Photos: FRINGEPVD Returns to Providence's Valley Arts District for 13th Annual Festival

Wilbury Theatre Group will present 21 performance groups across venues in the Valley Arts District.

By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 22, 2026

FRINGEPVD: The Providence Fringe Festival, presented by Wilbury Theatre Group, took place July 12-18 at venues throughout Providence's Valley Arts District, this year's festival offered a curated week of performances and special events that celebrate the artist-driven, adventurous spirit at the heart of The Providence Fringe. Check out photos of the show.

Since its founding in 2014, FRINGEPVD has grown into one of Providence's most vibrant cultural events, bringing together hundreds of artists and welcoming more than 20,000 audience members and visitors to the Valley Arts District each year. As the festival has expanded, so too has the scale of resources required to produce it sustainably.

"This year's FRINGEPVD lineup captures everything the festival has always been about," said FRINGEPVD founder and Wilbury Theatre Group Artistic Director Josh Short. "Twenty-one performance groups bringing a Bach cantata reimagined with live coffee brewing, belly dance alongside modern choreography from Balliamo, a clown retelling of Don Quixote, and Cabarestle, where drag meets pro wrestling. Between these performances and the free community events, including our Family Fringe + Sims Ave Block Party and Playwrights and Artists mixers, we're giving artists and audiences real chances to meet each other in the Valley Arts neighborhood. This is going to be one of the most exciting weeks of genre-bending fringe performances that we've ever put on."

For FRINGEPVD 2026, Wilbury Theatre Group has curated a select group of artists to present new and experimental work, alongside special events throughout the week, including free community events that have become a hallmark of past Providence Fringe Festivals. This more intimate, curated model emphasizes connection, artistic risk-taking, and the communal energy that has always defined FringePVD. Participating venues include Wilbury Theatre Group, Farm Fresh, The Steel Yard, Buttonwoods Brewing, ISCo, LitArtsRI, PVD Drum Troupe Clubhouse, Propel Gallery at Make Do Studios, and OPEN at 50 Sims.

ABOUT FRINGEPVD: The Providence Fringe Festival

Presented by Wilbury Theatre Group since 2014, FRINGEPVD brings together more than three hundred individual theatre, music, dance, multimedia and performing artists for two weeks of performances in and around the Valley neighborhood of Providence, while keeping the online performance series established during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FRINGEPVD: The Providence Fringe Festival was founded by Wilbury Theatre Group in 2014. In the years since, the year-round staff and creative teams of Wilbury Theatre Group have served in official capacities for the Festival alongside part time Fringe-only staff, volunteers, and collaborators. Founded in 2010, The Wilbury Theatre Group's goal has been to offer audiences from throughout New England affordable access to cutting-edge theatre. Through the development of our Main Series season, outreach and education programs, new work development programs, and the Providence Fringe Festival, we are proud to bring these professional theatre productions to a diverse and ever-evolving community.

About Wilbury Theatre Group

Winner of the 2018 National Theater Company Award from the American Theatre Wing, Wilbury Theatre Group is a professional, nonprofit theatre company that engages our community in thought-provoking conversation through new works, reimagined classics and adventurous playmaking. We are idealistic, ambitious, and stubborn in our resolve to create theatre that entertains, enlightens, and inspires. For more information visit thewilburygroup.org