Philly Fringe 2025: Pier Players Theatre Company presents David Lee White’s Etiquette

The moment we all returned to the theater

With an incisive new satirical drama unfolding backstage at a nonprofit regional theater, Pier Players brings us back to the fall of 2021, when theaters were reopening in a whole new world. Stephen Silver reviews.

Stephen Silver

Sep 09, 2025 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Slippery Trout Productions and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company present Dogberry and Verges Are Scared

Clowns in the spotlight

Part Shakespeare, part Stoppard, part Beckett, and part Dumb and Dumber, Philly Fringe offering Dogberry and Verges Are Scared is one of the festival’s must-see shows. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Sep 08, 2025 · Reviews · 2 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Chris Davis presents The Presented

A calling, not a choice

Performer Chris Davis is back with an updated version of his engaging solo show, The Presented, which is not a Curated show in this year’s Philly Fringe. Alix Rosenfeld reviews.

Alix Rosenfeld

Sep 08, 2025 · Reviews · 2 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: ArtSake Theatre Company presents Malcolm MacKenzie’s Roadkill Bambi: A Vaporwave Play

In the headlights of the future

ArtSake, a new Philly theater company using the performing arts to inspire climate activism, presents Roadkill Bambi in this year’s Fringe. Emily Esten reviews.

Emily Esten

Sep 08, 2025 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Dan Kitrosser is KAREN TENDERNESS in QUEER WINDOW!

Queer cabaret meets a Hitchcock send-up

Dan Kitrosser’s QUEER WINDOW! welcomes Karen, a repressed suburban wife who discovers a window that reveals unexpected desires in this campy, tender, and funny Hitchcock-inspired cabaret. Josh Herren reviews.

Josh Herren

Sep 07, 2025 · Reviews · 2 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Applied Mechanics presents Severin Blake’s Labyrinth of the Other

Who is the monster?

In this Fringe production from Applied Mechanics, Severin Blake explores a new take on the myth of the Minotaur, asking what we need to forget and remember to move past childhood trauma. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.

Camille Bacon-Smith

Sep 07, 2025 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Rushmore Labs presents The Waterfront Journals by David Wojnarowicz

Honoring one of America’s leading queer artists

A new production collaborative brings queer icon David Wojnarowicz’s opus, The Waterfront Journals, to the stage in an original adaptation for the Fringe. Evan Mitchell Schares reviews.

Evan Schares

Sep 07, 2025 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Jessica Fudim presents Venomous: a mythical dance for a modern world

“Why didn’t you help me?”

Solo dance theater artist Jessica Fudim’s Fringe entry offers a modern take on Medusa, challenging the tragedy and rewriting her script. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.

Camille Bacon-Smith

Sep 06, 2025 · Reviews · 2 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: Dr. Karen Moore presents Kindled by Nina: A Four-Women Requiem Multimedia Invocation of Black Womanhood

A love letter to Black women

Kindled by Nina is a new interpretation of Nina Simone’s iconic song “Four Women,” using spoken word, projected film, and music to honor historic and contemporary Black womanhood. A. Lewis reviews.

A. Lewis

Sep 05, 2025 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Philly Fringe 2025: John Miller Giltner and Gene Farbe present Family Vacation

A sly anthropology of family ties

A new multimedia Fringe show by John Miller Giltner and Gene Farbe mixes slideshow, singalong, and earnest confessions to explore the messy tenderness of belonging to a family. Josh Herren reviews.

Josh Herren

Sep 05, 2025 · Reviews · 2 minute read