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NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL
** 12th Annual Festival runs August 8- 24 **

New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will present the 12th annual festival from August 8th - 24th, 2008. This year, the festival will offer performances by 202 of the world's best emerging theatre troupes and dance companies. The festival will present works covering a wide range of disciplines including theater, dance, performance art, children's theater, spoken word, puppetry, comedy, improv and multimedia.

This year, 20 of New York City's most prominent downtown performance venues will host productions from around the globe as part of FringeNYC 2008. Participating venues, ranging in size from 50 to 700 seats, include Pace University’s Schimmel Center & Schaberle Studio, Soho Playhouse, Theatre 80, The Deluxe at Spiegelworld, Cherry Lane Theatre, Players Theater, The Connelly Theater, The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street, Barrow Street Theatre and The CSV Cultural and Educational Center. FringeNYC is a production of The Present Company, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Elena K. Holy. In November 2007, Michael Bloomberg presented FringeNYC with the prestigious Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture.

In 1997, New York City became the seventh US city to host a fringe festival, joining Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston, Orlando and San Francisco. In its first eleven years, FringeNYC has presented over 2000 performing groups from the U.K., Canada, Poland, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Germany, the Czech Republic and across the U.S., prompting Switzerland’s national daily, The New Zurich Zeitung, to declare, "FringeNYC has become the premiere meeting ground for alternative artists." The festival has also been the launching pad for numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers, long-running downtown hits, and regional theater productions including Urinetown, Never Swim Alone, Debbie Does Dallas, Dog Sees God, 21 Dog Years, Joys of Sex, Dixie’s Tupperware Party, Matt & Ben, Walmartopia, Bash’d and Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer.

Tickets are $15 each available 212-279-4488 (inside NYC) or 1-888.FRINGENYC (outside NYC). Discount passes for multiple shows are also available. For more information visit FringeNYC.org.