Holiday weekend includes plenty of arts events

Check out these arts events for your holiday weekend ... and beyond.

First Fringe Friday

This month’s free First Fringe Friday, at 7 p.m. today, features a series of 10-minute plays created by Black, indigenous peoples and other artists of color — all performed by newcomers to the Orlando Fringe.

Here’s the lineup:

■ “How Can I Help You?” by Nap Island: The play looks at loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic.

■ “Saving the Best For Last” by Rajpa Productions: Watch Brother John employ the arts for motivational storytelling, teaching cultural history and as a tribute vocalist.

■ “Boldly Blerd Trek” by Velvet Duke: Finding peace in the “Star Trek” universe.

■ “3 Way Lovve: Lovvespear’s Requiem” by Maatology Productions: An excerpt from a longer play about an artist’s relationship with his mentor.

■ “Temptation” by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola: Two teens discover the ins and outs of online dating.

■ “Resilience” by Mia Raye Smith: A woman tries to find the perfect therapist to cure her anxiety disorder.

Hosted by Tymisha Harris and Cesar de la Rosa, First Fringe Friday can be viewed at orlandofringe.org/live or at the Fringe’s Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accounts.

GOPAR webathon

Greater Orlando Performing Arts Relief, or GOPAR, will have its first big fundraiser this weekend, seeking donations as it establishes an emergency fund to assist entertainment-industry workers.

Many haven’t been able to work in months, and public assistance is running out.

A streamed telethon will feature performances from many of Central Florida’s best-known arts groups; tune in at 8 p.m. today at GOPAR’s Facebook page, where you can also chat with members of the organization. After the initial airing, the video will replay all weekend through Monday night. Find more information at gopar.org.

PlayFest preview

At 11 a.m. Sept. 12, Orlando Shakes will offer a free preview of its annual PlayFest, which will be online this year. At facebook.com/orlandoshakes, viewers will see interviews with the playwrights, participate in a Q-and-A session, get sneak peeks of two script readings and receive a special ticket discount.

Here’s a look at this year’s lineup for PlayFest, which celebrates new plays with staged readings and runs Oct. 3-Nov. 7.

■ Vincent Terrell Durham’s “Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids” (Oct. 3) watches the fur fly at a cocktail party hosted by a liberal white couple.

■ “Take My Hand And Wave Goodbye” (Oct. 10), by Tammy Ryan, looks at the effects of gun violence on a Pittsburgh family.

■ Rachel Lynett’s “Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too August Wilson)”

(Oct. 17) is a dark comedy set in an allBlack state established to protect “Blackness” after a second U.S. civil war. But defining who “qualifies” as Black and who doesn’t proves tricky.

■ Inda Craig-Galván’s darkly comic “Welcome to Matteson!” (Oct. 24) features a dinner party in which debate over classism and racism threatens to wreck the evening.

■ Young Annie Londonderry sets off a firestorm in the 19th-century women’s movement when she plans to ride a bicycle around the world by herself in Vincent Delaney’s comic “The Wheel Woman” (Oct. 30), based on a true story.

■ “Flashes & Floaters” (Nov. 7), by Deneen Reynolds-Knott, examines the challenges of integrating home and family life with work responsibilities.

For more information, go to orlandoshakes.org.