Greetings, Fringers!

It’s with a great deal of pride, excitement and anticipation that we announce the third annual Hollywood Fringe Festival. The stage is set for June 14-24, 2012 with a week of previews scheduled beforehand (June 7-12).

Last year’s sophomore effort blew away all expectations with artist payout doubling to $87,000 and well over 20,000 tickets sold to avid fringe-goers. We launched some exciting new programs including Fringe Family, Fringe Film and Fringe Cabaret all of which will return bigger and better for 2012. The Fringe Tent at our central facility at ArtWorks was the party that never ended, providing a warm sense of comradery, entertainment and collective beer consumption that made the whole festival so much more than your average arts gathering, it was a true community event filled with fun and discovery.

We are greasing the wheels to do it all over again. One thing can be said about Fringe: Every year is a new adventure with opportunities, adventures, newfound friends and excitement that lasts well beyond June. This is your official notice to mark your calendars, start developing that show, book those tickets, start seeking venues and tell your friends that the Fringe is coming back bigger and better than ever.

Speaking of calendars, here’s the key dates coming up:

November 15- Venue Registration Open
February 1- Participant Registration Open
April 1- Registration Deadline for Guide Inclusion
June 7-12- Fringe Previews
June 13- Fringe Opening Night Gala
June 14-24- Third Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival
June 24- Fringe Award Ceremony

For those seeking to participate in the Fringe, make sure to review the three steps of registration. Note that many of the venues aren’t quite ready to begin booking but it doesn’t hurt to call/email around to get a sense for when they intend to start. The most active season for bookings starts Feb 1 with the launch of registrations.

Looking forward to Fringe again (like we did last Summer).

Fringe on!

Ben Hill, Festival Director
The Hollywood Fringe Festival

After a record breaking second year for the Hollywood Fringe Festival (HFF11) the bar has been set high for Best of Hollywood Fringe Festival (BOHFF).

This year BOHFF features over twenty of the most award winning, crowd pleasing and critically awarded shows from HFF11, reflecting a range of theatrical presentations from solo shows to full ensemble productions and musicals. In addition we are excited to announce that Artworks Theatre and Actor’s Circle will be joining Theatre Asylum/Combined Artform in presenting the BOHFF2011, starting the week of July 8 through August 28.

Fringe On!

Best of the Hollywood Fringe features… (Listed by Venue)

Actor’s Circle Theatre – 7313 Santa Monica Blvd. LA. CA 90046
Trouble With Words (* Pay What You Can), Fri. & Sat. July & August @ 8pm

Artworks Theatre & Studios- 6567 Santa Monica Blvd. LA CA 90038
A Mess of Things 8/20 @ 8pm, 8/21 @ 2pm
Another Effing Family Drama 8/20 & 27 @ 8pm, 8/21 & 28 @ 5pm
Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You 7/28-30 @ 8pm, 7/31 @ 2pm
Lost Moon Radio 8/11 @ 8:30pm, 8/12 @ 9:30pm
The Booby Prize 7/21 – 23 @ 8pm, 7/24 @7pm
The Milford Project 8/5 @ 9:30pm, 8/6 @ 8pm, 8/7 @ 2 & 7 pm

Theatre Asylum & Lab- 6320 Santa Monica Blvd. LA, CA, 90038
4 Clowns 7/9 @ 8pm
Bean 7/24 & 31 @ 7pm
Blood Fruit 8/4, 11 @ 8pm & 8/20 @ 7pm
Cowboy Mouth 8/ 6 @ 8:30pm
Evolution of a Kiss 7/30 @ 8pm
Fear Factor : Canine Edition 8/ 6 @ 8pm
Home Free / Endgame 7/ 30 @ 9:30pm
The Last of the Knott’s 8/9 @ 8pm & 8/14 @ 7pm
Life in the Middle Ages Fridays 7/22 – 8/26 @ 8pm
My Mobster 8/13, 20, 27 @ 8:30pm
Over There. Comedy is the Best Weapon 7/21 & 28 @ 8pm
Porter’s Macbeth: A Parody 7/15 , 22, 29 @ 8pm
The Barking Pig 7/22 @ 9:30pm
The Next Best Thing 8/13, 27 @ 8pm & 8/21 @ 7pm
The Yellow Dress 8/7 @ 7pm
The Yogamerican Dream 8/18 @ 8pm
Who Loves You Baby! 7/30 @ 8pm
Sum of My Parts TBA

All shows are $15. Except where noted*

Show lengths range between 45 & 90 minutes

Greetings, all-

Best of Fringe, our encore program for projects chosen for a post-Fringe run, launches this week with a single performance from our “Top of the Fringe” winner: Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet.

If you missed this act during the Fringe, now is your chance to check them out.

See below for more info. In the coming days, we will be posting a complete schedule for Best of Fringe, keep your eyes peeled!

Ben

Award Winning FOUR CLOWNS brings its ROMEO & JULIET adaptation to the 2011 Best of Hollywood Fringe for One Night Only!

• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best of the Fringe
• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best World Premiere
• 2011 Hollywood Fringe Award – Best in Physical Theatre
• 2011 Bitter Lemons Nomination – Most Outrageous Theatre

“sure to be thoroughly entertained” – Joel Elkins, LA Theatre Review
WOW! “mastered the art of clowning” – Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
“talented, crowd-pleasing, and hilarious” – Mialka Bonadonna, LAist
“excruciatingly witless” – Bill Raden, LA Weekly
“uproariously funny” – Noah Nelson, Turnstyle
“extremely clever” – Robert Machray, Stage Happenings

Bitter Lemons Top Ten Shows @ Fringe

Promo Video

One Show Only @ Asylum Theatre – Best of Fringe
6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Saturday, July 9 @ 8pm

In the late 16th century, William Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet, the greatest romantic tragedy the world has ever known. Now, over 400 years later, the Four Clowns show-turned-troupe present their adaptation of his legendary play. Nothing is sacred as the four clowns explore themes of love, lust and vengeance, all in the pursuit of laughter. The show contains graphic violence, strong sexual situations and other wanton behavior.

starring…

• Alexis Jones
• Kevin Klein
• Raymond Lee
• Zachary Steel

…with pianist Mario Granville

Who: Produced by Four Clowns
What: Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet freely adapted from William Shakespeare and directed by Jeremy Aluma
Where: Asylum Theatre @ 6320 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038.
When: Saturday, July 9 @ 8pm
Why: Laughter is the best medicine.
How: $15 general admission & $10 fringe participants at www.FourClowns.org or 562.508.1788

AWARDS FROM OUR FIRST SHOW

• 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival Award for Best in Physical Theater and Dance
• 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival Nomination for Best World Premiere
• 2010 Bitter Lemons Most Outrageous Theater Nomination

REVIEWS FROM OUR FIRST SHOW
“daring & energetic, weird & wonderful” – Huffington Post
“entertaining” GO! – LA Weekly
“his cast is gifted” – Backstage
“you’ll be sure to cry…from laughter” – LA Theatre Review
“relentless hilarity” – Examiner
BEST OF HOLLYWOOD FRINGE

The Fringe hosted its annual Award Ceremony & Closing Night Party on Sunday, June 26th where it announced winners of the following community & sponsored awards:

Sponsored Awards:

• The Bitter Lemons Outrageous Award for Theatre (BLOAT): Porter’s Macbeth: A Parody
• The Theatre Unleashed Award: Spring Awakening
• The Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative (LAFPI) Award: Open Fist Theatre, Paul G. Gleason Theatre, Fringe Central, Hudson Theatre, Arena Stage, and Ultra Star Venues (for venues presenting 50% or more productions written by female playwrights)

Fringe Community Awards: “The Freaks”

• Top of the Fringe Award: 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Best International Show: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
• Fringe First Award (Best World Premiere): 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Comedy: Lost Moon Radio
• Fringe Award for Theatre: Girl Band in the Men’s Room
• Fringe Award for Musicals & Operas: The Trouble with Words
• Fringe Award for Dance & Physical Theatre: 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Fringe Award for Cabaret & Variety: I Do Card Tricks and I’m Funny

Best of Fringe

Matt Quinn, the Venue Manager for Theatre Asylum (6320 Santa Monica Blvd) also announced the productions that will be included in the “Best of Fringe”, the top Fringe shows to be presented at Theatre Asylum (the venue that started “Best of Fringe” after the 2010 festival), Actor’s Circle and Artworks Theatre & Studios.

The following productions were announced as being part of this Fringe extension:

• A Mess of Things
• Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!
• Bean
• The Booby Prize
• Box, Window, Door
• Cowboy Mouth
• Endgame
• 4 Clowns: Romeo & Juliet
• Girl Band in the Men’s Room
• Glint
• Gospel of a Teenage Jesus
• I Heart Hamas
• Life in the Middle Ages
• Lost Moon Radio
• The Normal Child
• Over There: Comedy is His Best Weapon
• Porter’s Macbeth: A Parody
• Pulp Shakespeare
• Spring Awakening
• The Barking Pig
• Another Effing Family Drama
• The Milford Project
• The Trouble With Words
• Voices from Chornobyl, Jr.
• Who Loves You Baby!

We’d like to thank all the generous souls who donated money to our successful Kickstarter campaign. With your help we raised over $10,000 for the future of the Fringe.

We’ve put together a special page to thank those who gave.

The Fringe is still rolling along and we are heading into our final weekend. Make sure to stop by and catch a show that our generous sponsors have made possible!

Ben