WTF Philly Fringe 2015

Last year, we at BSR’s What’s New, What’s Next page wanted to help you make sense of the entire Fringe Festival catalogue. This year, FringeArts, presenting “FringeArts Curated” and “2015 Fringe Festival” (the latter being the citywide theatrical free-for-all) makes things a little easier, with a website menu that lets Fringe fans browse by date, neighborhood, genre, and “features,” like “LGBTQ,” “Audience Participation,” “Puppetry (Adult)” (hmm), "Solo Show," and (thank goodness!) “Nudity.”

But there are still a few categories missing. To be fair, maybe that’s because of how subjective they are. So I’m going to continue my own BSR tradition of perusing the catalogue and rounding up the show descriptions that make me stop, read again, and think, what the fuck is this?

I know, I know, in the Fringe, that could be a pretty damn big category (depending on how open-minded you are). But here are a few for your consideration.

Meanness, medicine, and nuggets

Haygen Brice Walker and Jessica Schwartz make a pretty bold declaration with Spookfish, “The meanest play in this year’s Neighborhood Fringe.” Why is it mean? I don’t know. It may or may not be a haunted house, but it’s also “a play about slasher flicks, the horrors of high school, firework accidents, cat colonies, and a Canadian goose.” You’ll have to sign a waiver. (Really.) Spookfish ($10) is coming to Headlong Studios, 1170 South Broad Street, from September 4 to 13.

Continuing the theme of, well, lots of themes, there’s Musician, Model & Medical Experiment, from Anomie Fatale, who was “born at age twenty on an operating table.” A survivor of unspecified lifesaving surgical shenanigans, she’s “disabled like a titanium lollipop.” A biochem major turned “cyborg mannequin,” she offers original music, burlesque, and, apparently, “a fascinating story.” Musician, Model & Medical Experiment ($15) is coming to Agno Grill, 2104 Chestnut Street on September 3, 10, and 16.

Next up is Pretty Tall for a Hobbit, from Ananke Creative, which lures those with “a fear of commitment and a sense of adventure.” It’s a comedy set to the soundtrack of the Lord of the Rings films, told by “an awkward Gryffindor twenty-something.” There are also “NUGGETS SERVED AT ALL PERFORMANCES!” (Emphasis theirs.) Pretty Tall for a Hobbit ($12) is coming to Middle Earth at 339A West Girard Avenue from September 3 to 13.

Who's doing the dishes?

If you’re having trouble putting Howard Shore, J.K. Rowling, and nuggets (like chicken nuggets? What?) together, you might be wary of the bold contradictions of Capacity for Veracity, from Jessica Creane, Paloma Irizarry, and Mal Cherifi. “Zip your lips, loosen your tongue, and unsettle in for an honest evening of brutal lies, frank back door encounters, clear ambiguity, civilized viciousness, and a resounding hush-hush.” Capacity for Veracity ($15) is coming to the Iron Factory, 118 Fontain Street, 3rd floor, September 4-6 and September 14.

Now this sounds like fun. Night Trolley ($15) is inviting Fringe-goers to “a local comedy acid test with transfer available to a higher, deeper love.” Hosts Matthew Tsang and Eddie Finn are bringing it all to Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Avenue, on September 18, with their house band the Misandrist Haberdashery, ready to “friend request the imagination.”

Fringe 2015 seems to have a relative dearth of weird shows happening in people’s homes, but at least one artist is stepping up to the plate. DC-based artist Brian Feldman will come to your home, hand wash the dirty dishes in your kitchen sink, and then cold read any monologue you care to choose (though the whole production can’t run more than 180 minutes). Dishwasher ($20) has only 25 tickets available (one per performance), and hosts must live within a half-mile of a subway or Indego station. The show runs September 3 through 12. So many questions! Can you give a massive dinner party right before Feldman arrives? Can you rig a monologue projected on the wall, so he can recite while doing the dishes and maximize your clean kitchen, or is this just not in the spirit of the performance?

For a full list of Fringe Festival shows, visit FringeArts online.