Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Streetcorner to Spreckels and back

Internationalized SD Fringe Fest an update on the international arts scene

SD Fringe Festival

The first San Diego Fringe Festival was such a hit last summer, this year’s has doubled in size. It now runs eleven days, and offers over 80 entrants. Most will give five performances instead of three.

Based on the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival, San Diego’s combines local with international artists. They perform every genre imaginable — theater, dance, circus, buskers, music, visual arts, spoken word, cabaret, puppetry, comedy — and mixed genres you cannot pin down.

Owing to the popularity of last year’s festival, almost twice as many acts have come from around the world, ergo the addition of “International” in the title.

Kevin Charles Patterson, indefatigable Executive Producer/Director of the Fringe, has scheduled several new, festival-related events. One difference maker: throughout the day and evening, artists will perform “street theater snippets” at Horton Plaza’s Broadway Circle, and elsewhere. The brief scenes will preview their upcoming shows.

“One of the most heartwarming elements,” says Patterson, “is the addition of the Spreckels Theatre. It’s such a treasure, there’s no way we could afford to rent that gem. However, Geoffrey Shlaes, the Executive Director, has donated the theater! He’s a big reason why we can provide so much activity for the artists.”

In many ways, the Fringe is an update on the international arts scene. Subjects and themes are in-the-moment, and the performing styles often unique.

Sponsored
Sponsored

For participants, the 2013 festival was learn-as-you-go. From the late morning to deep in the evening, multiple venues staged performances at the same time, half an hour in between — which sometimes meant exiting, say, the Tenth Avenue Theatre, and dashing to a space on 15th street.

Part of the fun: Along the way, if you saw total strangers wearing Fringe badges, you ask “what’s good?” Word of mouth on the move.

This year, the additions of the Spreckels and Lyceum Theatres make venues more centrally located.

“The most exciting element of all,” says Patterson, “has been the inspiration and feedback we’ve been getting from festival organizers and artists abroad. It’s becoming more and more clear that we have the potential of having a festival of the arts that’s the equivalent of Comic-Con in San Diego!”


Prior to July 3:

  • Friday, June 27 (at 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday, June 29 (at 2:00 p.m.): Haste Theatre reprises its Oyster Boy at the Ocean Beach Playhouse — one of last year’s biggest hits.
  • Wednesday, July 2: Public Previews. Spreckels Theatre, 7:00 p.m. “snippet” samplings from a variety of Fringe entrants.

Venues:

  • Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 10th Avenue, downtown.
  • Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown.
  • Ocean Beach Playhouse, 4944 Newport Avenue, O.B.
  • RAW Space Off Broadway, 923 First Avenue, #1, downtown.
  • Red Spade Theatre, 2539 Congress Street, Old Town.
  • 5th Floor Arts Incubator at Spreckels, 121 Broadway #501, downtown.
  • AASD Studios, 5120-C Baltimore Drive, La Mesa.
  • Bread & Salt at Art Pulse, 1955 Julian Avenue, Barrio Logan.
  • Central Library, Auditorium and Shiley Special Event Suite, 330 Park Boulevard, #2, East Village.
  • Fringe City at Horton Plaza, 808 Broadway Circle, downtown.
  • Fringe City, Horton Plaza #2, 759 First Avenue, downtown.
  • hART Lounge, 734 Park Boulevard, downtown.
  • Les Girls Theater, 3790 Riley Road, Midway.

For a schedule of shows, days, and times: sdfringe.org. The San Diego Reader’s theater guide has (I hope) a complete list as well.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Rapper Wax wishes his name looked like an email password

“You gotta be search-engine optimized these days”

SD Fringe Festival

The first San Diego Fringe Festival was such a hit last summer, this year’s has doubled in size. It now runs eleven days, and offers over 80 entrants. Most will give five performances instead of three.

Based on the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival, San Diego’s combines local with international artists. They perform every genre imaginable — theater, dance, circus, buskers, music, visual arts, spoken word, cabaret, puppetry, comedy — and mixed genres you cannot pin down.

Owing to the popularity of last year’s festival, almost twice as many acts have come from around the world, ergo the addition of “International” in the title.

Kevin Charles Patterson, indefatigable Executive Producer/Director of the Fringe, has scheduled several new, festival-related events. One difference maker: throughout the day and evening, artists will perform “street theater snippets” at Horton Plaza’s Broadway Circle, and elsewhere. The brief scenes will preview their upcoming shows.

“One of the most heartwarming elements,” says Patterson, “is the addition of the Spreckels Theatre. It’s such a treasure, there’s no way we could afford to rent that gem. However, Geoffrey Shlaes, the Executive Director, has donated the theater! He’s a big reason why we can provide so much activity for the artists.”

In many ways, the Fringe is an update on the international arts scene. Subjects and themes are in-the-moment, and the performing styles often unique.

Sponsored
Sponsored

For participants, the 2013 festival was learn-as-you-go. From the late morning to deep in the evening, multiple venues staged performances at the same time, half an hour in between — which sometimes meant exiting, say, the Tenth Avenue Theatre, and dashing to a space on 15th street.

Part of the fun: Along the way, if you saw total strangers wearing Fringe badges, you ask “what’s good?” Word of mouth on the move.

This year, the additions of the Spreckels and Lyceum Theatres make venues more centrally located.

“The most exciting element of all,” says Patterson, “has been the inspiration and feedback we’ve been getting from festival organizers and artists abroad. It’s becoming more and more clear that we have the potential of having a festival of the arts that’s the equivalent of Comic-Con in San Diego!”


Prior to July 3:

  • Friday, June 27 (at 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday, June 29 (at 2:00 p.m.): Haste Theatre reprises its Oyster Boy at the Ocean Beach Playhouse — one of last year’s biggest hits.
  • Wednesday, July 2: Public Previews. Spreckels Theatre, 7:00 p.m. “snippet” samplings from a variety of Fringe entrants.

Venues:

  • Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 10th Avenue, downtown.
  • Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown.
  • Ocean Beach Playhouse, 4944 Newport Avenue, O.B.
  • RAW Space Off Broadway, 923 First Avenue, #1, downtown.
  • Red Spade Theatre, 2539 Congress Street, Old Town.
  • 5th Floor Arts Incubator at Spreckels, 121 Broadway #501, downtown.
  • AASD Studios, 5120-C Baltimore Drive, La Mesa.
  • Bread & Salt at Art Pulse, 1955 Julian Avenue, Barrio Logan.
  • Central Library, Auditorium and Shiley Special Event Suite, 330 Park Boulevard, #2, East Village.
  • Fringe City at Horton Plaza, 808 Broadway Circle, downtown.
  • Fringe City, Horton Plaza #2, 759 First Avenue, downtown.
  • hART Lounge, 734 Park Boulevard, downtown.
  • Les Girls Theater, 3790 Riley Road, Midway.

For a schedule of shows, days, and times: sdfringe.org. The San Diego Reader’s theater guide has (I hope) a complete list as well.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How Much Time Do I Get With My BetterHelp Therapist?

Next Article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader