San Francisco Fringe Festival

SAN FRANCISCO FRINGE FESTIVAL

The second oldest fringe festival in the United States (by 2 months), presented in the Tenderloin neighborhood of downtown San Francisco each September, starting the Thursday after Labor Day.

SAN FRANCISCO FRINGE FESTIVAL WEBSITE

Festival Overview

Type of Festival

The San Francisco Fringe Festival is produced by EXIT Theatre, an indie theater company founded in 1983. The SF Fringe is presented at three of the theaters in the EXIT Theatre multiplex, ranging in size from 37 seats to 80 seats. Applications are available on the Fringe website www.theexit.org/fringe from December through mid-February when 21 indie theater companies are selected through a lottery. Each theater company gets four performances in their venue of choice and receives 100% of the ticket sales.

About our Audience

The audience is an indie theater audience, willing to take risks and generally supportive of the performers. Many of the audience members know someone performing in the festival or heard about the performance from a friend.

Festival Stats

The San Francisco Fringe Festival is a mature, small fringe festival. We present 84 performances by 21 indie theater companies over 9 days. We have an audience of a few thousand people and performers earn a total of about $30,000.

Artist Information

How Artists are Accepted

Artist apply on line and are selected by lottery.

Benefits of Applying

Performers receive four performances in an equipped, professionally staffed theater including a technician and basic theater lighting and sound systems. Ticket sales and box office are handled by the festival.

Costs and Deals

Applicants pay a $40 fee to apply to the festival. Artists selected in the lottery to perform in the festival pay a performance fee of $550 for the 37 seat theater, $600 for the 49 seat theater, or $750 for the 80 seat theater. For this performance fee they receive four performances in the venue of their choice.

Tech Information

The SF Fringe venues are all located in the EXIT Theatre multi-plex which also includes the EXIT cafe and the fringe hospitality/volunteer center. They are equipped with basic theatrical lighting and sound equipment. All of the venues are wheelchair accessible for the audience and the 37 seat and 49 seat theaters are also wheelchair accessible for performers.

Performance Schedule

Shows must be 60 minutes or less. Most are 55-60 minutes in length. Performers get four performances. Shows are scheduled 30 minutes apart and performers have 15 minutes to load in before the show and 15 minutes to load out after the show. The house is open and audiences will be entering or exiting during the load in/load out periods. There is no storage for sets, props or costumes. Artists must be available to perform throughout the entire festival, which in 2020 runs from September 10 through September 19. The festival will take into account special needs during this time for religious holidays, family events, etc.

Other

The San Francisco Fringe Festival is a small festival with a strong community feeling.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

EXIT Theatre
156 Eddy Street
San Francisco, California 94102

San Francisco is a beautiful but expensive city.