All right, that’s it for me folks.  I’m about to go see a little something called Yearning to Itch: What Waitresses Will Do For Tips.  We’ve also got our army of guest reviewers, as well as Trey Graham, Glen Weldon, and Ted Scheinman out there watching and writing all over town.  So check in at [...]

I just snuck into a rehearsal for METRO: In the State of Mind over in the Baldacchino.  First off, the space looks ultra-colorful and ultra-cool (check out the photos if you don’t believe me).  Only when a helicopter whirls by overhead do you remember you’re in DC.  
METRO is presented by the Pointillism Jazz Consort from [...]

Curtain time is drawing nearer and nearer, and you can smell the excitement (and stress) here at Fort Fringe.  Or maybe that’s just the faint odor of parmesan cheese that still lingers like an olfactory ghost in the corridors and kitchens of this former Italian restaurant.  Either way, I have to say it’s kind of [...]

I just got a phone call from a friend of mine asking if there was a $15 cover charge for tonight’s opening night party.
The answer, emphatically, is NO! No, no, no.
There is indeed a party, however–tonight, 9 PM, Fort Fringe, 607 New York Ave NW–and it’s free as the wind is windy.
But [...]

So I’m sitting in the offices at Fort Fringe right now, and things are most certainly abuzz.  I’ve been here for approximately 7 minutes, and already Julianne Brienza (DC Fringe’s executive director) has had to trek over from her desk to answer the phone (inconveniently located in the corner) 3 times. That’s one phone call [...]

On Monday, we assembled our army of guest bloggers and sat them down with Fringe & Purge theater critic Trey Graham to teach ‘em a thing or two. It was an extremely long, pedantic, and intensive session–half the bloggers couldn’t even make it through the first half without running out of Fort Fringe [...]

Check out Trey Graham’s post from two years ago on the inaugural Fringe & Purge blog giving the run-down on what the Fringe Festival is exactly.  Bear in mind that back then, this whole Fringe thing was a new concept for DC.  But lest we take it for granted–or if this is your first Fringe [...]

Check out Marc Fisher’s insightful piece on DC Fringe in Sunday’s Post.  It’s about the banal, nitty-gritty obstacles–and, on the flip side, the simple triumphs–that are an inevitable part of mounting a festival like this.  It’ll make you glad that you don’t have Julianne Brienza’s job.  Give me rats over fire inspectors any day.

Last night at RFD in Chinatown, a smattering of Fringe productions presented short segments from their shows, and I have to say that on the whole it was pretty impressive. So as you’re sifting through the festival guide, wondering how on earth you’re going to choose from 120 different productions, here are some standouts [...]

649 performances.
120 shows.
20 venues.
18 days.
1 really big tent.
This is Capital Fringe 2008.
And this is the City Paper’s Fringe & Purge blog, a virtual vortex of all things Fringe. Bookmark this blog now, because you’re not going to make it through July without us. Without each other, really, because this [...]