WaterTower Theatre Announces the Artists and Schedule for the 2013 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival

WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin today announced the line-up for the 2013 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, March 7-17, 2013 at the Addison Theatre and Conference Centre. Several changes highlight this year's Festival including a focus on Dallas-area artists, more performances of each show, many new artists, as well as a few returning favorites. The Festival will include, for the first time, opera, as well as dance, theatre, cabaret artists and visual arts, and a play produced by WaterTower Theatre.

Eighteen artists and performing arts organizations will participate in this year's Festival of which almost all are based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area or have a prior connection to the area. They are: Q Live, Outcry Theatre, Vicki Cheatwood, Contemporary Ballet Dallas, Muscle Memory Dance Theatre, David Lee Nelson, Patrick O'Brien, Fort Worth Opera, FTP Comedy, Dallas Poetry Slam, Rhythmic Souls, American Actors Company, David Parr, Ayana Hampton, Diana Sheehan, Stolen Shakespeare Guild, imPULSE dance project inc., Walter Lee, Amy Stevenson, Lauren Luong, WaterTower Theatre and Willie Baronet.

Returning artists/companies are: WaterTower Theatre, Q Live, Outcry Theatre, Muscle Memory Dance Theatre, David Lee Nelson, American Actors Company, Rhythmic Souls, FTP Comedy, Dallas Poetry Slam, David Parr, Diana Sheehan, and Amy Stevenson.

New to the Festival this year are: Vicki Cheatwood, Contemporary Dance Dallas, Patrick O'Brien, Ayana Hampton, Stolen Shakespeare Guild, Walter Lee, Lauren Luong, and Willie Baronet.

Visual artists Lauren Luong and Willie Baronet will be featured in the Main Space lobby throughout the Festival.

"One of the driving forces behind WaterTower Theatre's Out of the Loop Fringe Festival has always been to provide performance opportunities for existing and emerging theatre, dance and music companies as well as artists in our region," said Martin. "The Festival offers them the opportunity to present works that often vary in form and presentation from their typical content. Most importantly, the Festival is a valuable way to develop new audiences who may not be aware of the participating companies and artists and their work."

A 10?day celebration of theatre, dance, music, and art, the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival features performances by arts organizations and artists from across the nation. Performances are held at the Addison Theatre Centre, in four performance venues: the Main Stage, the Studio Theatre, the Stone Cottage, and the main lobby.

The Best of Loop will return this year. On the final day of the Festival, WaterTower Theatre will invite back for a special performance the Best of the Main Stage, Studio Theatre and Stone Cottage performers as chosen by our Loop passholders. Passholders will have an opportunity to cast ballots for their "Best Of" choice after each performance.

The Out of the Loop Fringe Festival media sponsors are TheaterJones.com and the Dallas Observer. The Festival is produced by WaterTower Theatre - Terry Martin (Executive Producer), Brandon Weinbrenner (Co-Producer) and Louisa Ann Torres (Co-Producer).

In 2009, the Dallas Observer named the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival "Best Theatre Festival" in its annual "Best of Dallas" issue. Additionally, the 2004 Dallas-Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum awarded the Festival a special citation for providing performance opportunities to new works and new production companies.

Single tickets to all events go on sale Feb. 19. Festival Passes, now on sale, include one admission to each Festival event and are $65. WaterTower Theatre subscribers receive $10 off each Festival pass. Individual ticket prices for each event are $10 and selected readings $5.