Hollywood Fringe Festival – Haunting Picks From Our Staff

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual celebration where people can express their individual artistic talent through a series of conventional or unconventional performances. These performances range from immersive theatre to a horror musical to a political satire. But the ultimate idea of the Fringe Festival is collaboration. Theaters offer up their space to artists that are given the freedom to create something special with no boundaries. And we, as patrons, get the ultimate reward: a month long celebration of theater and art, all within walking distance of each other. While the Hollywood Fringe Festival is comprised of over 300 shows, we picked twenty-two shows and experience that we either can vouch for ourselves or shows that explored the darkest psychologies of the human mind while immersing the audience within the narrative. Read one and support this wonderful endeavour.

ABC Project – A(partment 8)

Ages: 21+

Date: June 5th – June 24th

Location: Hollywood

Price: $17

Description: Take a walk in someone else’s skin in this fully immersive theatrical experience. One audience member per performance. Morbid and disturbing with a twinge of black humor. A(Partment 8), the first show produced by ABC Project, received outstanding reviews from both critics and audience members at Fringe 2016. Now being remounted for 2017.

Speakeasy Society – Chapters 1 & 2: The Key & The Axe

Ages: 14+

Dates: Thursday, June 15th – Saturday, June 17th

Location: Undisclosed Location on the Northeast Side of Los Angeles

Price: $40

Description: Kansas, you have a choice. The Mid-West is in the midst of the dust bowl. You are in need of food, money, and shelter. Opportunity is scarce, hope is nowhere to be seen, and the future looks bleak. You happen upon a curious group of strangers who have set up a colorful tent on the edge of town –All they ask is a moment of your time.. THE KANSAS COLLECTION is The Speakeasy Society’s immersive, episodic investigation of L Frank Baum’s OZ Series where the choices you make determine the path of your journey. After Dorothy left, the Scarecrow took charge of the wonderful land of Oz, but now things have gone awry. Oz and it’s citizens are in distress. There is civil unrest, there is violence in the streets, and you are being recruited to serve in the Scarecrow’s Armed Militia- but there is deception around every corner and things aren’t quite what they seem.

Click for our reviews of Chapter One: The Key or Chapter Two: The Axe prior to their run at the Fringe Festival.

H&H Design Experience – Dead Air

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 4th – June 15th

Location: Complex Theatres – 6476 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $12

Description: What may seem crazy may not be, and what may seem sane most likely is not…

Capital W – Red Flags

Ages: 21+

Dates: June 1st – June 25th

Location: 6301 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $25

Description: You met Emma online. Her profile says she likes rescue dogs, Tetris and therapy. Today is your first date. Too bad it will be terrible…

The Ichabod’s Cranium Players – Dark Arts

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 3rd, 10th, 17th, 21st, 23rd

Location: Complex Theatres – 6476 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $15

Description: A dark comedy about America’s hidden power structure, and the professional spin doctors locked in eternal war with it. Entrepreneur Marcia Bradford is in crisis: someone is smearing her in the media. The crisis PR firm of Lyndsey Klein & Andrew St. Jude must find out who the perpetrator is before Bradford is destroyed…or they destroy themselves.

Lucid Dramatics – Quantum Entanglement

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 4th, 8th, 16th, 17th, and 23rd

Location: Sacred Fools Theater – 6322 Santa Monica Blvd

Price: Pay What You Can

Description: The most romantic theory in physics.

“From this moment on, our entangled light, our lives, cannot be explained without the other.”

From the Fringe veterans who brought you the award winning Murder Blood Bear Story and How to be a Virgin (in 12 Morally Ambiguous Steps) comes a love story on the smallest scale imaginable. A miraculous journey of self discovery through cosmic light to illuminate the beauty of the dark, both in space and mind. A portrait of a nuclear family awakened by a fractured past. An astrophysicist looking to the moon to find his missing wife. A mother swallowed up by the dark. A daughter desperate to heal them both. And an experiment to connect them all (Also there’s a cat).

Check out our interview about Quantum Entanglement here.

Fallen Stars at the Charity Sale

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 2nd – June 24th

Location: Complex Theatres – 6476 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $15

Description: “Fallen Stars at the Charity Sale” peeks into the inanimate lives of old items languishing at a charity sale. These objects reminisce about their glory days yet desperately hope to gain a new life with new owners—the audience.

AANR-West & Southern California Naturist Association – Naked Shorts (Less is More)

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 4th, 11th, 17th, 24th

Location: Asylum at Underground Theatre – 1312 North Wilton Place

Price: $20

Description: Let’s Make Nudity Great Again!

Original short pieces in a nude variety hour of comedy, drama, song, dance and storytelling. Like last year, the show includes a mandatory nude audience. Don’t forget to bring a towel to place on the seat. You are simply watching the show in your birthday suit. Experience naturism with us!

Nina Childs Productions – Hot Combs, Homegirls, & Homicides

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 4th – June 25th

Location: Actors Company – 916 North Formosa Avenue

Price: $10

Description: Give me a hotcomb or give me death! Taking place in various locations around Los Angeles, Hotcombs,Homegirls&HOMICIDES promises to be a fun treat for the Fringe audience. 2 women with dreams to ruin the world, a not so special tween, a motivational speaker on the edge, a killer beautician and a gossip columnist that becomes a cautionary headline are just a few of the whacky characters you will meet in this colorful sketch show written and directed by Nina Childs .

Dogboy Productions – Monsters

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 3rd, 10th, 25th

Location: Theatre of NOTE – 1517 North Cahuenga Boulevard

Price: $10

Description: Two actresses living in Los Angeles are being filmed on a reality show. Grace, who was recently cast in a major production at the Pantages Theatre, is becoming increasingly paranoid as her nerves seem to be getting the best of her. Starting to see things that may or may not be there, she begins to think that her “friend” Kate may be behind it all. In the wake of betrayal and broken trust, both girls are left with only one question. Are the demons living inside or out?

Shine On Collective – Sweet Dreams: The Prologue

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 6th – June 24th

Location: Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $15

Description: Once upon a time there lived a young woman who dreamed of prince charming and true love’s kiss. But venture too far into dreams and you might end up missing. Sweet Dreams: The Prologue is the first chapter in a series of immersive productions about a missing girl and the haze beyond reality. Will you end up too far in dreamworld yourself?

Firelight Collective – Fire & Light

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 1st, 8th, 11th, 25th

Location: Asylum at Underground Theatre or Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre

Price: $10

Description: A tale of love and loss, touching on our past, present and future. Join us on this adventure into the unknown.

Check out our review of Firelight prior to this iteration at the Fringe Festival.

R&R Productions and Maddy’s Musical – Legend of the Hidden Three Clubs

Ages: 21+

Dates: June 3rd, 10th, 17th, 22nd

Location: Three Clubs – 1123 North Vine Street

Price: Free!

Description: The Hollywood Fringe Festival’s first game show!

Compete with other Fringe shows for the glory, the fame and the musical mayhem. Hosted by the irascible Le Phantom and Cheedo. Will you be the last fringe show alive?

Awkward Hug Productions – John Stamos Is My Baby Daddy / Rainbow Brite Power Naps

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 3rd – June 21st

Location: Epiphany Space – 1763 North Gower Street

Price: $15

Description: See two shows for the price of one!

“John Stamos is My Baby Daddy” is the announcement Audrey plans to make when she throws a 4th of July party for her family and friends. But absolutely nothing about this party goes according to plan. This comedic play delves into the feminist ideal that women can have it all.

“Rainbow Bright Power Naps” is a madcap comedy, where everything that can go wrong during a board meeting does.

Seditious Apostate Theatre Company – The Imp and The Troll

Ages: 13+

Dates: June 1st, 9th, 15th, 17th, 25th

Location: Actors Company – 916 North Formosa Avenue

Price: $12

Description: An imp and a troll live together in a cave. They have brief conversations as they pass each other on their way in and out. The imp comes in at dusk and the troll comes in before dawn. The imp spends his time alone humming and singing to himself. The troll, on the other hand, spends his time mumbling as he eats his meat.

Cadame Company – The Rise and Fall of Dracula

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 3rd, 9th, 15th, 18th, 24th

Location: Asylum at Stephanie Fleury Studio Theatre – 5636 Melrose Avenue

Price: $15

Description: A bold and immersive retelling of Bram Stoker’s tale takes shape in this piece inspired by mythology, legends, and a variety of vampire lore. The piece takes the audience back to the ancient roots of Dracula, slowly weaving the legend of the formidable, enigmatic spirit we have become so intrigued by. The story’s themes of Power, Belief, and Companionship are so intertwined with dark imagery and music that it feels as if the characters could reach out and grab us.

Rocket Ship and Dream Productions LLC – Slashed! The Musical

Ages: 13+

Dates: June 4th – June 23rd

Location: Complex Theatres – 6468 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $13

Description: Welcome to Camp Doom! Er, we mean Camp Freedom… SLASHED! THE MUSICAL is a musical comedy love-letter to the classic 80’s Summer Camp Slasher Genre. Featuring a cast of characters that you know and love — but with a twist — and original songs inspired by 1980s Top 40 radio. SLASHED! will have audiences laughing and screaming from beginning until the very bloody end.

The Vagrancy – Normal

Ages: 15+

Dates: June 4th, 10th, 13th, 18th, 24th

Location: Lounge Theatre – 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $15

Description: A poetic account of real-life German serial killer Peter Kurten who, in Germany in 1931 was convicted of murdering eight people, including several children. This fantastical account of Kurten, his wife and lawyer is an entertaining, terrifying and funny journey – exploring the mind of a serial killer and the people who love him.

Offending Shadows Theatre Company – So You Want to be a Vampire

Ages: 13+

Dates: June 3rd, 10th, 17th, 23rd, 24th

Location: Studio/Stage – 520 North Western Avenue

Price: $12

Description:Brenda Frank is so desperate to be turned into a vampire that she actually finds one, but some vampires desire more than blood. “So You Want to be a Vampire” is a very dark comedy about a woman who will stop at nothing to escape the brutal mundanity of her mortal life and be turned into a creature of the night.

WARNING The first two rows of seating have been designated as a SPLATTER ZONE. Those seated in the SPLATTER ZONE will get bloody.

The Sacred Beasts

Ages: 16+

Dates: June 3rd, 11th, 17th, 18th

Location: Asylum at Underground Theatre – 1312 North Wilton Place

Price: $15

Description:The booze and resentment-soaked real life friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles is conjured in three scenes spanning three decades with the besotted wordsmiths played by different actors in each stage of their lives. Celebrated as much for their personal lives filled with prodigious beard growth, cigar chomping, and romanticized alcoholism as anything they actually wrote, these two tempestuous, swaggering egos in human form are often elevated as mythic symbols of a particularly distinct and antiquated flavor of Manhood. Here we break the idols and display these sacred beasts as they were. Watch them drink, fight, hunt, smoke, and bloviate their way across such issues as easy success, hard won failure, and the corrosive effects of hypermasculinity. Claim your ringside seat as these fists of genius at last come to blows.

1962 Productions – The Tomb

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 4th, 11th, 15th, 17th, 19th

Location: Complex Theatres – 6468 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $15

Description: Devastated by the loss of his parents, a young Egyptian enclosed himself in a tomb. Guided by Judeo-Christian scriptures, Anthony confronted his own temptations and was attacked by a demonic presence. The Tomb is the true story of a Founding Father of Christianity and the first Christian monk.

Apathy Killed the Cat

Ages: 18+

Dates: June 3rd – June 23rd

Location: Sacred Fools Theatre – 6320 Santa Monica Boulevard

Price: $12

Description: Colin is a young, neurotic, and successful playwright whose plays have become well known for their dark themes and morally questionable characters. Hoping for solace with his mother and beloved cat on the verge of death, Colin writes a massive play chronicling his entire life. Colin has no intention of anyone reading the play but himself, as it reveals all of his hidden desires, but when his girlfriend and brothers discover a copy of the play with specific pages covered in semen, he sinks into a deep depression, and is forced to confront his dark secrets.