MANHATTAN — New York City characters are in the spotlight for the 15th anniversary of the largest multi-arts festival in North America.
The New York International Fringe Festival — a massive theater medley starting Friday that features more than 200 companies from around the world — is taking over the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village.
"There are eight million stories in the Naked City... so, meet a few friends in the 'Smoking Section' or get to know your neighbors in 'The Apartment,'" FringeFest NYC said of works that are part of "My NYC Story", the festival's wacky sampler of plays, burlesque shows, comedy routines and puppet shows.
The plays broach subjects from near-death experiences and drug abuse to strangers connecting at an airport during a snowstorm.
"If you are looking for a great time head to the East Village Open Mic. night, ask Sammy about the time he got mugged, and maybe Maya will tell you why there’s a whale in the Hudson — get ready, this is our NYC," the site said.
Starting Friday, "MY NYC Story" will include comedic pieces such as "Poe-Dunk: A Matchbox Entertainment," which is a puppet show tribute to the work of Edgar Allen Poe. And it will feature serious dramas such as "BREAK," a piece on members of the NYPD and FDNY recovering from 9/11.
The 15th anniversary of FringeNYC will have more than 1,200 plays in more than 20 venues south of Midtown running through Aug. 28.
In addition to the "MY NYC" section of the festival, FringeNYC will feature FringeJR shows, a series of family-friendly plays that will be part of this year's Summer Streets — seven miles of car-free streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park during the next two Saturdays.
The kid-friendly shows include "Happy Worst Day Ever," a play about school cliques and peer pressure, and "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly and Other Heroines that Reach for the Sky!", a show about fairy tales.
To see the complete line-up of FringeNYC shows please visit their website.
