17th Annual Capital Fringe Festival Announced – July 11-21!

From the Capital Fringe Festival:

“The time is near for this year’s Capital Fringe Festival, our annual celebration of theatre and freedom of expression. In 2024, the Capital Fringe Festival will feature entirely original theatre, dance, and unclassifiable productions with a total of 150 cast and crew members, 83% of whom are from the DMV area and 17% from across the country and internationally.

The festival has once again moved to a new neighborhood and will take place in the Golden Triangle/Downtown DC neighborhood, in three vacant retail storefronts on Connecticut Ave NW equipped with three stages, as well as two additional stages at the Edlavitch DCJCC and Theater J. Performances will run July 11-21. Mark your calendars for June 20 when the full festival schedule will be released, and tickets go on sale.

This year’s productions are original works that open up an exploration into an array of human experiences and examine the angst on the eve of a presidential election, the joy of budding a relationship to acknowledging one’s own death, church as dance club afloat somewhere in the universe and the history of Black firefighters in Washington, DC, flamenco to modern dance and of course so much more. All shows run for 50 – 75 minutes.  And you can get a taste of some of the shows with Free Fringe Lunchtime Teasers during lunchtime at Edward R. Murrow Park.

As we prepare for our 17th annual festival, would be remised not to highlight that Capital Fringe has been in existence for 19 years, so this is our organization’s final teenage year. Capital Fringe’s annual festival is the only un-juried, self-producing live performance festival in the Washington, DC area. Since 2005, we have presented 17 festivals featuring over 52,700 artists to an audience of 393,234 ticket buyers. The festival has generated over $2.7 million in artist revenue.

This year’s festival would not be possible without the support of our partners, including the Golden Triangle BID, and our venue partners the Edlavitch DCJCC, Theater J, and Blake Real Estate.

“Bringing the Capital Fringe Festival to the Golden Triangle will make these imaginative productions accessible to a wide audience of District workers, residents, and visitors,” said Leona Agouridis, President and CEO of the Golden Triangle BID. “We are delighted to partner with Capital Fringe to host hundreds of memorable performances in the Golden Triangle this summer. Arts enliven the neighborhood and bring creative energy to vacant spaces. We look forward to welcoming Fringe performers and theatergoers to our community.”

Show us your Happy – Open Call May 6 – 26 

This year’s Fringe Festival theme is Happy. How do we experience or remember moments of happiness now? What is happiness in the Nation’s Capital? Is DC a happy city? There seems always to be a loudspeaker constantly blaring that Washington, DC is an evil (or potentially evil), dirty, or mismanaged city. Instead of just trying to mute the loudspeaker and floating around in a sea of indifference, Fringe will have an open call for photos of happiness experienced in Washington, DC May 6 – 25. These happy photos will be projected in the Golden Triangle and other neighborhoods at designated times June 20 – July 21. Happy open call information. Happy is conceived and art directed by Julianne Brienza in collaboration with BellVisuals and the Exactly Agency.

Key Capital Fringe Festival Dates

July 11-21: Thu-Fri 6pm to 11pm; Sat-Sun 11am-11pm

June 20: Capital Fringe Festival full schedule is live and tickets on sale. Tickets are $15 + $2.51

handling fee. All seats are general admission.  

June 20 & July 11: Free Fringe Lunchtime Teasers, Edward R. Murrow Park 12pm – 1:30pm

July 15, 16, 17: Fringe Happy Pop Ups 7pm – 10:30pm Locations announced June 20

July 23: Fringe Audience Awards

Connecticut Ave, NW / Downtown

All Connecticut Ave venues will be serviced by one box office at 1150 Connecticut Ave NW. All unoccupied properties are transformed into small theatre venues using platforms, flats, black duvetyne, and stage curtains for masking and built and designed by an all-local DMV crew of theatre technicians. These venues will host 23 productions doing 86 shows.

Laughter 1150 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

35 seats venue in a former TMobile.

Bliss 1122 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC,  20036

49-seat venue in a former Talbots.

Delirium 1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

52-seat venue in a former Gap.

Dupont Circle

Edlavitch DCJCC 1529 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20007

All DCJCC venues are serviced by one box on the ground floor the property. These venues will host 14 productions doing 52 shows.

Theater J/Goldman Theater

236 proscenium seat theatre.

Cafrtiz Hall 

78-seat multipurpose room with a sprung dance floor.

Festival Venues 

All shows run for 50 – 75 minutes. Late seating is done at 10 minutes only into every show at every venue. Box offices are open 30 minutes before the first show of the day and close 15 minutes after the final show.”