The Scranton Fringe Festival has gained a permanent location in North Scranton but will continue to stage shows throughout the city in October. Until then, it will use the new space for a youth workshop performance and to stage its play “Ulysses of Scranton.”
Discovery Montessori is sharing its space in a former church at 1735 North Main Ave. The location is part of the inspiration for the name, the Sanctuary Theater.
“We felt it was a safe home for the arts,” said Conor Kelly O’Brien, co-founder and executive director. “It also honors and credits the fact that it is in a sanctuary.”
The school only uses the building for short periods and is charging a “very modest” fee, O’Brien said.
Fringe is using it for rehearsals, workshops and some performances.
For $125, donors can dedicate a chair in the theater.
The cast of “Ulysses of Scranton,” from left to right is: Simone Daniel, Colin Holmes, Mandy Pennington, Werner Christensen (holding the balloon) and Kimmie Leff.
(COURTESY OF BRENT PENNINGTON) The 2026 cast of Scranton Fringe’s “Ulysses of Scranton.”
The Scranton Fringe Festival performed “The Glass Menagerie” at its new Sanctuary Theater in April. (COURTESY OF SCRANTON FRINGE FESTIVAL)
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The cast of “Ulysses of Scranton,” from left to right is: Simone Daniel, Colin Holmes, Mandy Pennington, Werner Christensen (holding the balloon) and Kimmie Leff.
(COURTESY OF BRENT PENNINGTON) The 2026 cast of Scranton Fringe’s “Ulysses of Scranton.”
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Free youth workshop
Its free Young Theatre Makers two-week intensive workshop for sixth through 12th grades begins Tuesday and culminates in a performance at the new space July 17. It is taught by Simone Daniel and guest artists. To check if any spaces remain, see scrantonfringe.org/young-theatre-makers.
‘Ulysses of Scranton’
Fringe’s original play “Ulysses of Scranton” will be staged at the Sanctuary Theater on July 24-25, at 7:30 p.m. It is an encore of last year’s premiere at the festival. Since then, the cast traveled to Ireland to perform it in Ballina and will take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August. The play centers on Scranton actors who are struggling to adapt James Joyce’s classic to the stage when things get weird. It is not necessary to have read the notoriously difficult novel to understand the show. Tickets are $20 with a $5 discount for students and seniors. Simone Daniel, Colin Holmes, Mandy Pennington, Werner Christensen and Kimmie Leff make up the cast.
Local playwrights at Festival
The main event is up next. The Fringe Festival is a smorgasbord of amateur and professional work, some of it offbeat, in various genres in a dozen venues around the city from Oct. 1-10. Writers in Fringe’s playwright incubator program will put on works about timely issues, sponsored by the local progressive advocacy group In This Together NEPA. The writers are Jess Mason, an elementary school teacher from Factoryville; Dalton native Will Krisanda; Denise M. Clark of the Montoursville area; and Scranton-area filmmaker and podcast producer Fenix Dietz. Other acts will be announced soon.