San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Return of the Fringe
Alternative theater festival, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021, is back with 26 shows from San Diego and around the world
After a two-year pandemic break, the San Diego International Fringe Festival returns next week with a combined 130 performances June 2-12 at multiple locations.
This year’s festival — the eighth produced since 2012 — will be the smallest ever in size, with 26 shows. It will also not have a traditional “Fringe Central” home base. Ticket sales will be conducted online, the show schedule will be digital, and the venues are spread among several theater, school, gallery and pop-up locations around San Diego.
Kevin Charles Patterson, executive director of the festival, said that while this year’s event has been scaled down, its limited size is not a sign of things to come. He’s already planning a much larger 2023 fest in Balboa Park, with multiple museums and other park venues scheduled to participate.
“This year, we are getting our feet back on the ground with an exciting pop-up energy,” he said.
Most of the shows take place in two Balboa Park locations and are $10 each, unless otherwise noted below. Here’s the lineup:
Festival Preview: To help audiences select what they want to see, several festival artists will present brief previews of their shows before the festival opens. 7 p.m. May 31. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater, 2130 Pan American Road, Balboa Park. $5.
“Aftermath”: Bodhi Tree Concerts presents this world premiere chamber opera by San Diego’s Nicolas Reveles set in a post-pandemic, post-apocalyptic world. 7 p.m. June 10; 7 p.m. June 11; 3 p.m. June 12. The Template, 5032 Niagara Ave., Ocean Beach.
“Are You Lovin’ It?”: Gumbo Theatre from Osaka, Japan, presents this wacky 60-minute solo show that combines a Japanese TV game show, anime, Donald Trump, Krazy Kitten and a Japanese businessman. 2 p.m. June 2; 9 p.m. June 4; 7:30 p.m. June 7; 9 p.m. June 9; 6 p.m. June 11. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater.
“A Scar Is Born”: Lorelei Zarifian performs this 50-minute comedic song cycle recounting life in France, New York and Florida, intertwined with sketches about the absurdity of modern existence. 7:30 p.m. June 5; 9 p.m. June 7; 4 p.m. June 8; 4 p.m. June 9; 6 p.m. June 10. Centro Cultural de la Raza, 2004 Park Blvd., Balboa Park.
“Back to the Roaring Twenties”: Movement Space Dance Company from the United Kingdom presents a 40-minute program of dance and physical theater. 7:30 p.m. June 3; 4 p.m. June 4; 7:30 p.m. June 7; 6 p.m. June 8; 9 p.m. June 9. Centro Cultural de la Raza.
“Bones Abides”: Golden Corpse LLC returns to the Fringe with an “Artburlesque” cabaretmodern dance show about a woman who was a child survivor of the Armenian genocide. For mature audiences. 3 p.m. June 5; 7 p.m. June 10; 7 p.m. June 11; 3 p.m. June 12. Les Girls Theatre, 3790 Riley St., San Diego.
“Castaways”: Playwright Liz Coley presents this 50-minute tragicomedy about two elderly women in memory care who selfidentify as Mary Ann and Ginger of the shipwrecked crew of the SS Minnow from “Gilligan’s Island.” 7:30 p.m. June 3; 4 p.m. June 4; 2:30 p.m. June 5; 9 p.m. June 7; 4 p.m. June 8. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater.
“Desperate to Be Seen, Horrified at Being Known: A Ghost Story”: Two restless spirits navigate the afterlife discussing love, loss, identity and regret. 9 p.m. June 3; 7:30 p.m. June 6; 6 p.m. June 9; 4 p.m. June 11; 2:30 p.m. June 12. Centro Cultural de la Raza.
“Ha Ha Da Vinci”: Actor, musician and playwright Phina Pipia stars in the 45-minute solo play about a grad student who travels back in time to the Renaissance era to solve a 15th century mystery. The play includes a tuba, lullabies, radio messages, illusions and more. 2:30 p.m. June 2; 9 p.m. June 5; 4 p.m. June 7; 4 p.m. June 10; 1 p.m. June 11. Centro Cultural de la Raza.
“Hamlet”: ACE Theatrics, a new theater troupe made up of current students and alumni of San Diego State University, will make its Fringe festival debut with a 60-minute adaptation of Shakespeare’s Danish tragedy with some surprise twists. 7:30 p.m. June 2; 2:30 p.m. June 3; 6 p.m. June 5; 9 p.m. June 10; 6 p.m. June 12. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater.
Induction Dance: This newly formed Southern California contemporary ballet company makes its debut performance at Fringe in a 45-minute program. 4 p.m. June 3; 6 p.m. June 6; 9 p.m. June 8; 7:30 p.m. June 11; 1 p.m. June 12. Centro Cultural de la Raza.
“Iris & the Axe”: San Diego’s Turnkey Theatre presents Katie B. Turner’s hourlong choose-yourown adventure Victorian horror story, where the audience decides the fate of a woman who has married a mysterious millionaire. 9 p.m. June 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12. Centro Cultural de la Raza lawn (bring a blanket/chair).
“Long Playing”: This new contemporary dance piece by Rachael Lincoln and Leslie Seiters is described as “a training, a tribute, a trial, a social gathering for bodies still learning how to be animals.” 7:30 p.m. June 10 and 11. ENS 200 Studio Theatre, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile St., San Diego.
“Love in the Time of Taksim”:
Panamanian writer and actor Gabriela Sosa presents the comic stage adaptation of her 2014 novel about a jaded idealist on a quest to sound the alarm about the Earth’s climate crisis. 9 p.m. June 2; 2:30 p.m. June 4; 4 p.m. June 5; 7:30 p.m. June 10; 4 p.m. June 11. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater.
“Luna & Solis”: Brelby Productions presents this 60-minute fairy tale about the sun and moon,
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com