Live Theatre In Storefront Windows, Scranton Fringe Presents UNDER GLASS

Scranton Fringe will once again set live theatre, music and unique performance art behind storefront glass throughout downtown Scranton PA this September.

Scranton Fringe is an award-winning arts organization producing innovative work since 2015, dedicated to creating a bold, engaging platform for thought-provoking art while striving to promote Northeast Pennsylvania as a viable creative environment. Inspired by the world's largest annual event, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scranton Fringe has grown into an incubator of unique creative work centered around the performing arts

After a sold out presentation in 2020, Fringe Under Glass returns as an innovative walking tour of live performing arts staged behind the windows of various downtown Scranton storefronts from Thursday September 23rd, through Sunday, Sept. 26th, 2021.

During this challenging time for the arts and local businesses, Scranton Fringe has partnered with downtown-based businesses with large window spaces to activate these unconventional guerrilla stages. The performances attract patrons to the streets of downtown Scranton to enjoy and experience unique works of live theatre and exceptional performance art.

Featured artists and cultural groups include regional favorites The New Vintage Ensemble and the Gaslight Theatre Company, as well as nationally celebrated groups such as The Farm Arts Collective (reviving select scenes from their sold out production of DREAM ON THE FARM 2021, featured in The New York Times). New York City based The Living Theatre, the longest running experimental theatre company in the USA, will present a unique short-work of theatre entitled "A Day In The Life of the City: Scranton". Other performances and surprises are being added as well, ensuring something for everyone during the walking tour.

Fringe Under Glass provides a unique, safer theatrical experience and strong visuals to engage small groups of audience members as they are led by a trained Fringe tour guide from window to window through the Electric City. The live works will feature wireless audio transmission that create an immersive experience for the audience, further ensuring COVID safety and allowing the artists an opportunity to incorporate new technology into their work

"In addition to creating a spectacular program of performing arts, our top priority is ensuring the safety of our artists, volunteers, and audience members," said Elizabeth Bohan, Scranton Fringe co-founder and managing director

COVID-19 Safety Measures: All performers will be behind glass and/or outdoors, distant from the audience (with use of wireless audio to ensure all can hear and enjoy the work) and are required to show proof of vaccination and/or recent negative COVID test. Fringe tour guides will be required to be vaccinated and will ensure each locale is sanitized between each performance. The Scranton Fringe Festival leadership team have been attending online-based workshops and panel discussions to learn the most updated safety standards for public art organizations, as well as following the ever-evolving standards set by local and state government and the CDC.

Since 2015, the annual Scranton Fringe has presented hundreds of creative works to over 12,000 unique audience members and helped generate over $250,000 each year in the local economy.

In addition to the annual Festival, programs helmed by the Scranton Fringe have expanded to include, but are not limited to:

● An emergency artists fund for NEPA artists / creative workers who are in need as a result of loss of work from the pandemic, with $12,000 distributed so far.

● Long running community favorite events Scranton StorySlam and Big Gay StorySlam, which focus on five minute true stories centered on alternating themes.

● Dozens of virtual events and panels, including an entire online theatre festival set in the world of Animal Crossing that featured digital performances from around the globe.

● A new storytelling-based podcast, "Life and..." that gives space to our community to tell their own life stories, in their own words.

● Scranton Porchfest, a new city-wide festival of unique visual decor and great music spread across more than 100 homes and businesses.

● The Scranton Fringe Little Free Library, a mobile free book exchange that has distributed over 1000 books during the past five years.

● A COVID-19 vaccine clinic to ensure all within the community have easy, safe access to the vaccine at a convenient, walkable downtown location.

For more information visit www.scrantonfringe.org.

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