Do you have a theater date for this weekend? Just as “Gone Fishin'” signs start popping up in box office windows of DC’s bigger theater houses for the summer, audiences are queuing up for at least three different experimental festivals. What stroke of genius assembled this bill of fare? Is Source the appetizer whetting the community's appetite for Fringe? Would you like some Hip-Hop on the side? Or do some folks fill up on Source and then take a doggy bag for Fringe? I see this as drama tapas, small helpings for everyone at the table to share (and to discuss on the Fringe and Purge blog).

While Fringe and Source are both experimental laboratories and incubators of new talent, they differ in that Fringe is uncurated, whereas Source hand-picks talent from around town to create new, exciting projects. For this final week, Source commissioned one-acts from standout playwrights behind last year’s 10-minute plays. OK, I’ll admit I went to see Group F last night because I’m a huge fan of HBO’s “The Wire” and I wanted to see Delaney Williams (the artist formerly known as Bill Delaney) in Her Love Was Vertigo.

Read More "Festival Frenzy Hits D.C.: Source Festival One-Acts (Group F)" »

Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a somewhat hungover Fringe Friday! Your intrepid blogger, after much good-natured cajoling, ended up at last night's Fringe kick-off in Chinatown. Boy oh boy, did I have fun! I met Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed from The Sin Show, and according to all the cards I found in my back pocket this morning, I met lots of other friendly people, too! My only regret is the tequila! Trey Graham posted some photos from the launch party (he calls them "Fringe Fotos"--so fun, changing ph's to f's in honor of Fringe!) at the Fringe and Purge blog, which you should all bookmark and check regularly, for the hobbit references, and because a whole bunch of us will be bloggy-bloggy-blogging there nonstop until Fringe ends.

Why the whole world loves/hates the Washington City Paper, Michael Jackson's immortal soul, and some Friday zen, after the jump.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Shrimp and White Wine" »

Yes, that's right--you kept putting it off, putting it off, and now you've only got three days to get to all those shows you meant to see. Or maybe you never meant to see any shows at all. Maybe you were just lying to yourself. Whatever, here's a roundup of some recommendations from the Fringe & Purge blog (in addition to the ones I listed here last week). And if you've got any of your own, put 'em in the comments. Because we value everyone's opinion.

Prototype 373-G
Trey Graham says:
See it if: You’re attracted to frivolity for its own sake — or you’re an sucker for tight ensemble work.
Skip it if: Whimsy makes you queasy, and no quantity of stagecraft will settle your stomach.

Born Normal
Glen Weldon says:
See it if: Your bookshelf leans more Chris Adrian and Kevin Brockmeier than Clive Cussler and Nicholas Sparks.
Skip it if: In your estimation, the complex psycho-social terrain of the Normal-Child-in-Wacky-Family dynamic has already been mapped, and definitively so, by The Munsters.

Slave Narratives Revisited
I say:
See it if: You like stuff that’s good.
Skip it if: You dislike stuff that’s good.

Carnal Node
Brett Abelman says:
See it if: You’ve never seen anything with more risk - and possibility of reward - than a bar band.
Skip it if: You don’t go listen to music live unless you can already sing along to the CD.

Children of Medea
Sheffy Gordon says:
See it if: You love your mother.
Skip it if: You’re a budding female playwright and dramatic solo performer but you can’t handle new competition in town.

The third annual Capital Fringe Festival opens tonight with a slate of 120 productions over 18 days at 20 venues in theaters, bars, tents and defunct Italian restaurants around town.  City Paper will be covering the chaos on its Fringe & Purge blog, with veteran critics like Trey Graham and Glen Weldon, online producer Ted Scheinman and myself, as well as a phalanx of guest bloggers who will help us report back on the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year's festival.  

I'm actually at Fort Fringe as I type--formerly known as A.V. Ristorante Italiano--which the festival folks have artfully transformed into their guerilla headquarters, complete with offices in a crumbling bar, a two-tiered tent deemed the Baldacchino in the parking lot, and a permanent black box theater in what used to be a meat-curing pantry.  I will be blogging live from here until the shows begin this evening--so if you want to know if the toilets will be working in time for the opening night party later, you know where to look for updates.

Oh yeah, there's a party: 9 PM at Fort Fringe, 607 New York Avenue NW.  But really this festival is all about the performances, so turn off your computers, get off your rolling chairs, and go check out a show or two or twenty.  Then visit Fringe & Purge and let everyone know what you thought.  

This past Thursday, to prodigious applause and a minimal throwing of old fruit, the City Paper launched its 2008 Fringe & Purge blog.

Ever since, we've been positively inundated with questions, compliments, and offers of a decidedly salacious nature. Rather than responding individually, I've decided to offer some answers right here, for all to see.

After the jump:

Read More "Fringe & Purge Launch" »