The 12th Scranton Fringe Festival returns in October with a record number of venues for shows that range from classic children\u2019s stories to edgier works.<\/p>\n
The performers are a mix of amateurs and professionals, about half of them from the region and the rest from all over the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very excited,\u201d said Conor Kelly O\u2019Brien, the co-founder and executive director.<\/p>\n
The Festival runs from Oct. 1-10. About 45 productions, most performed multiple times, will add up to approximately 200 chances to see live theater.<\/p>\n
Fringe aims to make the arts affordable to the audience and the artists. Most shows are $15, some are free and an all-access pass is around $100. Performers get venues and technical assistance at below-average cost.<\/p>\n
It begins with a 3D projection art installation and free kickoff party at the Scranton Iron Furnaces historic site Thursday, Oct. 1. The projections go up around 7:45 p.m. and 8:30 and will be repeated Oct. 2. Local artists and vendors can apply for a limited number of spots at the Iron Furnaces at forms.gle\/XtuY8yWJnmtmembh6<\/a>.<\/p>\n The shows with local roots include an Oct. 7-10 encore of the Fringe Festival\u2019s production of \u201cThe Glass Menagerie\u201d by Tennessee Williams at the Sanctuary Theater in North Scranton.<\/p>\n \u201cShe Speaks,\u201d an avant-garde multimedia play that includes aerial dance, a treadmill and limited speech is written by local writer, performer and yoga teacher Jessica Cadden Wentlent. The performers are Scranton native Noah Leety and Scranton resident Ivy Castelgrande. It will be produced Oct. 3-4 at the Sanctuary Theater.<\/p>\n Alicia Lynn Grega, a regional playwright, poet and teacher, is producing \u201cThe Ferment,\u201d a new audio drama. It is set after a pandemic in a United States fractured into regional Free States. She will be recording the production and audience members will join a full cast as extras. It will be at the Electric City Trolley Museum on Oct. 8-10.<\/p>\n Other shows include a family-friendly interpretation of the classic children\u2019s book \u201cThe Wind in the Willows,\u201d a solo show about an Iranian asylum seeker, and multiple elaborations on William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n In \u201cRue,\u201d a modern Ophelia awakens in purgatory. \u201cShakespeare\u2019s Midsummer: A Gaye Olde Tyme (Almost A Musical!)\u201d is an audience-interactive improv comedy show for people who hated Shakespeare in school.<\/p>\n \u201cGlamour Puss\u201d is an interactive comedy that includes live animals.<\/p>\n An adaptation of Anton Chekhov\u2019s \u201cThree Sisters\u201d takes place in an airport and follows women from Vietnam, India and Peru.<\/p>\n Other venues include the Lackawanna County Children\u2019s Library, the Black Scranton Project, Strange Birds, Black & Brass, AFA Gallery, the Scranton Cultural Center, Electric City Improv and the Doherty Pocket Park.<\/p>\n