Minnesota Fringe Festival

Minnesota Fringe Festival
Current Fringe logo
LocationMinneapolis, Minnesota
Founded1994
Founded byBob McFadden
Artistic directorDawn Bentley
SelectorUnjuried
Type of play(s)Comedy, drama, dance, musical, something different
Festival dateAugust 4–14, 2022[1] (varies by year, see here for all past dates)
Websiteminnesotafringe.org

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, every summer, usually during the first two weeks in August. The eleven-day event, which features performing artists of many genres and disciplines, is one of many Fringe Festivals in North America. Minnesota Fringe is the largest nonjuried festival in the United States[2] and the third-largest Fringe festival in North America. In 2013, Minnesota Fringe ran August 1–11 and featured 176 shows with a total of 895 performances in multiple venues around the city and distributed 50,007 tickets over the eleven-day event. In 2007, attendance and box office revenue were adversely affected by the collapse of the I-35W bridge the day before the festival opened.

Fringe shows are 60 minutes or less and appear in an official venue supplied by the festival for five performances stretched out over the festival's eleven days. Venues vary widely, with capacities ranging from 55 to over 400, and available configurations include black-box, proscenium, thrust or arena stages. Past venues include Minneapolis Theatre Garage, HUGE Improv Theater, Mixed Blood Theatre mainstage, Theatre de la Jeune Lune's side stage and the four stages at the University of Minnesota's Rarig Center.[3] Normally, eleven shows will share a venue.

Performing companies that participate in the Fringe split a share of the ticket revenues with the festival and pay an application fee. Currently, the artists' share is 65 percent of the box office revenue.

The festival has been run by executive director Dawn Bentley, who assumed this position on April 3, 2017,[4] after former executive director Jeff D. Larson stepped down in October 2016.[5] The next instance of the Festival will take place between August 4–14, 2022.[1]

Minnesota Fringe Festival is a founding member of United States Association of Fringe Festivals (USAFF).[6]

  1. ^ a b Roth, Ellie (July 5, 2022). "Intermission Is Over: The Fringe Fest Is Back". Mpls. St. Paul. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  2. ^ Royce, Graydon (August 11, 2014). "Fringe Festival hits new ticket record". Star Tribune. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  3. ^ "Minnesota Fringe will have 20 Minneapolis venues". St. Paul Pioneer Press. March 26, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  4. ^ Preston, Rohan (February 28, 2017). "A new director takes the helm at the Minnesota Fringe Festival". Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  5. ^ Hewitt, Chris (February 28, 2017). "Minnesota Fringe Festival finds a director". St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  6. ^ "What is Fringe?". United States Association of Fringe Festivals. Retrieved November 21, 2014.