We interrupt your regularly scheduled theatre listings to tell you about the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. It's something that we hope will brighten your otherwise bleak, cloudy, drizzly day. It's sure brightening ours!

If you're new to Philly or perhaps just new to the Philly performing arts scene, you might be a little puzzled by all the hoopla. Just what exactly is everyone so excited about? What is this Fringe thing? Well, happily, you're asking the right blog!

A few years ago, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival split in twain. It's now the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. To the theatregoer bouncing between performances, the difference is "nearly imperceptible," Megan Wendell of Canary Promotions explained to Phillyist. Both festivals are dedicated to new and existing performance pieces, most of which are just a little (or a lot!) out of the mainstream. The big difference is that the Live Arts Festival is composed of curated pieces, invited by Live Arts administrators, whereas the Fringe is open to anyone who can pay the application fee. The festivals run concurrently from September 1-17, although some shows are already open and some will run well beyond September 18.

If you've already picked up a PLAF guide, or you've checked out the festivals' website, you already know how overwhelming it can be to choose what shows you're going to attend. Everyone has different tastes, but we thought we'd at least try to point you in the right direction by telling you some of the shows that Phillyist will be taking in. A run-down of them follows after the jump.

• EYE-95 re-tarred — This punk-rock white-trash cheerleading musical was first performed at the Fringe ten years ago, and now it's being re-vamped for this year's Fringe.
• Bitch on Wheels — Roller Derby and aerialists from De La Guarda, plus performers from the Blue Man Group? What are you waiting for, people?
• Journeys to the Edge — Vagabond Acting Troupe's Fringe contribution this year is actually in two parts: By Grimm, the first show of their regular season, and Neighbors and Friends, a collection of one acts. This Phillyist got to attend a reading of a Vagabond piece in development which originated in Neighbors and Friends, and we have to tell you, you're in for a treat. And By Grimm is already getting stellar reviews. DISCLOSURE: The writer of this post is close friends with this season's company intern at the Vagabond, but this in no way affected her decision to cover the Vagabond's show.
• Austentatious — A musical about the trials and tribulations of staging an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. We don't think you can go wrong there.
• The Guided Tour — Philadelphia is the city of 1000 identical historical tours. Except for this one. This one will be quite different.
• Granuaile and a Plate at Howth — Words that jumped out at us in this summary: "Pirate Queen," "Ireland," "Audience-interactive," "Family-friendly." Good times.
• Cell — This might be the piece that Phillyist is most excited about. And we're not even sure what it is. But it looks like a dance-oriented scavenger hunt around Old City, for one person at a time. Must have a cell phone to attend. (Now that's something you don't usually hear in live theatre!)
• Cell: Movement in Restricted Spaces — The second of two PLAF dance performances called Cell, this is the one with a subtitle.
• Flip the Script — Remember those "choose your own adventure" books? Now, imagine it as a play. Sounds cool, doesn't it?
• Suburban Love Songs — We've got to admit that the poster and our love of all things sixties kitsch helped us decide to see this particular performance. The fact that choreographer Karen Getz was a dance captain for Dirty Dancing doesn't hurt, either.
• P's & Q's — Phillyist loves its manners, so this one was a no-brainer.
• Amnesia Curiosa — Well, they don't call operating rooms "theaters" for nothing. This is another one that Phillyist is painfully excited to see, because, hey, it's at Pennsylvania Hospital! And how much does that rock?
• The Sea — We saw James Sugg perform part of this piece at Canary Promotion's five year bash, and we felt so guilty for coughing through the whole thing, we decided we'd have to make it up to the artist. Also, it was really, really interesting.
• Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco by Gary Owen — Hipsters, rejoice! It's a show at the Khyber! And one that sounds, well, kinda awesome.
• House — We saw a piece of this performance at DanceBOOM! and were blown away. We can only imagine how amazing the full performance, staged in a West Philly row home that we probably partied in as undergrads, will be.
• Carlo vs. Carlo — This free performance will only be staged once, but if you like Commedia (we do), you won't want to miss it.
• The Water Engine — Possibly (though not necessarily) one of the more straightforward plays at this year's festival (it's David Mamet), we're still interested because we love old-timey radio broadcasts.
• Twist — The production page says it best: "This is not your Mother's Dickens."
• Killer Pussy — Because it just sounds dirty.
• Hell — In what's possibly a festival first, the US debut of this dance performance will be staged at the Kimmell Center. The piece sounds a little heavy, but should be absolutely phenomenal. This Phillyist has long been a fan of Emio Greco and can't wait.
• The Rocky Horror PUPPET Show — Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.
• Tragical, Comical, Historical, Pastoral — In case you couldn't tell already, this Phillyist digs her some Shakespeare. So she can't wait for this (FREE!) one-man performance.
• When Boys Cry — DISCLOSURE: A dear friend of this writer is in the cast of the show. That's the primary reason she's seeing it. The secondary reason is that there is apparently at least one naked man onstage.

We might even add to our line-up, and we'll be posting PLAF diaries (like we did with the Film Festival) as we go, so you can see what we thought. But don't wait for our reviews; some of the shows may be closed by the time you get around to reading what we thought. Just, whatever you do, make sure you take in at least one Fringe show over the next two weeks. You won't be sorry.