FringeNYC 2015 - Your Personal Guide to The 19th Annual New York International Fringe Festival

The productions listed under the Show Rankings and Show Reviews sections are
ones I've seen from beginning to end. In contrast, this News & Buzz section provides
recommendations of shows I haven't yet seen but are receiving good buzz.
This section also offers news & tips to make your festival experience as much fun as possible.

FringeNYC 2015 Encores Series (8/31/15): Eighteen shows—many of which sold out their entire runs—are receiving extended performances in September and Octorber courtesy of the Soho Playhouse's FringeNYC Encore series. For details, please click here.

FringeNYC 2015 Awards Announced (8/31/15): At the traditional closing night festival party on Sunday, Producing Artistic Director Elena K. Holy announced the winners of the FringeNYC 2015 awards. As usual, if you're an optimist, the awards got it right two-thirds of the time; while if you're a pessimist, the awards got things unbelievably wrong a third of the time. Whether you're prefer to cheer for the former or groan about the latter, the details are here.

FringeFaves Announced (8/27/15): Seventeen popular shows—many of which sold out their entire runs—are receiving a one-performance extension on Sunday. For details and to buy tickets, please click here.

Soho Playhouse (Mostly) Replaces Lynn Redgrave (8/24/15): I spoke too soon in my previous post. The Lynn Redgrave Theater did indeed reopen—for one day. The cooling system then died again, causing FringeNYC to (mostly) give up on it as a venue for this year. Taking its place for nearly all productions is the historic Soho Playhouse, which is now officially Festival Venue #17. West Village's Soho Playhouse is at 15 Vandam Street, near the C/E subway's Spring Street stop and the #1 subway's Houston Street stop, and is typically the venue hosting the FringeNYC Encore series. Since many of the shows assigned to The Lynn Redgrave Theater deserve to be in the Encores (see previous post), this venue change may end up as a kind of rehearsal for the extensions running in September. Hopefully Soho Playhouse stepping in will end the days of uncertainty regarding the fate of some of the very finest shows at the festival. The shows moving to Soho are as follows:

That said, four shows have opted to remain at The Lynn Redgrave Theater, presumably because that space is better suited for their logistical needs. These productions are The Submarine Show (which requires a lot of physical stunts best performed in the wide space of 45 Bleecker), Summer Blue (which has ropes hanging from the ceiling that performers "dance" on), The Report (which was meticulously directed to make inventive use of the Lynn Redgrave space—e.g., actors squeeze between the audience and a giant pillar to create a sense of being trapped in a confined space), and Beware The Chupacabra! (which has needs so far unknown to me, as It won't open until Wednesday 8/26). So if you have tickets for any of these four shows, go to The Lynn Redgrave Theater as usual—and bring a nice big fan with you.

Lynn Redgrave Back in Business (8/21/15): The Lynn Redgrave Theater has reopened. It's very haopy news, as this venue hosts many of the finest productions at the festival, including Divine/Intervention (****), Princess Cut: A Young Girl's Reality Inside a Tennessee Sex Ring (****), The Report (***½), The Submarine Show (***½), and She-Rantulas From Outer Space...in 3D! (***½); for details, please click here.

Lynn Redgrave Still Dark (8/20/15): Work still hasn't been completed on the cooling system for Venue #13, the Lynn Redgrave Theater. As a result, the venue is dark for another day. If you purchased tickets for today's shows, you'll automatically receive a refund.

All Shows at Lynn Redgrave Canceled Until AC Fixed (8/19/15): All performances at Venue #13, the Lynn Redgrave Theater, have been canceled for today. The air conditioner at this theater broke a few days ago, and it''s apparently been difficult to fix during the brief periods in between shows. I'm guessing all efforts today will be focused on getting the AC repaired. If you purchased one or more tickets for today's shows at Venue #13, your credit card will automatically receive a refund.

Beckett Moves UNO Moves (8/17/15): Movement/acrobatic show Fail Better: Beckett Moves UNO has moved from its original Venue #7, The Theatre at the 14th Street Y, to an outdoors venue at 114 Norfolk Street (a block behind Venues #1-#3, the Clemente theatres). I'm told the reason is the troupe's large equipment required some static installations framing Venue #7's stage that were interfering with other productions. Kudos to Elena K. Holy and her technical staff for coming up with a quick and organic solution that very much represents the spirit of FringeNYC.

Selling Out (8/10/15): The festival hasn't even started yet, but there are already 15 shows selling out of seats. These include Your Love, Our Musical and Lucky Chick, which each sold out their first two performances; and yet more impressively, Feelings and Maybe Tomorrow, which have sold out their entire runs! For the complete list, please click here.

Location of FringeCentral (8/5/14): The location of FringeCentral—the key spot for both ticket buying and Fringe info—is 56 East 1st Street (between First & Second Avenues) in the East Village. The closest subway stop is Second Avenue on the F train. It's within easy walking distance of nearly all of this year's FringeNYC venues. To learn more, please click here.

Navigating this Site's FringeNYC 2015 Coverage (8/5/14): There are a number of sections in this site to help you get the most enjoyment out of this year's festival.

To view a list of the FringeNYC 2015 shows I've seen from beginning to end, rated and ranked in rough order of preference, please click here.

For key info, including where to find show descriptions, how to catch live sneak peeks of shows, where to see free outdoor shows, how to buy tickets, and much more, please click here.

For a list of shows that have sold out one or more performances via advance sales, please click here.

For a list of shows that have canceled performances, please click here; and that have added performances, please click here.

And to learn about great places to grab food in the neighborhoods that host the shows, please click here.