The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival has some hurdles to clear as it prepares to commandeer stages from May 13 to 26. Last year, attendance at the long-running extravaganza of independent theater, dance, storytelling and less-easy-to-categorize artistic expression topped out at around 50,000—a drop of more than 25 percent from 2023.
What’s more, the operating budget will, for the second year, no longer include a $70,000 to $80,000 grant previously received from the State of Florida.
Melissa Fritzinger, the festival’s managing director, attributes the falloff in attendance, in large part at least, to a post-COVID malaise that she feels has gotten audiences out of the habit of attending live indoor entertainment events.
To reverse that trend, Fritzinger’s organization has put in place a number of new features and procedures designed to bring patrons out to the festival, which, as usual, will offer a buffet of options with something for every taste—from bawdy revues to family-friendly fare.
Staying true to its roots, the official slogan for Orlando Fringe 2025 is “Let Your Fringe Flag Fly,” which boomers will recognize as an adaptation of the classic counterculture rallying cry “Let Your Freak Flag Fly.” It’s meant to send a message that the festival will continue to embrace its character as an unfettered, uncensored forum for expression that tends toward the bohemian.
Notes Fritzinger: “This year, it’s all about the freedom to express yourself. It’s just giving people permission to experience art and life the way that they want to.”
Locals have been doing precisely that since 1992, when Orlando theater maven Terry Olson and his producing partner, the late Andy Anthony, launched the festival with a smattering of shows in a tented parking lot downtown. Since then, Orlando Fringe has gone on to become the longest-running fringe festival in North America.
Taking its cue from such big-brother events as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival—which was started in 1947 to accommodate performers who had been locked out of the bigger and more prestigious Edinburgh International Festival—the local event supplies a platform for independent artists to present their dream projects.
Except for a few shows that the festival programs itself, management exerts no control over the lineup or the content. Performers are chosen via a blind lottery and proceeds from ticket sales are returned directly to the artists. The festival makes its money from the sale of wearable buttons that patrons must sport to be permitted entry into the shows.
According to Fritzinger, several signs point to an upswing for the event in 2025. While the state money is surely missed, private donors have upped their contributions to help offset the loss. And a slightly larger number of would-be Fringers submitted entries for this year’s lottery: 326, up from 318 in 2024. In total, the festival will host 107 shows this year. That’s actually a small drop from last year’s 114 shows, but easily attributable to a reduction in the number of what the festival calls “BYOVs (Bring Your Own Venues),” which are satellite locations that curate their own selection of shows independent of the lottery.
The 2025 festival will be run under a “tri-directorate” leadership structure, with a trio of principals who wield equal authority. Managing Director Melissa Fritzinger has put in place a number of new features and procedures designed to bring patrons out to the festival in larger numbers; Artistic Director Tempestt Halstead covers theming, programming and technical matters; and Director of Experience Genevieve Bernard oversees marketing and development. | Courtesy Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival
This year’s BYOVs are Savoy Orlando, the Renaissance Theatre Company and the newly added Ten10 Brewing Company. The main venues will once again be located in Loch Haven Cultural Park, with five stages at Orlando Shakes and four more across the parking lot at Orlando Family Stage.
Notable features on this year’s performance schedule—which had not yet been set at press time—include the return of the Osaka-based collective Theatre Group GUMBO, a favorite with audiences for its absurdist yet thought-provoking flights of fancy.
Fritzinger says there are also a number of titles on the schedule that riff on classic works by the likes of Shakespeare and Jane Austen. And the 2025 festival marks the 10th and final year for the burlesque troupe Corsets and Cuties, which will retire following this swan-song run of performances.
Another goal this year is to have more activity on the festival’s “Green Lawn of Fabulousness,” an outdoor midway point between the Shakes and Orlando Family Stage where patrons and performers congregate to grab drinks from a makeshift bar and nourishment from food trucks while they watch free performances on an al fresco stage.
In addition to the traditional lineup of eclectic performers, Fritzinger promises such new ventures as an artist-led bingo game, a freestyle breakdancing competition and a pet adoption day.
The schedule of outdoor events is also going to be advertised more prominently in the festival’s printed program, she says, which should help make the lawn more of a destination in its own right.
In addition, there’ll be new elements to the Visual Fringe art gallery inside the Shakes, where works by local artists are available for purchase and special events are presented. This year, those events will include interactive installations and a body-paint fashion show.
And you won’t want to miss the family-friendly Kids’ Fringe, which marks the arrival of Bethany Post, the new producer, who is expanding both the menu of interactive options and the sensory-friendly area that provides a calming breather from the surrounding excitement. (Kids’ Fringe will be held at the Orlando Garden Club, 710 East Rollins Street, Orlando.)
Speaking of youngsters, there’s also the forward-looking “Fringers of the Future” campaign, in which theater programs from local schools are selected and provided with mentorships, workshops and production fees to enable them to mount their own performances. This year’s recipients are Ocoee High School, Cypress Creek High School and Cornerstone Charter Academy.
But some of the improvements are going on behind the scenes—less visible, perhaps, but equally important to the event’s ongoing success. For example, 2025 is the first year the festival will be run under a “tri-directorate” leadership structure, with a trio of principals who wield equal authority taking charge of discrete operational aspects.
Fritzinger handles operations, policy, human resources and finance; Artistic Director Tempestt Halstead covers theming, programming and technical matters; and Director of Experience Genevieve Bernard oversees marketing and development.
That significant org-chart change represents a marked evolution for the festival, which for many years was run by a producer who had responsibility for both the artistic and business sides and then by a two-person team that divided those duties between them.
The current trio will be able to concentrate more closely on day-to-day matters while the festival is underway, especially since Fringe ArtSpace, the festival’s attempt to operate an ongoing performance venue in Downtown Orlando, closed its doors last February after two years of operation.
(A new location is being sought for two Fringe-produced events that were displaced by the loss of ArtSpace: FestN4, a winter mini-festival that’s made up of curated shows, and the LGBT-themed Orlando Out Fest, which debuted last September.)
Something attendees will notice right away is that the top ticket price for performances remains $15. That should come as a relief to veteran festivalgoers, who frequently cited the gradual increase of the price ceiling as a reason that they no longer saw as many shows as they previously did.
To Fritzinger, though, the main draw of the festival remains its unpredictable nature. There’s just no telling what you’re going to see, whether it’s a solo monologist describing the challenges of a life-threatening illness or a bunch of Japanese pranksters hurling themselves about the stage in inflatable sumo outfits.
Notes Fritzinger: “People should come and experience the Fringe for themselves and see that we do have something for everyone.” Loch Haven Cultural Park is located at 777 East Princeton Street, Orlando. For more information, visit orlandofringe.org.
