FRINGE UPDATE!

North America's Largest Arts Fest ReturnsNEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL ** 12th Annual Festival runs August 8- 24 ** New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will present the 12th annual festival from August 8th - 24th, 2008.

This year, the festival will offer performances by 202 of the world's best emerging theatre troupes and dance companies. The festival will present works covering a wide range of disciplines including theater, dance, performance art, children's theater, spoken word, puppetry, comedy, improv and multimedia. This year, 20 of New York City's most prominent downtown performance venues will host productions from around the globe as part of FringeNYC 2008. Participating venues, ranging in size from 50 to 700 seats, include Pace University's Schimmel Center & Schaberle Studio, Soho Playhouse, Theatre 80, The Deluxe at Spiegelworld, Cherry Lane Theatre, Players Theater, The Connelly Theater, The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street, Barrow Street Theatre and The CSV Cultural and Educational Center.

FringeNYC is a production of The Present Company, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Elena K. Holy. In November 2007, Michael Bloomberg presented FringeNYC with the prestigious Mayor's Award for Arts and Culture.Highlights of FringeNYC 2008 include: Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (or at least the greater Los Angeles area): The Musical; Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising; Thoroughly Stupid Things, a sequel to Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest; Nudists in Love: A New Musical; shows about Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith and Tim Gunn's Podcast (a reality chamber opera); Woodhull: A Play About the First Woman Who Ran for President; Down Around Brown Town, a celebration of the music of James Brown; shows based on the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov and Euripides; Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire; China: The Whole Enchilada, the entire history of China in two hours (opening 08-08-08 along with the Beijing Olympics); plus, shows by and/or about literary icons including Dorothy Parker, Poe, Dostoyevsky, Ray Bradbury, Faulkner, Shel Silverstein, Jacqueline Susann, Susan Sontag, Joyce Carol Oates; and much, much more. In 1997, New York City became the seventh US city to host a fringe festival, joining Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston, Orlando and San Francisco. In its first eleven years, FringeNYC has presented over 2000 performing groups from the U.K., Canada, Poland, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Germany, the Czech Republic and across the U.S., prompting Switzerland's national daily, The New Zurich Zeitung, to declare, "FringeNYC has become the premiere meeting ground for alternative artists." The festival has also been the launching pad for numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers, long-running downtown hits, and regional theater productions including Urinetown, Never Swim Alone, Debbie Does Dallas, Dog Sees God, 21 Dog Years, Joys of Sex, Dixie's Tupperware Party, Matt & Ben, Walmartopia, Bash'd and Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer. Tickets go on sale July 18th and are $15 each, available at www.fringenyc.org or 866-468-7619.

Discount passes for multiple shows are also available. Tickets and additional information on the Festival are available in-person at FringeCENTRAL beginning July 25th. FringeCENTRAL is located at Openhouse (201 Mulberry Street between Spring and Kenmare Streets) and is open from noon - 8pm daily. For more information visit www.FringeNYC.org.