5th Annual Atlanta Fringe Festival Kicks Off 6/8

The Atlanta Fringe Festival is proud to return to Little Five Points for the fifth consecutive year, once again bringing hundreds of local and national performers together for a four-day celebration of live performances from all over the theatrical spectrum. This year's productions run a wild gamut, from family-friendly magic shows to puppetry, modern dance, aerial acrobatics, improv comedy and everything in between, featuring fourteen companies from the Atlanta area. The festival is set to run June 9-12, 2016, with every act performing a 3-minute excerpt from their show at a free preview party Wednesday, June 8 at 7 Stages.

In addition to the regular festival programming, Fringe 2016 will include free family-friendly performances in Findley Plaza as a part of the Little Five Arts Alive project. Presented by Horizon Theatre Company and the Little Five Points Community Improvement District, ATL Fringe's programming will include dance, clowning, improv comedy, performance art and more from local artists including Jenny Nichols, Brian Bannon, and the Village Theatre. Various Fringe 2016 artists will also be performing free previews of their shows.

Fringe 2016 will also be adding free shuttle service from Little Five Points to their furthest venue, the Horizons School, with local Atlanta talent serving as "tour guides" on the bus. Fringe audience members using the shuttle service will be treated to performances by popular local comedians and writers including Samm Severin, Jen Lenny, and Julian Modugno, as well as musical performances by ATL favorites Oryx and Crake.

This year's festival will feature cash prizes for the favorite shows as selected by the audience, staff and a panel of judges from the Atlanta arts community. These include a $500 Critics Panel Choice, a $200 Producer's Award (chosen by the Fringe staff) and $150 awards for audience picks in the categories of Solo/Small Group and Ensemble Performance.

Per Festival's tradition, the 24 productions were selected via random, unjuried lottery -- literally pulled out of a hat. This year's lineup, with many productions based right here in the Atlanta area, features 10 companies returning for their second and in some cases third or fourth trip to the festival. This year's venues, all located in Little Five Points, include 7 Stages (returning as the Festival's headquarters), the Marianna event space at Wrecking Bar Brewpub, the International Montessori Academy, and the Horizons School.

"We're beyond thrilled to be able to go into our fifth year with such a strong lineup of talent and so much new programming," says Festival Executive Director Diana Brown. "We especially love how many of our artists are back for return visits and how many newbies are coming from personal recommendations. We're really building a strong national Fringe family and looking forward to being a part of the Atlanta arts community for years and years to come!"

In addition to the live performances, the Atlanta Fringe will once again feature their free streaming component: Fringe Audio. The only podcasting network of its kind on the fringe circuit, Fringe Audio will feature pieces of storytelling and radio theatre, most of them world premieres, submitted by local and national artists. The shows will be available for streaming via AtlantaFringe.org May 29 through June 12 and will be completely free. This year's entrants include a healthy representation from Atlanta's live lit community, with many regular performers from popular series such as Write Club and Scene/Song Missing. Last year's artists racked up over 2000 listens from users in 23 countries.

More information, including advanced ticketing opportunities for multi-show passes and company information for the 24 productions in this year's festival, can be found at www.AtlantaFringe.org

Those interested are encouraged to follow AFF on Twitter (@AtlantaFringe), Facebook (www.facebook.com/atlantafringe) and Tumblr (http://atlfringebuzz2013.tumblr.com/) where they will find new announcements, artists profiles, volunteer opportunities, and lots of parody rap lyrics.

Production Company	Show Name	Hometown	Type of Show
A Debbie and Tracy Show	Barry Manilow is in My Closet	Cumming, GA	Cabaret/variety
Attic Studios	Coming to Zimbabwe	Los Angeles, CA	Solo
Corpulent Porpoise Productions	Ember	Atlanta, GA	Drama
Courageous Theater Ensemble	(Echoes)	Stone Mountain, GA	Contemporary dance theater
DreamCatcher ENT	TRAFFIK: Games GrownUps Play	Atlanta, GA	Drama
Flight of Swallows	Corona Borealis	Decatur, GA	Music and motion installation
Foolz Paradise	@JerseyArnie42	New Orleans, LA	Solo
Frat Pack Productions	Bouncers	Decatur, GA	Dark comedy/ theatre
Funnyman Malcolm Productions	Zombie Sex	San Francisco, CA	Spoken word/ storytelling
Giant Nerd Productions	Infinite Expectation of the Dawn	Seattle, WA	Solo/sci-fi
K.I.S.S. (Kennesaw Improv Society, Stupid!)	A-live 2016	Kennesaw, GA	Improv
KSU Tellers	Alone Together	Marietta, GA	Spoken word/storytelling
Magic Debra	Magic Dee's Variety Show	Atlanta, GA	Cabaret/ variety
Maximum Verbosity	Indefinite Articles: a Libertarian Rage	St Louis Park, MN	spoken word/ storytelling
Michael Burgos	The Eulogy	Falls Church, VA	Theatre (comedic)
Mysterium Productions	The Mysterium: A Magic Show	Oakland, CA	Magic/ mind-reading
New Life Unlimited	I Said No!	Indianapolis, IN	Solo
Roots Dance Project	7 Deadly Sins	Atlanta, GA	Contemporary ballet
S'Park Theatre	Pals	Hoover, AL	Drama
StoryChXX	#Moxie	Peachtree City, GA	Spoken word/storytelling
T. Anthony Marotta	(becoming) Hue Man	Athens, GA	Mime/mask theater
Twinhead Theatre	Disaster Aboard The Orlando	Atlanta, GA	Dramedy
UGA Graduate Acting Ensemble	Zoom! Pow! Smash!	Athens, GA	Theatre
Will Nolan	Deeper Into Lady Land! (Or The Gospel According to Kelly Clarkson)	Bogota, NJ	Solo

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