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For fringe artists Jake Mierva and Danylo Loutchko, the partnership that fuels their theatre company began in a rather unconventional setting: a workshop of the second act of a five-act Russian play performed in the style of Polish avant-garde artist Tadeusz Kantor. Both were confused and amused.

For Paul Snider, the road to becoming a full-time theatre maker was not a straight line but rather a long arc connecting rhythm, logic, and creativity. A trained musician and computer scientist, Paul spent years developing software by day while nurturing a growing artistic career by night. Eventually, that balance shifted. In 2009, he left the tech world behind to pursue the arts full-time, and he has not looked back.

I saw so many incredible shows from February to August. I loved all of them for different reasons. And while I am always here to cheer on the fringe artist, I don't want to just give out participation ribbons. This year I selected just a handful of shows from across the four festivals to give a Best of Fringe Award to.

Fear has a way of holding us in place, keeping us from trying new things or experiencing life in unexpected ways. For some, fear takes the form of a paralyzing phobia. For others, it is a quiet, persistent self-doubt that says, “This isn’t for you.” But for William D’Ovidio, co-owner of Aerial Arts of Rochester, the arts, and specifically the aerial arts, became a way to face fear head-on and find freedom in the process.

Stand up, and specifically storytelling, allows me to do what I find I can't do with a lot of other acting and performance and that is tell the stories I think matter the most in a speedy manner. I can immediately start addressing an issue that has come up in the news, or in my life without having to go through the trouble of addressing funding bodies, auditions, or relying on anyone else.

This year I arrived at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe during the last week of the festival. The energy was comparably different from my experience last year during the first week of the festival. Crowds were smaller (but not abysmal), performers were very tired, but the shows were still crackin’!

I've wanted to visit Scandinavia for so long! I applied to the Baltic-Nordic fringe circuit a few years back, and was thrilled when I got into several of them (they're curated), but didn’t have time or funds to make it work in time. As an American and a struggling artist at that, it's a really long way to go and quite an expense just for one weekend-long festival, but the Oslo Fringe kindly gave me a deferral so that I could return a year later.

I've said it once, I'll say it again, I love the Minnesota Fringe! It is one of the most well-run festivals I have been a part of, and I'm not saying that just because I worked the festival this year. The 2026 shows were a blast, with about 75% local productions and 25% touring productions. Keep reading for our reviews.

The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is one of the largest fringe festivals in the world and the longest-running fringe festival in North America. Over the years, the festival has established its own space, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns, complete with multiple theatres. With over 200 shows, it was hard to choose a top 10 list. The bonus picks feature some of our fringy friends from the podcast, who many of you will know and love.

Minnesota Fringe is one of my favorite fringe festivals. The number one reason is that the people are amazing: artists, staff, volunteers, patrons, reviewers- the entire ecosystem of the festival is top-notch. With over 100 shows, I had some narrowing down to do, and here are my top picks for the Minnesota Fringe. Don’t forget to check out the Bonus Picks; they are special.

I have strong feelings about how comedy shows are categorized at Edinburgh Fringe. There is an abundance of stand-up comedians, which is lovely, and many people are down to see those kinds of shows. But what gets my goat is that all other comedy shows get lumped in the same genre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. You won’t find any stand-up on this list (in my world, that would be an entirely different post). Here we focus on theatre, clown, and improv.

Edinburgh Fringe season is almost here, do you know what shows you are going to see? With over 3,500 shows this year, the task can get a little daunting. As of right now, I’ve received over 400 pitches to my inbox; that’s a lot of flyering. I’ve spent hours scouring the fringe websites, looking at shows, trying not to miss someone. I try my best to suggest a variety of shows, at a variety of venues, and at varying levels of “clout” (if you will).

Most of us in this space are theatre kids. We were bitten by the theatre bug in our early years, and I would bet that many of you could still name the theatre teachers who got you into this whole mess. There is something special about a theatre teacher. Not only are they meeting you during the developmental years of life, but they are also intricately involved in cultivating your artistic notions and helping you learn to express yourself.

Q&A with Philadelphia Fringe Artist Donna Oblongata. Donna, you do more than perform; you direct and teach many clowns in Philadelphia. How does this impact your work? I love teaching and teach a really specific pedagogy, called Pochinko Clown, or Clown Through Mask, that comes from Canada. It's different from all the LeCoq and Gaulier stuff most people are familiar with. Teaching clowns is great because every time I'm giving them a lesson, I'm also giving myself one.

Melancholics Anonymous has become an established theater company that is fiscally sponsored, produces full seasons of theater, which include an annual new play workshop series, and has gotten some serious buzz. And yet all of our growth and incredible experience trace back to that first Minnesota Fringe opportunity, which started as a simple dream.

NESTING is the newst play from Peter McCormick playing at Summerhall this August during the Edinburgh Fringe. Peter is the playwright and will be featured in the cast. Full of heart, laughs, and, I am sure, a few tears, NESTING is sure to stir up a reminder of the people who have raised you and the love you have for them.

A few weeks ago, I got to be a fly on the wall at the World Fringe Congress, a gathering of fringe festival directors from around the world. Like, WTF?! who gets to do that?! I was one of a few delegates not directly working with a festival. We all had a blast spending the week geeking out about fringe, and seeing a few good fringe shows. While I can’t divulge all the juicy details (what happens at Congress, stays at Congress), I’d love to share a few things every fringe arti

We are thrilled to introduce a new series to the blog, Artists Q&A. It is another avenue to provide platforms for artists and celebrate all that is fringe. This week, we are featuring Canadian artist Holly Brinkman, whose newest show is A Woman's Guide to Romance Novels.

Last week, I had the honor of attending the 2026 World Fringe Congress in San Diego, CA, during the San Diego International Fringe Festival. I was fortunate enough to catch a few shows throughout the week. It was exciting to see that SD fringe secured a few new state-of-the-art venues in partnership with San Diego State University. Additionally, the Baja Fringe Bi-National Fringe Program featured a multi-day lineup and was well-received. Now on to the Reviews!

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has long been known as a launching pad for bold and boundary-pushing theater. For Xhloe Rice and Natasha Rowland, a New York–based duo creating absurdist clown physical theater, the journey to Fringe began with little more than a duffel bag of props and a desire to share their work with a wider audience. What they discovered in Edinburgh not only transformed their careers but also reshaped their understanding of what success at Fringe really mean