Fringe Benefits 2009

You didn't think we'd forgotten about the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, did you?

We mean, yes, it starts tomorrow so this post is well overdue, but given our coverage in previous years, you couldn't think that we woldn't be covering the festivals this year, could you? Phillyist will be all over the two related-but-separate festivals, which in combination we affectionately call PLAF, seeing a number of performances over the next two weeks or so.

As a refresher, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe branched off a couple years ago to distinguish how artists make the program: Live Arts acts are curated and hand-selected by the festival, but anybody with a show and some spending cash can get into Fringe. Are the curated programs of the Live Arts better than the free-for-all of Fringe? Not necessarily. In fact, last year we probably enjoyed the Fringe shows we saw more than the Live Arts performances—but it really varies from show to show, depending on a combination of your individual taste and the performance's individual taste level. So, as in past years, we'll be seeing plenty of performances from both. A few of our picks will be featured nightly in About Tonight, but there were a few PLAF highlights we thought were especially worth mentioning, like:

• Store, the next edition of Kate Watson-Wallace/Anonymous Bodies' "dances in everyday locations, with a twist" series, which previously featured Car and House. Those too claustrophobic to enjoy her previous work can rejoyce: this year's performance is being held in an abandoned Rite-Aid, with plenty of room for all.
• Plays and Players' Zombie! The Musical. Need we say more?
• Kill Me Now, a combination of reality TV, dance theatre, and audience participation by Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre, whose characters' profiles may be found on Facebook.
• Chlamydia dell'Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque should also speak for itself. This performance, featuring Gigi Naglak and Meghann Williams, will combine the best bits of burlesque with the lessons they were supposed to teach you that day in seventh grade gym where they put the boys and girls in different rooms.
• Miniature theatre piece Emma's Parlour, an original work by friend-of-Phillyist Martina Plag as well as Laureen Griffin and Leah Walton.
• Welcome to Yuba City, Pig Iron Theatre Company's contribution to PLAF this year. Taking place at Live Arts HQ, this show could feature the same combination of off-the-wall humor and movement-driven theatre we've come to expect from the company.
• 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a one-night only performance by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (better known, simply, as Dean and Britta) will feature [mostly] original music performed over some of Warol's most iconic film reels.

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe
Locations throughout Philadelphia
September 4-19, 2009
Ticket information online