Orlando Fringe Celebrates Its 28th Year

May 14-27 marks the 28th year of the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival presented by City Beverages, one of their longest-running partners.

The Orlando Fringe is the nation's longest running theatre festival of its kind and is founded on being 100% unjuried, uncensored, accessible, and inclusive. In addition, 100% of all ticket sales are returned to the individual performing artists. The festival is located in and around Orlando's Loch Haven Park. Festival organizers promise a memorable experience for attendees with over 200 unique shows. A truly international festival, artists travel from as far away as Sussex, England, Melbourne, Australia and Tokyo, Japan to perform in the much-loved festival. There are many new and returning local artists performing this year as well. Shows range from comedies to musicals, dramas to dance, puppetry to burlesque, and many more theatrical genres.

In addition to the ticketed performances, Orlando Fringe features a free outdoor music stage with live entertainment scheduled nightly, and Visual Fringe featuring art created by local artists that adorn the walls of the festival and are available for purchase.
One of the events within Fringe that is popular with families is the free Kids Fringe which takes place from 10am to 2pm on the Saturdays and Sundays of the festival at Orlando Garden Club. With performances, games, arts and crafts, Kids Fringe assures that there is something for everyone at Fringe.

Orlando's favorite festival is made possible through the partnership of the festival's Presenting Sponsor, City Beverages. Funding also comes from grants from The State of Florida Department of Cultural Affairs, Orange County Division of Cultural Affairs, United Arts of Central Florida, The City of Orlando, Universal Orlando Foundation, and Florida Theatrical Association, who also serves as the festival's longest running sponsor.
This year, Orlando Fringe is proud to recognize its sponsors and partners Norwegian Creative Studios, Magruder Laser Vision, West-South, Rainbow 411, DEM Guys, IATSE, LemonTree Realty, Comfort Suites, Dictor Financial, The Garvey Family, Commissioner Patty Sheehan, Penguin Point Productions, Playground Magazine, Keep Orlando Beautiful, Marisa y Jaime, 2 People, Teen TEAM: MamaB and Bates, Balance Orlando, and Maxine's On Shine.

"The Orlando Fringe Festival could not happen without the dedication of the sponsors," says Paula Whigham, the festival Sponsorship Coordinator. "The partnership we have with our sponsors is so extraordinary. Their support goes beyond the financial, they are truly celebrated members of our Fringe family."

In addition to the sponsors, Orlando Fringe announced a number of new offerings at this year's festival. A highly anticipated addition is offering credit cards as a form of payment in the Beer and Booze Tents. All new Fringe Tours are aimed at providing newcomers with a personalized guided tour of the Fringe grounds each Saturday and Sunday. A new and improved Club Fringe Lounge, sponsored by West-South, will be available for donors to relax and refresh in-between performances. There are also now half-priced shows where artists have the option to provide a discount ticket to their show on a selected day and time. Orlando Fringe is also taking steps to expanding the accessibility of the festival and making it truly Fringe For All with American Sign Language interpreting. Thanks to a new partnership with Signing Shadows, select shows will be presented with a trained ASL interpreter.

For information on Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival visit OrlandoFringe.org.