AtlFringeBuzz: What is Fringe?

A hot little honey from our Sutra Buzz Party

Next month, Atlanta will be hosting its first Fringe Festival, which I am extremely excited about. But, as with many new things, this can be frightening and confusing, especially because with the accent, Fringe quickly becomes French, and sacre' bleu! that is a very different festival, non?

So, here's a quick Fringe 101 for all you fine folks:

The very first Fringe Festival took place in Scotland when 8 companies showed up uninvited to the Edinburgh International Festival and performed anyway. Now there are Fringe Festivals across Europe, Canada,Australia, and almost every major American city.

 The Atlanta Fringe Festival is unjuried and uncensored with an open submission policy and low production fees, making it accessible to artists who can't afford to rent larger spaces, or who do work that is unconventional or controversial, or those who don't yet have a foot in the door of the Atlanta community. We strive to lower the barriers between artists and audiences, to make it easy to make art and easy to see it.

The Atlanta Fringe Festival is fast and furious. It's like an art machine, cranking out a brand new show every hour and a half. Each show has 10 minutes to set up, an hour to blow your mind, and ten minutes to take the whole show down, so the next show can start the whole wild ride over again. We have TWENTY SEVEN SHOWS loaded into our cannon, ready to fire directly at you in just 19 days (AAAAAAAAAAAAH!).

Hot Toddies at the Reveal Party, Photo by BurnAway

 So, for the next 19 days (AAAAAAAAAAAH! What? REALLY?!?), I will be diving into the line up, discovering all the goodies we've got in store. Chances are good that I will miss something, or more likely, many things, so chime in! Check out the shows! Tell me what you're excited about, nervous about, tell your friends, tell your enemies and spread the word. If you are a blogging type, let me know, and I will link the crap out of you. So let's get talking, let's get exciting, let's serve some hearty Southern Hospitality to all the out of towners dropping by, and let's celebrate the fabulous performing artists right here in our own backyard. Let's do this thang, Hotlanta.