The Atlanta Fringe Festival opens its 14th annual run on Wednesday, May 27, with a free preview night at Seven Stages in Little Five Points and runs through June 7 across seven venues in east Atlanta. This year’s festival features 51 shows and nearly 250 performances by storytellers and actors from various backgrounds, disciplines, and experience levels, selected entirely by lottery.
How Atlanta Fringe works
The Atlanta Fringe is produced by Twinhead Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and run by a core volunteer committee of 10 people. Every artist taking part is selected through an unjuried lottery. Low submission and production fees are designed to keep participation accessible across economic backgrounds.
Once selected, each artist is guaranteed four performances and one technical rehearsal in one of the festival’s venues, all of which are fully staffed with technicians and front-of-house workers. Artists keep their box office receipts — after a small processing fee. Performers are also eligible for cash prizes voted on by audiences, including awards for large- and small-cast productions. A Critic’s Choice and Producer’s Choice award are also given. And, every artist receives professional photographs of their show.
Venues and what’s on
The festival is anchored in Little Five Points and East Atlanta. Seven Stages serves as the primary hub, with both its black box and main stage in use. Supermarket Atlanta hosts three stages of its own. Street Fringe, added in 2024, brings buskers and outdoor performers into the streets and sidewalks around festival HQ throughout both weekends.
This year’s programming spans theater, dance, storytelling, magic, burlesque, drag, improv, clowning and puppetry. Highlights include Road Trip Improv, hosted and produced by Madeline Evans and featuring more than 30 Atlanta improvisers throughout its Fringe run, with a musical improv night and a puppet improv night featuring a Jim Henson puppeteer.
