After celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016 and following a hiatus in 2017, the New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), has announced that it will return next year with a few adjustments. Producing artistic director Elana K. Holy has outlined the plans for FringeNYC for the next three years.
The festival, from FringeNYC producers The Present Company under the leadership of Holy, will downsize next year so as to better serve local and international independent artists. The future festival will take place all within one block, area, or complex.
The festival, which traditionally took place during the summer, will now kick off in the fall. FringeNYC 2018—scheduled to begin in October—will also adjust its “Bring Your Own Venue” model so as to include venues outside of Manhattan; it will feature a lineup of panels and workshops.
Through a network of affiliated fringe festivals from across the U.S., 2019's FringeNYC will become the official “National“ Fringe Festival. The festival will invite the 2018 award-winning show from each affiliated U.S. fringe festival (which currently includes nearly 30 festivals in cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Hollywood, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.) to participate in the adjudicated festival starting in 2019.
The final announcement was that in 2020, theatre producers and producing organizations locally and regionally will be invited to FringeNYC to present an award to a show they wish to further develop in the future.
FringeNYC has been the launching pad for numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers, and regional theatre productions, including Urinetown, Matt & Ben, Debbie Does Dallas, Dog Sees God, Brandon Teena, Dixie’s Tupperware Party, The Irish Curse, Jurassic Parq and Silence! The Musical. Festival alumni include Bradley Cooper, Melissa Rauch, Morgan Spurlock, Mindy Kaling, Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, Leigh Silverman, W. Kamau Bell, Michael Urie, David Anders and Kristen Schall.
Flip through photos from 2016 FringeNYC:
For more information on the future of the festival, visit FringeNYC.org.
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