Chicago Fringe Festival to Return to Jefferson Park in 2014

Chicago Fringe Festival Executive Director Vinnie Lacey announces the Chicago Fringe Festival 2013, held August 29 - September 8, its first time in the new location of Jefferson Park was a success and the Festival will return in 2014. Attendance was up over the previous two years with 3887 attendees. The Festival had more than 25 sold out performances and the number of Fringe Festival passes was at an all time high. Fringe artists and performers receive 100% of the ticket sales generated by their appearance and in 2013, more than $28,000 was returned to artists. The Chicago Fringe Festival is a member of the Fringe Festival movement and is one of many festivals held throughout the world. The Chicago Fringe Festival unites daring theatergoers with emerging and boundary-pushing local, national and international performing artists while seeking to engage nontraditional audiences through a commitment to low ticket prices and outreach into artistically underserved communities.

Lacey said, "The Jefferson Park businesses and residents were just as excited as the artists for this year's festival in its new location. We saw a great number of people from Jefferson Park and from around Chicago attending the Fringe. We also had a record number of five and 10 Festival Passes sold this year, nearly tripling what we have done in the past. I believe this reflects folks are coming out to see multiple shows and staying to explore the neighborhood. We thank everyone who helped this year's Festival break previous attendance and revenue records. We are so pleased to announce we are already planning our return in 2014." The Chicago Fringe Festival 2014 has been confirmed for August 28 - September 7, 2014 in Jefferson Park, for more information go to ChicagoFringe.org

"Jefferson Park has become a destination for people looking for entertaining and dining experiences that they cannot find in other parts of Chicago. The Fringe Festival epitomized this perfectly. For one week, all eyes were on Jefferson Park to see the new, the different, the fringe of performing arts. We were proud to host the 2013 Festival and welcome them back in 2014," said Jefferson Park Alderman John Arena.

The 2013 Chicago Fringe Festival featured 25 performers from the Chicagoland area including Teatra Luna's Generation Sex: Get Connected, Jonathan Baude's Men and Dogs; Blueshift Theatre Company's Shift; HartLife NFP's Our Fair City: A Live Post-Apocalyptic Audiodrama; MamLuft&Co. Dance's Maps; Jennifer Olson's Anonymously Yours; (re)discover theatre's Home; Sea Beast Puppet Company's Méfiez-Vous de la Vache-Garou! (Beware the Werecow!): Tales of Terror from the Louisiana Bayou; Spartan Theatre Company's Heart in a Cage; Troupe Strozzi's Troupe Strozzi Mounts Olympus and 25 performances from the United States: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida Louisiana, Ohio and New York including Silver Glass Productions' Smart Comedy (Tampa, Florida) and a performance from Vienna, Austria, Daniel Wolfsbauer Productions' Surviving Love. The Festival also included several performers from previous years including Rebecca Kling's Get Ready for the Vagina Fairy; Genesis Ensemble's Phenomena and The League of Miscreants' The Miscreants Run Out Of Ideas.