Fringe Encore July 30, 31, August 1

The Tragical Ballad of Black Bonnet returns for four encore performances

Join the Fringe for encore performances of
The Tragical Ballad of Black Bonnet plus new original stage and screen pieces

New Orleans Fringe announces encore evenings of Fringe with the return of The Tragical Ballad of Black Bonnet, plus new original pieces, in an incredible lineup of creative madness on strings, screen and stage.

Four shows only!! July 30, 31 at 8 pm and August 1 at 8 pm and 11 pm. Tickets are only $12 Buy your tickets now!! Ages 18-up.

A favorite from the 2008 Festival, The Tragical Ballad of Black Bonnet is an original puppet operetta based on the true story of an intersexed housemaid in 16th century Scotland. The tale follows the plight of Black Bonnet, the kitchen maid, as she and Liliana, the Landlord’s lovely daughter, fall madly in love. Can boundless romance survive on strings in a tiny world?! Music, mania, and marionettes. Created and performed by New Orleans’ Black Forest Fancies, Black Bonnet was one of the audience favorites in the 2008 Festival.

The full evening of Fringe includes the bizarre and otherworldly stop-animation films of award-winning local film-maker Thomas Little. Audiences are also treated to the premiere of a wild new multimedia performance with video, aerial, puppetry and music called The Legend of Suzie Sidesaddle, an eerie ghost story about a mechanical doll, created and performed by the phenomenal Ratty Scurvics and Oops the Clown.

At the Marigny Theatre, 2240 St. Claude Avenue in the Marigny in New Orleans. Showtimes: July 30, 31 at 8 pm and August 1 at 8 pm and 11 pm. Tickets are $12, available at the door or online. We encourage buying tickets ahead of time online. Click here!

Fringe Photo Gallery

Check out the 2008 shows here in the Photo Gallery!

One of the very great moments of the 2008 Fringe Festival was the GoodChildren Fringe Parade, where performers joined up with local folks for the original New Orleans street performance! Highlights included Grand Marshall and fire performer Dominic Mocada and the Frederick Douglass High School Marching band.

The 2008 New Orleans Fringe Festival: A Success Thanks to Your Support

What folks said:

"The inaugural New Orleans Fringe Festival was full to overflowing with exciting new work — too much for any one person to see and much too much to discuss in the limited space here. Theater suddenly seemed to be everywhere — in scattered oases for aesthetic Crescent City nomads. And the nomads came in droves."

-- Dalt Wonk, Gambit Weekly

Click here for the complete story.

From the audience:

"It was just the kind of event that, in my opinion, this city needs and deserves. I went to 6 shows, all but one of which completely blew my intellectual socks off, drank, danced, discovered new ideas and new art, got inspired, and generally had a ball for four days, all for under $60."

-- Festival Fan

Congratulations to the performers, volunteers, sponsors, and--of course-- the audience who supported the inaugural New Orleans Fringe Festival. Forty groups from around the country and New Orleans presented over 100 shows in venues across the city, primarily in the Marigny, Bywater and French Quarter. The shows included the exotic, the dramatic and the insane: drama, dance, one-person shows, cabaret, comedy, puppetry, clowning, circus/sideshow, improvisational, aerialist and many other creative works.Click here to see 2008 show descriptions and schedule.

Click here to download the complete 2008 Festival program.

The Buzz

Fringe Fest - David Weinberg, WWOZ StreetTalk Radio Story (audio clip and transcript), November 2008
On the Fringe - Dalt Wonk, The Gambit, November 24, 2008
Raw Talent: Let Your Freak Fly at this Weekend's Inaugural New Orleans Fringe Festival - Noah Banoparte Pais, The Gambit, November 11, 2008
The Unconvention: Fringe Fest Cues Alternative Theatre's Finest - Sara Pic, Anti-Gravity Magazine, November 2008
Plethora of peculiar stage stuff at New Orleans Fringe Festival - David Cuthbert, Theater writer, The Times-Picayune, November 7, 2008
Fringe Benefits - Dale Irvin, Country Roads Magazine, September 2008

Tell me more about Fringe...

The Festival is a forum for emerging and established performing artists to do their creative thing -- whatever it is -- at an annual multi-day, multi-venue event that is affordable and accessible to the community.

The Festival provides the venue and the audience; the performers do the rest. Anything can be performed: we let the audiences decide what is excellent, astonishing or brilliantly insane.

Festival News

BYOV applications now available! Click here to learn more.
Call for submissions! Send us your application by July 1, 2009.
March 30th, 2009 - New Orleans Fringe honored with a special award by the Big Easy Committee and The Gambit!
Check out the press coverage of the New Orleans Fringe Festival here.
Now available! Download our submission poster and email it to your friends.
Interested in sponsoring Fringe? Check out our sponsorship packages.