Atlanta Fringe: A How-To Guide
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| Jett Backpack & the Battle at the End of the Universe |
Y'all ready for Fringe?
Yes, the things foretold in the parody rap video are finally coming to pass,
and Atlanta Fringe Festival will break the proverbial champagne over
its proverbial prow in less than a week!
So how do you get on board before the
good ship sails on its second ever voyage into the uncharted waters
of unjuried, independent art (far past Reasonable Metaphor Point)?
It's easy. Go see some shows, bros!
There are two things you need to get
into a fringe show – a ticket and a button. There are several ways
to obtain said tickets and button.
Quick and Dirty
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| It's My Penis and I'll Cry if I Want To |
Show up and buy 'em at the door. Easy
as pie. Go to the venue before the show with cash and
swap it for a $10 ticket and a $3 festival admission button. Once you
get that admission button, it's good for the entire festival. So,
your first show will cost $13, but the next show will be $10. (More on
that magical button later.) Be sure to come early to snag yourself a
seat, because this festival is on a tight schedule and the shows wait
for no one.
Big and Bold
But I'm a large group of people and/or
plan to see a whole bunch of shows. Is there any kind of discount I
can get?
Sure! You can buy multi-show passes
online. They come in denominations of 6 shows, 10 shows, or All Access, and come with one admission button.
They're entirely flexible. With a six show pass, six people can see
one show, two people can see three shows, four people can see one
show and one person can see a different show twice, or one person can
see six shows (or one show six times, preferably my show, but
it's up to you).
Free!!!
Say what? I can see shows for free?!
Yeah, sure you betcha. The Atlanta
Fringe is a generous and kind mistress. And if you scratch her back,
she'll scratch yours. If you volunteer to help run the festival,
either as a box officer or an usher, you can earn free ticket
vouchers to see shows. That's right, you volunteer,
you get free theater, and that warm fuzzy feeling from being a vital
part of this huge artistic undertaking. Plus, if you work at least three shifts, you get a free t-shirt! And
nothing gets the honeys buzzing like a Fringe volunteer t-shirt. Details and an online sign up sheet here!
Hold up! I'm still stuck on this
button thing. What's up with that?
Well, the button serves as your
festival admission
The Atlanta Fringe is devoted to
supporting artists, so a large percentage of your ticket money goes
directly to the artist. The $3 you pitch in for a button goes
directly to support next year's festival and the other awesome stuff
Atlanta Fringe does during the year, like the Easter Art Hunt,
and their free workshop series.
Plus, the button entitles you to
certain discounts and perks at venues throughout the festival, as
well as admission discounts to theater throughout the year. So, go see a show at 7Stages, flash your button, get a $5 discount, and your button's already paid for itself. Supporting an awesome festival AND free cheese dip with purchase of entree at Matador? I'm mega-in.
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| Them Shoes and Other Shorts |
But, what do I see?
Everything! Whether you like dance
or science or music or love or robots or
cults or space or delicious animals or beautiful women named Rachel or quirky solo shows about ambitious children, we've got it all at
the Fringe.
Go check out the line up and
click around to what looks interesting.
Check out my Fringe PlayLists,
sets of plays grouped around a common theme, here on this very blog.
And come to the Preview Party
and see 3 minute excerpts from each show performed live before you!
And once you've seen some shows, go see
some more! You can even hear some more on Atlanta Fringe Radio.
Talk to your fellow audience members, talk to the artists, ask 'em
what's good, ask 'em what's bad, hang out with everyone at our Hive Hot Spots and get the first hand buzz on what's hot in the ATL.
Just go out and connect. See something you'd never see. See something
weird. See something new. You're just ten bucks away from a hour of
something you can't get anywhere else, and that my Fringey Friends,
is why we do this crazy thing.
Catch you in the ATL!
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