The Chicago Fringe Festival Celebrates Its 9th Year In Jefferson Park

The Chicago Fringe Festival and Kids Fringe return to Chicago at various locations in Jefferson Park, August 30 - September 3. Tickets are now on sale for the 2018 Festival and a complete list of performers, special events and locations is available at ChicagoFringe.org. Entrance to the Chicago Fringe Festival, called Chicago's "Best Performing Arts Festival" by the Chicago Reader, is a one-time button purchase of $5; after that all individual performances are $10. Kids Fringe is a one-time button purchase of $5 plus each show ticket admission of $10 for adults; children ages 12 years and younger are $5 for each Kids Fringe performance, no button required. Passes with a discounted ticket price are available when attending multiple performances: a four-show pass is $36, a ten-show pass is $80 and an unlimited pass is $100. Each venue will have a box office for day-of purchases, and the box office for the entire festival is located at Fringe Central, Weston's Coffee & Tap Co., 4872 N. Milwaukee Ave.

The 2018 Fringe Festival is different from previous years being held over one weekend with 24 performers and companies participating in the Festival. The Chicago Fringe Festival weekend includes a variety of performers from Chicagoland as well as Ohio, Indiana, Milwaukee and Canada and France, the return of the popular Kids Fringe that includes performances, crafts and classes for audience members 5 - 12 years old and a variety of special events throughout the week.

"The Festival staff and board are always looking at ways to improve the Chicago Fringe Festival experience for performers, patrons, and volunteers," said Executive Director Anne Cauley. "As we prepare for our 10th Anniversary in 2019, we want to focus on building a more sustainable festival structure. By returning to our roots as a one-weekend festival, we will be able to refocus on building our community, to enhance the festival atmosphere, and to explore exciting new ideas that our team has never had the capacity to take on. We look forward to sharing this new take on a Chicago-style fringe this fall."

The Chicago Fringe Festival 2018 returns to Jefferson Park for its ninth presenting year. The Festival includes comedies, dramas, dance pieces, musicals, performance art and the unclassifiable. This is an uncensored, no-holds barred performance event that returns 100% of ticket sales to the artists. In their first eight years, the Chicago Fringe Festival has returned almost $240,000 to artists.

The Chicago Fringe Festival, now in its ninth year, is a member of the Fringe Festival movement and is one of many festivals held throughout the world. Chicago Fringe produces an annual performing arts festival devoted to celebrating an inclusive community of adventurous artists, volunteers, and patrons.