JEFFERSON PARK — The Chicago Fringe Festival will return to Jefferson Park in 2015 — and add several slots for performances featuring families with children younger than 12.
The festival will run from Sept. 3-13, and applications for the festival will be available at 8 a.m. Monday at chicagofringe.org, with 13 spots set aside for performers who are the first to apply starting at 10 a.m. Dec. 20.
Last year, the guaranteed spots were snapped up by eager performers in two minutes, organizers said.
Performers who aren't quick enough to nab one of the guaranteed spots have until Feb. 15 to apply to be part of the festival.
The remaining 37 slots will be awarded through a lottery on Feb. 28. Half of the spots will be set aside for Chicago artists, and five shows will launch the Kids Fringe pilot program during the festival's sixth year, organizers said.
Kids Fringe will also include free activities and workshops at Fringe Central, the fest's main box office and party spot, organizers said.
Artists vying for a guaranteed slot at the festival must pay their participation fee — based on the number of times they wish to perform, ranging from $275 to $575 — when they submit their application.
Performance pieces must be 80 percent choreographed or scripted, and no entirely improvisational shows are allowed, organizers said. The work should be between 45 and 60 minutes long and set-up and removal must take no longer than 10 minutes, organizers said.
For the first time, work performed in Chicago or the surrounding counties during the previous year is eligible for the festival, organizers said.
More than 4,300 tickets were sold for performances during the 2014 festival, a record, which meant more money for the artists, who receive 100 percent of the festival's ticket sales. The 50 artists who performed during the 2014 festival split nearly $30,000, more than in 2013.
Acts in the 2014 festival included a rap musical, a science-fiction radio play and a performance by drag entertainers from Utah.
The festival spent its first three years in Pilsen.
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