January 23, 2026 at 7pm
Saturday January 24 at 2pm & 7pm
FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
OBIE Award-winning artist Jenn Kidwell and ASL artist Brandon Kazen-Maddox invite you to roll in the pigsty of American consumerism. Dark, funny, incisive, and just a little bit misbehaved, Kidwell's interrogation of capitalism and her place within it is an unforgettable, all-inclusive trip into the heart of darkness. Beneath the laugh-out-loud humor is a proposition: fuck work, chase your dreams-believe that you are a miracle.
See the hilarious comedy that startles, delights, and surprises. Come ready to laugh, and leave seeing your worth in a new light.
Baby Everything
Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 7pm
Friday, February 27, 2026 at 7pm
Saturday, February 28 at 2pm and 7pm
FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Have you seen the news today? Isn't it awful? Is now the best or worst time to be alive? In all of human history? Are you going blind? Maybe you should go to Italy? Will you feel better if you meet a friend for coffee? Should you stop talking to your mom about politics? Should you be the great witness to all the world's suffering? How much do you really want to see? Everything? Are you sure?
Lee Minora, the writer/performer of Nosejob and White Feminist, brings her hit Fringe Festival show, Baby Everything, to the FringeArts stage. This reimagined production invites you to spend a revelatory day in the life of Baby as she tries to stay sane in a world where suffering comes at you faster than you can refresh your feed. Follow her into the ultimate doomscroll in this hilarious, incisive, and savage solo show.
You'll laugh. You'll flinch. You'll feel seen-too seen.
assimilating and Moving State 1
Hiroaki Umeda
March 14, 2026 at 7pm
March 15, 2026 at 2pm
FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Hiroaki Umeda's choreography and eye for digital design have been celebrated throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S. Critically acclaimed for his almost impossibly fluid movement style bordering on street dance - subtle, radical, and provocative - his dance pieces frequently synthesize ultramodern video, dramatic lighting and crackling soundscapes as interlocking components interacting with moving bodies on stage. Now, this slick avant-garde mastermind brings a double bill of his latest cutting-edge projects from Tokyo to Philadelphia. Moving State 1, performed by four protege female dancers from Umeda's Somatic Field Project who have fully absorbed his sleek, oiled movements and assimilating, Umeda's signature solo performance, operate within a dance aesthetic where refined physicality merges with cyberart.
The U.S. tour of Hiroaki Umeda: assimilating and Moving State 1 is produced by Japan Society with grant support from the Harkness Foundation for Dance. Additional support is provided by Sowaka.
Girl Dolls: An American Musical
Pax Ressler & Jackie Soro in partnership with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret
Preview: May 8, 2026 at 7pm
Opening: Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7pm
Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 2pm and 7pm
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 7pm
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 7pm (masks required)
Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 7pm
Friday, May 15, 2026 at 7pm
Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 2pm and 7pm
Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 2pm
FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Join doll enthusiasts and certified 90s kids Jackie Soro and Pax Ressler as they rifle through their confidential childhood toy chests in GIRL DOLLS: The American Musical! Presented in collaboration with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret and FringeArts, GIRL DOLLS is part tea party, part identity crisis-a deep dive into our country's favorite doll franchise in search of the stories that got left out of the dollhouse. Through original songs, nostalgic PowerPoints, and serious research disguised as musical comedy, Jackie, Pax, and an all-star band rip open the seams of American girlhood to ask: What does your favorite doll reveal about your childhood trauma? Is Samantha Parkington a sleeper agent for The American Project? And most importantly: When everything else about America feels awful, why can't we let go of their tiny doll hands? Bring your doll, and come ready to laugh, cry, and cringe our collective way down memory lane!
Disclaimer: This project is in no way affiliated with Mattel or the American Girl brand. We pinky-promise that it's all totally legal!
Scratch Nights
Monday, January 12, 2026 at 7pm: Co-hosted with Morgan Andrews of Studio 34
Monday, February 9, 2026 at 7pm: Co-hosted with Cannonball
Monday, March 23, 2026 at 7pm: Co-hosted with Tanya Morgan of Sawubona Creativity Project
Monday, April 20, 2026 at 7pm: Co-hosted with Sarah Knittel of DUMB HUB
FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106
This long-running works-in-progress series is an opportunity for artists and audiences to connect. Each Scratch Night features a handful of artists from across disciplines bringing an informal showing of something they're working on, from the first spark of something new to an excerpt of a finished piece. Audiences get a front row seat to the artistic process and provide vital feedback that will help with the development of the work.
Philadelphia Awards - Live Stats
Best Musical - Top 3
1.
CATS (Shawnee Playhouse)
17.3% of votes
2.
INTO THE WOODS (The Milford Theater)
6% of votes
3.
NEWSIES (Viviana Theatre)
3.9% of votes
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