What to Expect at the 22nd Cincinnati Fringe Festival from May 30 to June 14

The 22nd annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival will take place from May 30 to June 14 at new locations and include a new performance category. Performances will take place at the Know Theatre’s Fringe HQ, Coffee Emporium, First Lutheran Church, Gabriel’s Corner, and the Miami University Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine.

For its 22nd year, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival is back with a radical vision: art as liberation! Diversity cannot be compromised! Happiness and radical generosity are acts of defiance! The Cincy Fringe supports trans, queer, and marginalized artists, radical innovation, and the ability of independent art to oppose oppression as the tendrils of American empire turn inward on its people.

With over 40 independent local, national, and international theater artists, the festival will unleash a flurry of uncensored theater and experimental performances from May 30 to June 14. A 14-day celebration of the joyful and defiant spirit of artists who refuse to be silent, the Cincy Fringe is Cincinnati’s Summer Theatre Party.

An audience-of-one virtual reality contemporary dance video is one of four productions in the Conceptual Fringe category, which is new to this year’s festival. Katie Hartman, producer of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, noted in an interview, “We have had applicants saying they want to play with immersive or experiential theater.” “This is an opportunity for us to branch out. We’re excited to serve as a platform for art that creates a one-of-a-kind, unique experience for audiences.” Hartman described the Conceptual Fringe production by returning artist Amica Hunter as “a captive artist with a captive audience.” “Their durational performance in the staircase window [at the Know] offers people on the sidewalk the choice of will you ignore, observe, or participate with this performer?” The production consists of a pre-work performance and a final performance that shares the piece’s development.

“We pride ourselves in curating an incredible variety; you laugh ‘til you cry, then see something where you’re so moved you have an extremely cathartic experience,” said Hartman. “To see a puppet show in a sanctuary with an organ and vaulted ceilings, or a place that is normally a coffee shop, they’re out of the ordinary experiences.”

This year’s Cincy Fringe jurors evaluated 120 submissions, selecting half of the 26-production major lineup from local producers and the other half from international creators, including three artists from Toronto, Canada, and Adelaide, Australia. Local creators Ben & Justin Present, who previously produced Waiting for Laura and The Gay Spelling Bee, are among the returning performers. “This year they’re presenting 1 Gay Wedding and Absolutely No Funerals,” said Hartman. “Two grooms who wake up on the morning of their wedding and discover their best friend is dead. With the help of the wedding party, they endeavor to make sure the day is all about them, the perfect groomzillas.”

North America hosts dozens of fringe festivals annually, with Edmonton, Canada, being the oldest and largest on the continent and Orlando, Florida, being the oldest and largest in the US. Some producers also tour their performances at several different festivals. “I’m excited that we have circuit heavy-hitters,” said Hartman. “One is coming from Orlando, A Cabaret of Legends of Black female vocal legends from Ella [Fitzgerald] to Beyonce. Tymisha Harris is a triple threat who’s been working the circuit for many years. Artists from Orlando have extremely high showmanship and production values. I’m really excited for our audiences to experience her work.”

Los Angeles performer Ingrid Garner makes a comeback to Cincinnati with a sequel to her 2024 performance. As per Hartman, “Her grandmother survived World War II in Berlin as an American teenager and wrote a memoir.” “Ingrid created a solo show adapting her grandmother’s story. Last year, she presented Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany. This year, in Life After War, Eleanor goes from a war-torn country with so little, returning to the abundance of the U.S.”

During the festival, Kids Fringe features two performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. FORGING LEGENDS: The Tall Tale Chronicles from sKribble sKratch Productions narrates the tale of two Black children who create new Black mythology after getting into trouble in class and missing recess. Gabriel Martinez Rubio/Dos-Corazones Productions’ The Green Moon/La Luna Verde, inspired by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, combines poetry, modern dance, and shadow puppetry.

According to Hartman, Fringe Development includes three productions by “local artists trying to level up”. “We provide rehearsal space through the duration of the festival and feedback. They can pull artists and audiences into rehearsal to hone playwrighting or technical skills before a one-night-only performance. We have a reputation for being very artist-supportive. This is an incredible launch pad, as well as a producing boot camp for independent artists. Our audiences love weird art and reward people who make bold choices and take big risks.” In addition to housing visiting artists, Cincy Fringe covers venue technology, insurance, lighting, and tickets for all performers—expenses that would otherwise be difficult for independent artists to cover. Additionally, half of the box office earnings go to the producers.

Volunteers and Know employees support the Cincy Fringe staff. “We could not do what we do without volunteers,” said Hartman. “They serve as ushers. Some point people in the right direction for our venues. We even have a housekeeping shift. We’re really trying to bolster our volunteer corps for the festival and throughout the year to make the Know even more accessible and friendly.” Free performance tickets are given to volunteers.

“What’s great about Cincinnati, because we’re a small festival and a long durational festival – two weeks, three weekends – we’re extremely accessible,” Hartman said. “There are dozens of productions, plus free late nights. If you’re a theater maximalist or minimalist, we’re a great opportunity to see something you’ve never seen before and won’t see anywhere else.” One can purchase tickets for individual shows at the Cincy Fringe, get a five-ticket Flex Pass, or buy an All-Access pass that entitles the ambitious to one ticket for each of the 42 productions.

“Cincinnati Fringe Festival is very special,” Hartman said. “It’s a place for adventurous artists and audiences with an incredible feeling of community and connectedness. It’s not just a distraction from what’s happening in our country right now, it’s also creativity and joy as a form of resistance and survival, being in a room together and having common experiences.”

13 local creators, 10 productions from around the United States, and three international artists from Canada and Australia are among the 26 productions in this year’s Primary Lineup.

Adventurous viewers are assured of an experience of a bold and unabashed creative community that is unmatched elsewhere, because of the 32 world premieres, 11 regional premieres, 1 national premiere, and 19 producing companies that have never been seen in Cincinnati.