2004 Minnesota Fringe Festival — August 6-15:

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is the largest Fringe Festival in the nation and this year it's celebrating its 11th season with over 850 performances of 175 different shows and a projected attendance of 45,000.

Theater companies and individual performers from across Minnesota, the U.S., Canada and Europe will perform in 19 different venues throughout the Downtown, Loring Park, Powderhorn, Uptown and Lyn-Lake areas.

NEW this year are:

• Fringe Central – a tent for Fringe audiences and performers located near Loring Park featuring food, drink, ticket sales, sneak previews and more
• Fast Fringe - a collection of original short plays
• Stand-Up Fringe - a stand-up comedy showcase
• Digital Fringe - online videos featured on the Fringe website.

Returning to the Fringe are:

• Kids’ Fringe returns for the fourth year, spotlighting shows by, for and about kids.
• Spoken Word Fringe celebrates all things spoken including storytelling, poetry, rants and slam.
• Visible Fringe brings visual arts to Fringe audiences, displaying saleable artwork through the duration of the Fringe.
• Colorful chalk art created by volunteer artists returns to the sidewalks of selected venues for the fifth straight year.

Also, for the fourth year, ASL-interpreted (American Sign Language) and Audio Described shows will be available for select Fringe performances and will be noted on the Fringe website, in the printed program and on Theater Listings at VSA Arts.

The 2004 Fringe website contains the offical Fringe schedule, individual show descriptions and images, performer bios, blogs, photo galleries, Digital Fringe and more! Audience members are encouraged to submit reviews online during the Fringe. Last year the Fringe website received a record 3.3 million hits and almost 1,000 online audience reviews during the run of the Fringe.

Fringe commemorative buttons, good for discounts at select retailers, are $3 each. Tickets to each show are $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors and $5 for kids. Each adult, student or senior ticket is $2 off when wearing a Fringe button. The UltraPass (unlimited Fringe pass to all shows) is available for $125 and a Punch Card (five shows for less than the price of four) is $45. The Fringe button is free with a purchase of an UltraPass or Punch Card. Advance tickets can be purchased through Uptown Tix: 612-604-4466.

Click here for more information.