Reviews

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Espinoza and Miller-White, reading scripts on music stands, stand in front of four other Black cast members seated behind.

Philly Fringe 2025: Cannonball presents a reading of AZ Espinoza’s Caribbean King

A “de-colonial, trans-gressive” new take on King Lear
Philly actor, director, and playwright AZ Espinoza’s lush and ambitious Caribbean King gets a pair of developmental readings as part of this year’s Fringe. Krista Mar reviews.
Krista Mar

Krista Mar

Reviews 2 minute read
In tailored jackets and messy brown wigs, Sheppard and Yorke crowd behind an open book that Sheppard holds, and blow on it.

Philly Fringe 2025: Lightning Rod Special presents Alice Yorke and Scott R. Sheppard’s Lions

The gift of watching others fail
Lions, the latest Fringe entry from Lightning Rod Special, written and performed by Alice Yorke and Scott R. Sheppard, finds heartfelt laughs and reflection in “the business of letting our dads die.” Alaina Johns reviews.
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Reviews 4 minute read
Cummings, a white man, seductively tucks letters into the top of his white corset. He is lit with dramatic blue and green.

Philly Fringe 2025: Wolfsmouth Players Company presents Laura Anthony’s Queerano, or a Very Great Mischief

Queer history meets farce
New York-based Wolfsmouth Players Company brings Queerano, a mashup of Cyrano de Bergerac, Twelfth Night, Wildean farce, and queer history, to the Philly Fringe. Melissa Strong reviews.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Reviews 3 minute read
Three people balance delightedly on a small structure of metal chains and poles while Kennedy walks around them smiling.

Philly Fringe 2025: Greg Kennedy presents Architectonica

We are all jugglers
A new Fringe experience from juggler Greg Kennedy is more collaborative workshop than performance, mixing art with engineering to take the audience inside a craft that dates back to Leonardo da Vinci. Walt Maguire reviews.

Walt Maguire

Reviews 3 minute read
Five performers in casual clothing gather around a pair of music podiums reading from script on stage

Philly Fringe 2025: August Hakvaag presents The Superconductor

Organizing the lab
Science and solidarity are at stake in a staged reading of August Hakvaag’s The Superconductor. Emily Esten reviews.
Emily Esten

Emily Esten

Reviews 3 minute read
15 people, all in black, sit in a circle on the floor facing outward, arms linked, a pile of cell phones in the middle.

Philly Fringe 2025: Nick Gillette presents Pennsylvania Semiconscious Liberation Army

Are we as polarized as we think?
An immersive theater experience from veteran Philly performer Nick Gillette and a large ensemble asks the audience pressing ethical questions about our American moment. Alaina Johns reviews.
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Reviews 4 minute read
Lee, an Asian man, lies on a white bed, looking up and smiling. He wears a black shirt.

Philly Fringe 2025: Clayton Lee presents The Goldberg Variations

Bach meets the WWE in the spirit of the Fringe
Performance artist Clayton Lee defies “model minority” stereotypes with The Goldberg Variations, a funny, vulnerable, interdisciplinary original show that explores the greater meaning within his romantic exploits. Krista Mar reviews.
Krista Mar

Krista Mar

Reviews 2 minute read
In a wash of reddish light, two female dancers face off with wide stances, gesturing as if playing Rock Paper Scissors.

Philly Fringe 2025: Carne Viva Dance Theatre presents Dame La Receta

Different “American Dreams”
Philadelphia/Miami art collective Carne Viva Dance Theatre brings Dame La Receta to the Philly Fringe, an interdisciplinary performance exploring immigrants’ experience of the American Dream. An Nichols reviews.
An Nichols

An Nichols

Reviews 3 minute read
Five people in various outfits, including one in a lab coat; a Nirvana shirt; dresses—pose in front of a 'Red Rum; neon sign

Philly Fringe 2025: Without a Cue Productions presents And Then They Were Dead

Choose-your-own-murder
Without a Cue’s interactive And Then They Were Dead is more fun than it is good—which is, itself, a good thing. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 3 minute read
Three teenage boys crowd around a bench in a run-down school bathroom, washed in blue light.

Philly Fringe 2025: Theatre by Development presents Daniel Burgess’s Urinal

Thrilling trials of adolescence
Theatre by Development, a new company founded by UArts grads, presents Urinal, a 2017 high-school period piece that thrills for its verisimilitude, even when it bites off more than it can chew. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 2 minute read