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The Philadelphia Fringe Festival celebrated its 30th year<\/a> with more than 338 productions across the city. Our reporters found shows that left us dazzled and confused, tearful but still laughing, and truly amazed by all the strange, weird, and delightful originality that artists from Philly (and beyond) had to offer. <\/p>\n These were some of our favorite performances, including solo shows, interactive experiences, immersive dance, otherworldly journeys, and incisive political explorations.<\/p>\n Most optimistic: \u2018Lunar Retreat\u2019<\/p>\n To enter this performance, you must prepare for take off: Grab a set of headphones specifically curated for your group (an audience of just a dozen or so, per entry time) and remove your shoes. <\/p>\n Past the doors lies a transformed Pearlstein Gallery, with different sections divided by flowing white curtains. The calm voice in your ears provides instructions, like a guided meditation for a winding path through a constellation of dancers before you arrive in a maze of tall, twisting cardboard adorned with twinkling lights and images of the moon\u2019s various cycles. <\/p>\n After billions of years orbiting the earth, our moon has been slowly inching away from us, the disembodied voice explains. The show asks: What does it mean to enter someone\u2019s orbit, to connect with another person, when we all drift apart eventually, inevitably? At its core, Lunar Retreat tackles grief, prompting the audience to imagine a loved one who is physically distant. What detail about this person do you never want to forget? After we write down our answers, we\u2019re guided into the maze, where the answers from previous attendees dot the spiraling walls. <\/p>\n Fringe Fest regular Nichole Canuso\u2019s dance company Branching Paths is renowned for immersive and interactive performances; here she worked with ocean explorer\/artist Rebecca Rutstein, sound designer Bobby McElver, video designer Kate Freer, and set designer Anna Kiraly, among many collaborators. The projections were especially astounding: In one room, a dancer performed a series of moves in one place that were recorded and projected to the same location on a loop, allowing her to essentially dance with and embrace the projected version of herself. It was a mesmerizing collaboration between dance and technology. <\/p>\n At the end, the three audience groups gathered for the finale, when eight dancers (including the choreographer, Canuso) evoked ocean tides as they converged and separated, where they kept reaching for one another and then leaping apart. I was in awe not only of the performance itself but of my fellow audience members, who embraced the experience with open hearts and curious minds \u2014 leaving me surprisingly optimistic about the future of humanity. <\/p>\n \u2014 R.C.<\/p>\n Standout Solo Show: \u2018Tuzluk\u2019 <\/p>\n This wildly inventive coming of age story follows Turkish Colombian American theatre artist izzy sazak as they deconstruct the heroes of their childhood. It\u2019s a bold, imaginative examination of how we recontextualize the stories that we are told as kids. Throughout the piece, sazak examines their father, his Turkish heritage, and the Turkish mythos that they grew up instilled with. It is a magnificent look at the crossroads of culture, legacy, and family; while also being frankly honest about how many people idolize political figures.<\/p>\n sazak is an effortless performer, immediately engaging with the audience, establishing a welcome and safe feeling throughout the performance. They are also very adept at comedy: their timing is precise, and they can easily adapt and improvise. <\/p>\n The word tuzluk is Turkish for \u201csalt and pepper shakers,\u201d but it is also a colloquial name for the folded paper toys that kids use to tell their futures. This item is used both as a literary device, as sazak unravels their future through the show, and also as set pieces. <\/p>\n Several tuzluks of varying sizes are arranged on the stage, and are utilized as props. The final moments of the show, when the last tuzluk is opened, is one of the most cathartic, community focused finales I\u2019ve ever experienced in a theatre. <\/p>\n \u2014 F.S.<\/p>\n Best true story, retold: \u2018Kramer\/Fauci\u2019<\/p>\n C-SPAN isn\u2019t usually the place where one might find dramatic inspiration. But for director\/creator Daniel Fish, one hour of a televised debate in 1993 provided an insightful window into a painful history that still resonates deeply. His innovative verbatim play follows a contentious conversation between Larry Kramer, the fierce activist\/playwright who founded ACT UP, and Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the time, about then-President Bill Clinton\u2019s new task force to address the AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n On the sparse stage only four actors appear, playing the moderator (Greig Sargent), Fauci (Pete Simpson), Kramer (Thomas Jay Ryan), and the callers who dial into the TV segment (Jennifer Seastone). There are no cameras, no desks or green screens to evoke the monotony of C-SPAN\u2019s regular programming; instead, the moderator is seated and his guests move around freely while Seastone spins around on roller skates, occasionally donning a chicken suit. The pared down production allows Kramer and Fauci\u2019s sparring to take the spotlight (literally) but also creates a dynamic movement that keeps the audience engaged in their hot-and-cold ping-pong match without feeling like we\u2019re watching a live podcast taping. <\/p>\n It\u2019s far from boring, no matter how wonky the dialogue gets. Ryan\u2019s Kramer erupts on a dime, shouting and throwing barbs and teasingly threatening to slap Fauci, who deflects and delivers defensive, boilerplate responses typical of a bureaucrat, knowing that his answers are dissatisfying. Kramer is fuming and defiant, demanding urgency from a government and a public whose inert response to the epidemic was a systemic, fatal failure on an unimaginable scale. When the callers chime in, many express sympathy, but one chilling, virulently homophobic standout accuses him of infecting the nation\u2019s bloodline. <\/p>\n The most dramatic moment comes rather abruptly, when a towering bubble machine churns out a mass of suds that slowly takes over the stage. Kramer sits next to it, arms crossed, resigned as the machine whirs and the foam spreads.<\/p>\n Given the devastating subject matter, I didn\u2019t expect to laugh so much. The pair at the center of the show hold profound respect for each other despite their disagreements and there\u2019s a familiarity to their banter that underscores their shared goal; their debate is almost endearing to hear in retrospect today, if the reality wasn\u2019t so infuriating. It ends with an epic line from Kramer when asked for his last word: \u201cI want Bill Clinton to come out of the closet \u2026 and do something about this disease.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014 R.C.<\/p>\n Most Promising: \u2018Returned, Iridescent\u2019<\/p>\n There is a scarcity of narrative stories that showcase LGBTQ+ people growing up and living into old age. Oftentimes, these characters are burdened with struggle, defeat, and frequently, a tragic end; especially stories of trans people. Returned, Iridescent, the new work by playwright Rose Farrell, defies this trope by taking the audience on a beautifully poetic journey of two queer characters who constantly collide, combust, and separate, only to be drawn back together again and again. The text shifts between realism and poetry, allowing the characters to be both their true selves and romanticized versions. It is a beautiful story about finding yourself, loving yourself, and accepting the happiness that you deserve.<\/p>\n Breathtakingly nuanced performances from the two leads (Olive Gallagher & Gideon Caro McDonald) help ground this work in the moment. Watching the two of them effortlessly push, pull, and play with each other is a joy. I\u2019m eager to see what these two talents do next. Strong design elements, with direction by Jack McManus, help this play to soar. <\/p>\n This play is an extremely timely one, given the current social and political discourse around trans people, which often serves to dehumanize or vilify them. I commend Theatre by Development for choosing to tell this story now, and hope that it is told many times more. <\/p>\n \u2014 F.S.<\/p>\n Nerdiest romance: \u2018Wikipedilove\u2019<\/p>\n A Newfoundland town called Dildo. The erotic novella A Billionaire Dinosaur Forced Me Gay. Eva Braun?<\/p>\n All are ripe for exploration at the love-and-sex-themed Wikipedilove, the lo-fi, musical PowerPoint presentation staged at West Philly Fringe hub Studio 34. <\/p>\n Writer, singer, and guitarist Noam Osmond \u2014 who moonlights as a \u201ctroubadour for hire\u201d and can occasionally be spotted serenading strangers in Clark Park \u2014 and singer and accordionist Anna Apostolidis take the audience through a whirlwind of weird internet, told through screenshots, academic analysis, and cutesy folk songs. <\/p>\n In under an hour, we learn, for instance, that gray whales mate in threes (\u201c#consensuwhale\u201d) and that there\u2019s a Wikipedia page of \u201cList of sexually active popes,\u201d among many other NSFW topics. <\/p>\n At the packed Friday night performance I attended, audience members were game to sing and sway along, emblematic of the participatory theatre that makes the Fringe Festival so special. <\/p>\n Two actors dressed as sparkly winged green and yellow bugs who appeared in the finale were a highlight of the show \u2014 luna moths, which live for just one week, solely to mate. Because who says science can\u2019t be silly and sexy?<\/p>\n \u2014 J.Z.<\/p>\n Strangest existential journey: \u2018Utopian Hotline\u2019<\/p>\n A night at the museum is always a fun set up for a new adventure. This trip to the cosmos \u2014 courtesy of the theatermakers at Mitu, an experimental group based in Brooklyn \u2014 took place inside the Franklin Institute<\/a>\u2019s Fels Planetarium. <\/p>\n At the center of the room sat a round desk with a camera, turntable, microphones, and telephones. Audience members wore headphones and sat back as the domed screen above came alive with the trippy, philosophical show.<\/p>\n The titular hotline is real, inspired by the Golden Record that NASA sent to space that\u2019s meant to represent earth, featuring sounds from voices to waterfalls to classical music. Mitu\u2019s project imagines the messages we could send out into the universe if we created another record with people answering the prompt, \u201cHow do you imagine a more perfect future?\u201d<\/p>\n