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Fringe Festival announces performance lineup, including 6 world premieres

Although we’re over two months out from the start of this year’s Fringe Festival, presented by FringeArts, tickets to 12 featured performances—six of which are world premieres—are on sale now.

Although we're over two months out from the start of this year's Fringe Festival, presented by FringeArts, tickets to 12 featured performances—six of which are world premieres—are on sale now. The 18th annual celebration of independent and innovative performances starts on Friday, September 5 and runs until Sunday, September 21 at venues around the city and at the new FringeArts waterfront brick and mortar home.

Of the works that are premiering, Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theatre Company and New Paradise Laboratories bring their theater pieces to the festival. 99 BREAKUPS, presented by the Pig Iron Theatre Company takes a look at the end—the end of a love, a cell, a musical group. The 22-person cast takes the intimate moments of romantic severance, friendship fracturing and other life-changing conclusions and puts them on display at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on Broad Street. Performances take place on September 4 through September 7, September 9 and 10 and September 14 through the 16.

New Paradise Laboratories' The Adults is the result of when vacationing adults behave badly. The physical and choreographed performance scored by local experimental composer Bhob Rainey plays at the Painted Bride Art Center in Old City September 3 through September 7, and September 10 through September 14.

Three choreographers from Seattle, Israel and Austria will work with 20 dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet to create dances set to the music of the Curtis Institute of Music composers and alumni for What I Learned About Outer Space. The group will have three weeks to choreograph and rehearse the works that premiere September 5 through September 7 at FringeArts in Old City.

The Fringe Festival Centerpiece performance takes a group of 100 Philadelphians of various ages, races, sexual orientations, containing physical characteristics and more and asks them questions about their lives and experiences. 100% Philadelphia's interactivity allows audiences to see how a variety of neighbors, friends and fellow residents respond to certain situations. The real-life statistical showcase runs from September 19 through September 21 at Temple Performing Arts Center in Lew Klein Hall at Temple University.

Other highlighted performaces include public art installation WetLand, in which the artist will live on the Independence Seaport Museum located habitat for the duration of the festival, Experiment #39, a personalized walking tour of Old City, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, in which a different actor reads the script for the first time during each performance plays at Christ Church Neighborhood House, and FringeArts, In The Pony Palace/Football where an all-female cast explores the male-dominated world of high school football at Christ Church Neighborhood House.

The Fringe Festival also brings about the opening of FringeArt's bar and restaurant, La Peg, which will offer late-night entertainment during the multi-day performance showcase and Feastival, a dining extravaganza held in coordination with the arts demonstration.

Tickets to other festival performances will be on sale next month. More details on the festival and ticket purchasing options are available on the Fringe Festival website.