Indy Fringe Theatre is celebrating its 20th anniversary festival this year with multiple events leading up to the main spectacle in August.
IF Theatre is hosting multiple opportunities throughout the summer for people to join in the celebration, including a cocktail reception and a month-long marketing campaign, according to its website. One of the others was the Flanner Fringe Lab, which happened in February. Through a partnership between Flanner House of Indiana and IF, a playwriting workshop was hosted at Flanner House and three of the plays written will be performed at the festival.
The festival will be Aug. 14-24 at six various locations throughout Indianapolis. There are currently 67 acts that will be performing a variety of talents including magic, miming, acting and more. People must apply to be added to the show and receive a spot through a lottery system.
The first fringe festival took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1947 and still happens today. It is the largest performing arts festival in the world. There are fringe theatres throughout the country but IF is the only one in Indiana. Executive Director Paul Daily said that there are a lot of exciting things happening in conjunction with this year’s festival. He said that the festival will look slightly different than it has in previous years.
“The performing arts world in general is still suffering from COVID,” Daily said. “That took a terrible toll. And so what is really exciting about this year is it’s going to be back as big and grand as it ever has been. So that energy, excitement, community that Indy Fringe has been about, will be bigger than ever.”
Technical Director and UIndy theatre major Zacy Schneider worked the festival last year and will do the same this year. They said that IF just celebrating 20 years is an accomplishment in itself with many other theatres in the area having to shut down.
“Having that opportunity in Indianapolis for anyone to be able to put on these productions and do anything they can imagine is so important to keeping theater and the arts alive in Indy,” Schneider said. “Theater arts in general is very important and, I feel, an underestimated thing in this world.”Daily highlighted that although the festival will only run Aug. 14-24, IF operates year-round with various types of acts available. For more information and to buy tickets, people can go to IndyFringe.org.
