San Diego International Fringe Festival is back for 11 days of what it promises will be "eyeball-bursting shows," and based on preview night, it looks like it will deliver on that promise.
Although San Diego Fringe is in its 13th year, I feel like not enough people appreciate why it is so vital to the city and the arts community — and why it is so much fun to attend. I say this because the venues are small and should be selling out regularly, but they don't. So whatever I can do to turn one more person into a Fringe Geek, I will attempt.
How to fringe
The word "fringe" can be defined as "not part of the mainstream; unconventional, peripheral or extreme." So, as a veteran of navigating San Diego International Fringe Festival, here are eight tips on how to successfully fringe.
1. Visit the website. Read through the online listings to determine what you want to see and how best to plan a schedule.
2. Get a physical program with the spreadsheet. This is the easiest way to see what’s playing when and where, and if there are conflicts with other shows. But this year, DOUBLE-CHECK online because there have been last-minute changes.
3. Purchase your tickets and a Fringe tag. This is a one-time $5 festival fee to cover the organization's expenses, since 100% of ticket sales go to artists.
4. Know your environment. The home base is Balboa Park, so figure out where the other venues are, where to park and where there’s food.
5. Pack a survival kit. Balboa Park has few fast, easy food options — especially after dark. Bring a jacket if you are staring early and going late, and wear comfy shoes in case you have to run between shows.
6. Pick a day or days to venture out from the Balboa Park home base to catch shows at the venues outside the park, including some brand new ones or BYOV (Bring Your Own Venue) locations.
7. Talk to people. With multiple shows over 11 days, you can't see everything — and you don't want to miss a great show. Ask artists and Fringe-goers what they recommend you see or avoid, and then pack as much in as possible.
8. Most important: Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone to try something new — or something that is just an unknown quantity. Fringe provides the BEST opportunity to take a risk at a low-cost (some shows are free or $10, and even less with a multi-pass) and low-time commitment (shows are typically one hour).
The inspiration for the event comes from Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which has been inspiring cities around the globe to create their own alternative festivals where performers can try out original works without a filter. That means no censoring of content and no selection committees serving as gatekeepers judging on what can — or cannot — be seen.
Over the past dozen years, I have enjoyed some of the best theater I have ever seen ("9841 Rukeli," "Dr. Frankenstein's Traveling Freak Show") — and yes, some of the worst. But that is part of the adventure and what makes Fringe unique and exciting. You can walk out of a show where Prospero couldn't remember his lines and you thought you'd be trapped in a permanent freeze-frame of "The Tempest," to witnessing an entire audience being brought to emotional ruin by a riveting one-man show about a gypsy boxer in Hitler's Germany.
As an adjective, "fringe" is defined as unconventional, not part of the mainstream, and even extreme. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe spontaneously erupted in 1947 as a protest by small acting companies against the city’s mainstream theater festival that had deemed them unworthy to participate. So Fringe festivals always seem fueled by a rebellious spirit.
Newly added film showcase
Tonight is your last chance to catch a new addition to San Diego Fringe: film.
Every semester, San Diego State University’s School of Theater, Television and Film presents an Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. But this year, students will screen their work as part of the San Diego International Fringe Festival.
"I think they are a natural fit for the Fringe Festival," said Brian Hu, associate professor of television, film and new media. "Our students are in the spirit of making scrappy work. Scrappy, personal, sometimes a little bit dangerous and weird. And so, yeah, I think in that way, it matches the spirit of Fringe very well."
The film showcase ran on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Main Stage Theatre in SDSU's Performing Arts District. Tonight’s films promise to be wonderfully weird.
"Weird, both in terms of things that don't feel quite proper, but also weird in that you're messing around with style, with narrative. Weird also in just diving into genre elements," Hu said. "We have horror, we have fantasy and things that don't even fit those categories."
Not fitting into categories or meeting expectations is exactly what Fringe is all about, so this new film component feels like a perfect match.
Show recommendations
The biggest challenge at any Fringe festival is deciding what to see. There is usually little available in terms of reviews or show clips. But San Diego Fringe runs a preview night where performers present a two-minute selection from their shows, and sometimes you can get a sense for what you might want to check out.
It is always helpful if you have seen an artist before and loved their work. So I can highly recommend Matt Harvey's "Wage Against the Machine" (which I saw at New Zealand Fringe), Wendy Wynazz's "Mae West Cleans Up Her Act" (I saw her at 2016 SD Fringe) and Karen Hall's "Pandora's Box" (I previously saw her "Delusions and Grandeur") because I know the quality of these artists' past works.
Below is a recommended watchlist that I will be updating as I see more shows — and as I see the full versions of what I sampled at preview night.
Recommended San Diego Fringe Shows 2025
- "Wage Against the Machine" — Matt Harvey is a great storyteller and comedian.
- "Mae West Cleans Up Her Act" — Wendy Wynazz does physical comedy along with great storytelling. I love that she is shining a light on the great Mae West.
- "Rince Panic" — Michael Prine delivered spellbinding dance last year, so I'm confident he can do it again.
- "Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin" — Marcel Cole displayed the skills of a silent clown at preview night, so I'm eager to see his show.
- "Pandora's Boombox" — Karen Hall was great in "Delusions and Grandeur," displaying excellent clowning skills
- "Death and Murder and Poison and Scene" — Riot Productions looks to combine backstage melodrama with wicked humor.
- "Alterations" — Circus at Fringe is always fun.
- "Pretty Beast" — I have been richly rewarded by female Japanese comedians in the past, so I'm game to gamble on this.
- "Sonnets from Suburbia" — I will gamble on anything Shakespeare or Shakespeare adjacent.
- "The Last Census" — Asian Story Theatre stirs up some political commentary.
- "The Fetus Show" — Recommended solely based on their ridiculous photo. (Yes, that is sometimes how one must choose!)
- "The Queen of Fishtown" — Feels like you are on the stoop of Katierose Donohue Enriquez's hometown in Philly.
- "Nighttime Julianne" — Lani Gobaleza was impressive on preview night.
- "Makani Kai" and "Fre3sty13" — Both served up beautiful dance and music on preview night. Definitely worth checking out.
Check back for updates!
The San Diego International Fringe Festival continues through May 25. I plan to see as many shows as humanly possible. So far, I only had one year — the post-COVID return year — when I saw every single show. I will attempt that feat again, but with 45 shows, I am not sure it is physically possible.
