Cincinnati, get ready to be immersed in weirdness via Know Theatre's annual Fringe Festival, which just unveiled its 2019 lineup.
Spanning two weeks (May 31-June 15), the theatre and arts festival is the largest and longest-running (this year marks its sweet 16) event of its kind regionally. Pulling from over 100 applicants, this year's lineup is made up of 34 hour-long productions, which will unfold at venues across the Queen City, with Know's 1120 Jackson St. theatre acting as the fest's hub.
Check out the full lineup here.
Here's a lowdown on what to expect:
The primary lineup consists of Fringe's main shows — the aforementioned 34 — which is made up of 17 locally-produced shows and 17 out-of-town ones. Productions range from 90 Lies an Hour, from the mind of Paul Strickland, a 10-time "Best of Fest" winner at fringe fests across North America, to Queen City Flash's Zoinks!, described as a teen sleuth caper where "Nancy Drew meets Strangers Things." Topics range from online dating (Dawn Larsen's The Vicious Hillbilly or Dating in the Deep South) to the life of one of the Cincinnati Zoo's most prominent residents: Martha the Passenger Pigeon (Autumn Kaleidoscope's Martha).
Other elements to watch out for include Fringe Next, which features two productions helmed by local high school artists. All That Ish Productions' Child of Friday follows a child neglected by her superstitious mother for being born on Friday the 13th and Caldera Studios' Tales From the Cuckoo Club is the story of two twins who, after one attempts suicide and is hospitalized, must reconcile their differences.
Fringe Development is made up of production workshops, staged readings and artist-led master classes. Programming is still-to-be-announced, so keep your eyes peeled. Same goes for Visual Fringe, which will showcase artworks in galleries around Cincinnati, and Film Fringe, which will highlight all-things-weird in the world of cinema. (Both are TBA)
Family Friendly Fringe shows are free and fit for adults and kiddos alike. This year, productions include improv group ComedySportz Cincinnati, the interactive Show Up, Kids! and a MadCap Puppets' staging of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
If you're still wide awake, the Fringe Bar Series will offer late-night events (TBA) until the wee hours at Know Theatre's Underground Bar each day of the festival.
Special events include podcaster extraordinaire Travis McElroy, who will present CUSS: Fringe Edition, his "super secret" talk show. You can also catch Desperately Seeking the Exit, a solo performance from Peter Michael Marino, and trueFringe, in which Fringe artists share their stories, as well as The Umbrella Team, featuring eight teens exploring ideas of labels in regard to gender and sexuality.
Single tickets cost $15 per show; passes range from $75-$250. More info: cincyfringe.com.