The District Fringe Festival returns for the second year beginning this weekend. It has become a place for new artists, actors and playwrights to showcase their work for a live audience.
鈥淲hen it’s on the page, it may be a wonderful read, but it only lives on stage. That’s the only way you really know if it’s successful,鈥� said Karen Lang, director of advancement for District Fringe, about new dramas, comedies and musicals.
For three weekends, District Fringe is focused on giving these shows an affordable platform and an audience.
鈥淵ou’re just starting out, and no one has heard of you. Getting an audience in is hard. I鈥檒l tell you that getting an audience is hard, even when you鈥檝e been established, and so we give them that,鈥� Lang said.
According to Land, even renting a theater space in the D.C. area can run upward of $5,000 and instead, playwrights and directors can pay just $400 to showcase at the Fringe festival.
鈥淲e’re the cheapest game in town for you to get your work on stage, and for you to be able to have an audience that comes because a festival brings more people,鈥� she said.
Lang and other organizers curate District Fringe to provide a wide array of 20 plays, spanning drama, comedy, musical, puppetry, choreo-poem and improv.
鈥淲e have an improvised ‘Who Did It’ murder mystery, we have a show that takes place with a teenage girls’ volleyball team, and it goes a little nuts. We have a puppet show that is kind of adult themed,鈥� said Lang.
And while the sets are not expansive and complicated like the ones you may see during a Broadway show, Lang said playwrights can still tell a great story without 鈥渇alling chandeliers.鈥�
鈥淵ou can get the same feelings, the same sort of lesson in empathy with a small stage and with the humans that are acting up there and the director who has guided the production. It’s going to hit you, and I think sometimes the intimacy of that is really a big part of it,鈥� she said.
District Fringe will have three venues this year, including the Flicker Bar and box office, where they will host live stage readings.
The Phoenix Main Stage is located at the University of the District of Columbia, where full productions will be staged in a converted black box theater. The Firefly Amphitheater is outdoors and will offer primarily free programs.
Tickets can be purchased for each show on District Fringe’s. cost $15. You can also get tickets at the door. They also offer ticket packages to see multiple shows at a discount.
鈥淚 think in this era when theaters are closing down. It’s crucial that people come to see live entertainment. Theater and performing arts teach empathy,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淵ou can relax, you can watch the show, you will be entertained no matter what kind of show it is, and you may walk away with something different than what you came in with.鈥�
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