Capital Fringe Starts This Week

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fringe
/frinj/
adjective
1. not part of the mainstream; unconventional, peripheral, or extreme.


Capitol Fringe Festival has cemented itself as part of the DC cultural landscape over the past decade. It returns in 2017 at a time when we need the arts find an apt critique, establish a primer for future life experiences, make sense of things, or simply to escape. I hate to say I ever want to "get lost" in the art, but sometimes you want to stay hidden in it, envelop yourself in it, insulated from reality, for however long that lasts. Other times you want it right front and center for deconstruction and interpretation. However you experience and react to art, there will be a lot of it starting this week in the form of the Capital Fringe Festival. 

There are too many shows to list them all, but here are a few I'm intrigued by:

Presented by Ellouise Schoettler, Spoken Word Artist
A true story of 64 Maryland Army nurses who went to France during WWI. In a one-woman show their words tell a little known eyewitness account of plucky women in The Great War.

Presented by Ally Theatre Company
Generated from true stories via interviews and social media, Think Before You Holla is a devised piece that examines the patriarchal roots of gender-based street harassment and its overall influence on women’s psyches. It’s time to reclaim our space.

The Words She Gave Me
Presented by S.B. Heart Music, LLC
A dramatic character study of how various woman-to-woman relationships have shaped the way an assortment of black women define their black womanhood.

Presented by Theatre Prometheus
In this dark comedy, two sisters hire a taxi to take them on an interstate journey to get an abortion. On the road, past and present collide as they consider the choices that led them to this long cab ride.

Presented by Poetry Cabaret Collective
With fearless exploration of erotic expression and Bacchanalia, yet still confronting themes of resistance and social justice, Poetry Cabaret blends original spoken-word poetry with music, burlesque and boylesque, comedy, and philosophical magic for an experimental reading in avant garde cabaret style.


The venues for Capital Fringe include are numerous, but some are right here in Northeast DC including: Atlas Performing Arts Center, Logan Fringe Arts Space, Gallaudet University, Shopkeepers, and Pursuit Wine Bar.

Capital Fringe operates from July 6th to 23rd. The Trinidad and H Street venues will get an additional shows on a special July 26-30 extension run, which is awesome.

Get out there and enjoy!

About Capital Fringe (from the organizers): 
"Founded in 2006, the annual Fringe Festival held each July, starting in 2006 serves as celebration of cultural democracy and art for everyone. By embracing diversity and a spirit of independence, we create or rent a series of theatre spaces made available to participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Our aim is to challenge perceptions and shake up the hierarchy, to be brave and unafraid and to serve as a launching pad for unseasoned to existing theatre artists."

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