Below is a brief description of all of the 75 (!) shows in the New York City Fringe Festival, which this year is being presented from April 1 to April 19 in five venues.

 Unlike Broadway, which also has a busy schedule in April, all the fringe shows have running times of 60 minutes or less and ticket priced no more than $35. Many are also available as a live stream online. Of course the festival shows have lower (zero?) advertising budget, and are harder to sort through. (For more details, such as performance times, click on the Fringe website and work your way to individual show pages.)

Among the intriguing-sounding offerings are two shows that got attention at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, “A Stan Is Born,” about a diva-lover with original music, and “PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement,” a comedy about the pelvic floor. “Desi SNL” promises a format like Saturday Night Live for a show about South Asian culture.. “Mother” offers a treatise on the nouns we associate with the word. “How to Become a Saint (While Wearing Pants)” uses physical theater to tell the story of three saints who underwent major transitions. “Portia and Ellen” imagines the last days of Ellen’s talk show

Theatergoers deserve a warning: The New York City Fringe Festival is not juried. The shows are chosen by lottery, This is the norm for fringe festivals around the world, 

But it wasn’t how the old New York International Fringe Festival operated. And that’s not the only difference. 

That festival, which ran from 1997 to 2019, was one of the most highly attended events in New York City. At its peak, in August, 2016, for example, 75,000 theatergoers attended more than 200 shows in 16 venues. 

Although the current festival began in 2007, it was called FRIGID New York Festival until three years ago, changing its name to capitalize on the appeal of the fringe label. The New York City Fringe Festival is modest in attendance and offerings by old FringeNYC standards. But this one is still here…and it’s growing.

UNDER St. Marks
(94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009)

A “Confessional” of A Recovering Catholic: The Musical
Written & Performed by Julie McNamara – New York, NY
A comedic musical solo performance,

Extra Dry
Written & Performed by Michelle Renee Johnson – New York, NY
Desperate for validation, MJ finds herself in an unsteady and destructive relationship with alcohol.

Hemeroscopium
Written & Performed by Chris Chan Roberson – New York, NY
In a 10-year period, Chris moved 5 times.

How I Learned (NOT) To Drive
Written & Performed by Jesse Bradley-Amore – Winter Park, FL
A 40-year-old Florida man overcoming his lifelong fear of driving and getting his license in a desperate attempt to save his marriage.

How to Poop in an Outhouse at -72°F
Written & Performed by Kona Morris
How 19-year-old Kona drove to Alaska on a romantic whim, where she stayed for 5 years, learning from an indigenous tribe north of the Arctic Circle. 

Midlife Catharsis (A Solo Musical About Surviving, Surrendering and Surfing) 
Written & Performed by Killy Dwyer
Live looping, alter ego antics, and the humbling task of learning to surf at 50 i

Notes on Collagen
Written & Performed by Fabiana Mattedi – Brooklyn, NY
Brazilian aFabiana Mattedi’a reflection on beauty, aging, immigration, and identity—blending humor,

Our Price to Pay
Written by Frances Smith – New York, NY
A zombie apocalypse that only seems to be targeting those who consume conservative media.

Portia and Ellen (a comedya dramedy it’s complicated)
100% Written and 50% Performed by Heather Seltzer – Brooklyn, NY 
Portia (Heather Seltzer) and Ellen (Sarah Hartley), in a fictional imagining of the final days of Ellen’s daytime talk show.

PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement
Written & Performed by Amy Veltman – New York, NY
The comedian on why a pelvic floor matters

Revenge of the Soy Boy
Written & Performed by Justin Avery Smith – Shrewsbury, MA
A riff on Star Wars

Squire D. Rathbone, Esq.
Written & Directed by Vincent Marano
Three damaged souls spiral towards each other in ways both profound and heartbreaking. Stations of Life 

Stations of Life 
Written by Trinidad Alcorta, Directed by Cecilia Wisky
A chance encounter on the London Underground sparks a love that stretches across decades, borders, and belief systems.

The Darren Podcast Show LIVE
Written & Performed by Josh Cab
A rapper and a landlord

Watch Me Sleep
Written by Rose Treloar
In a cramped studio apartment, Ava and Emmett oscillate between tenderness and brutality, passion and destruction.

Wild Project
(195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009)

1 Small Lie: Martin Dockery
Written & Performed by Martin Dockery – Brooklyn, NY
In a knuckle-biting story of humor, horror, & suspense, a family man robs a thief of a ton of money. Book Club

Book Club
Written by Francesca Bolam
Five female friends meet for a book club in a Brooklyn living room. Did anybody read the book?

Bride To Be
Written & Performed by Meg Millane – New York, NY
Having just gotten engaged, Meg dares to ask: Can she just love someone, or does she have to become a vessel for traditional values and capitalism in order to do so?

Cl*t Cult
Written & Performed by by Star Stone – Costa Rica 
Star’s time inside the sex and wellness cult OneTaste, and how patriarchy and control can hide behind the language of female empowerment.

Crushed Velvet
Written by Andrew Trimmer – Brooklyn, NY
A backstage farce taking place on the set of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.

Desi SNL
Written by Azhar Bande-Ali
Sketch comedy show reimagining the SNL format rooted in South Asian culture.

Did You Charge Your Phone For The End Of The World?
Written by Fletcher Michael
In 2034, an asteroid is heading for Brooklyn, but the government wants a boutique ad agency to rebrand the impending catastrophe before informing the public.

Fever Dream TV
Written & Performed by Nikolai Phalen – Barcelona, Spain
A surrealist solo show interrupted by a god-like figure connected to the world’s oldest dog

Four Stupid Terrorists 
Written by Emily Andrews
Four friends who work in the university’s chemistry department deice to save the world by committing terrorism.

How to Become a Saint (While Wearing Pants)
Written by Becca Canziani, Brooke Ferris, Lynn Hodeib & Ania Upstill
A look at three saints who underwent major transitions, told using clown and physical theater:St. Marinos (female to monk), Margery Kempe (mother to virgin), and Joan of Arc (country girl to gender nonconforming military leader and icon).

In Preparation of War
Directed & Choreographed by Vicky Virgin – New York, NY
Dance theater influenced by culturally sanctioned violence associated with boxing, drill rap, ballet.

The Sexiest Man Alive
Written by Jefferson Lind & Sayali Gove – New York, NY
A one-act musical comedy that follows Erika Ripley, an intern-turned-editor at People Magazine on a quest to find the actual, scientifically objective, robot-approved sexiest man alive.

TRAPPED: The Weekend and the Search for “LOVE”
Written & Performed by AKIL e. pinckney
A one-man musical about the journey to self-healing of a man trapped in an elevator,

XOXO: Love Letters from NYC
By Jackson Sturkey and Will Studabaker
A musical revue about love, loss, letting go, and loving again

Chain Theatre Mainstage
(312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018

A STAN IS BORN!
Written & Performed by Alexis Sakellaris – London, UK
A musical comedy with ten original songs recounting how, when Alexis follows his family from New York to Germany, discovering pop divas online is his only salvation.

Apoloholics: Based On True Stories of People Who Apologize Too Much
Written by Mary Corigliano – New York, NY
Recounting the hidden cost of self-doubt while celebrating the journey toward self-acceptance

Becoming Hamdan Azhar
Written & Performed by Hamdan Azhar – New York, NY
A journey through family, faith and data.

Crosswords
Written by AJ Rose – Providence, RI
A couple realize a serial killer is leaving clues in their morning newspaper.

Echoes of My Silence
Written & Performed Azadeh Kangarani – Salinas, CA
Noticing her flight as female pilot sparks Kangarani’s contemplation of the way patriarchal norms shaped her sense of gender. 

House of Waffle
Written J. Robert Coppola & Rhett duPont Vecchio
Bringing Reddit’s viral Waffle House “Runny Eggs Incident” to life in all its epic and outrageous glory,

Induction
Lawrence Nichols Hennessy
A burnt-out psychologist of questionable therapeutic skillsnwinds up treating a dangerous criminal.

Killing Janet
Written & Performed by Omalolu Fiki
A Nigerian-American woman decides on live TV to “kill” her missionary-given name and everything it represents.

Lunatic
Written & Performed by Elina Kaplun – New York, NY
A mix of poetry, music and clowning inspired by Russian poetry of the early 20th century

Miracle of the Star
Written by Makie & Jerel Armstrong
A musical about two adolescents who suddenly wake up twenty years in the future, trapped in their older selves

Monstruo! By K(c)abil, 2048
Written by Christian De Gré Cárdenas
A human septet, where fathers and sons clash and connect across three generations over seven generations of trauma.

Panic in the Bathroom 
Written by Jared Scheinberg – New York, NY
An OCD dad. A perfectionist mom. A new pop-rock musical comedy for parents at their wit’s end.

Slut Liturgy 
Written & Performed by Hope Brannon – Chicago, IL
Hope’s time in an intensive outpatient program and with religious bipolar mania. The Last Audition

The Last Audition
Written & Performed by Paul Shearman
A once-celebrated Shakespearean actor returns to an empty stage for a final audition.

Thoughts & Prayers
Written by Ibsen Santos & Aaron Zook
Inspired by the relationship between Antigone, Ismene and their brother, the play seeks to interrogate the unique and terrible reality of mass shootings in America through the eyes of an Argentinian exchange student

Chain Theatre Studio

Chip On Her Shoulder
Written & Directed by Jennifer McAuliffe, Performed by Victoria Nieves
A comedy about heartbreak, coping and carbs.

Follower
Written & Performed by Katheryn McGaffigan – Brooklyn, NY
A disillusioned young woman becomes obsessed with an aloof classmate, drawing others into a secret stalking club.

Gnosis
Written & Performed by Zack Reardon
Alone aboard humanity’s first interstellar ark, Captain Elias Hasket guides hundreds of sleeping pilgrims toward a distant galaxy. But the voyage hides a darker purpose.

In Between the Moon and the Sun
Written by Martina Demaio And Elian Wigisser – New York, NY
Two Latina artists meet in New York chasing the same dream. When one of their visas is approved and the other denied, their friendship must survive across distance and change.

Lipstick
Performed by Edu Díaz. Written by Linda Morales Caballero & Edu Díaz
Through vivid childhood memories and adult confusion, one man unravels his sense of self

PERRA PUTA LOCA BRUJA: A Latina’s Réclamation Journey
Written & Performed by Vanessa Codorniu
A one-woman show that reclaims four archetypes historically used to silence women.

Real Men Wear Scarves in Pittsburgh
Written & Performed by Andy Paluselli – New York, NY
It’s not easy growing up gay in the Iron City under an iron fist.

The Box Factory
Written by Ed Flynn – New York, NY
After his fully funded start-up goes out of business, a former tech hot-shot moves back to Queens to rebuild his life and the family business, the last cardboard box factory in NYC. 

The Meeting 
Written by Brian James Police
Five former performing artists convene a meeting in a fascist future, when all forms of art (and even the utterance of any art-related words) have been banned.

The Most Normal of My Weird Friends
Written & Performed by Ray Crisara – New York, NY
Crisara’s path to self-awareness that his childhood was not normal.

The Village Cidiot
Written & Performed by Lauren Letellier – Hillsdale, NY
A dyed-in-the-wool Manhattanite loses her big corporate job and moves, reluctantly, to a tiny upstate town where there’s no Chinese take-out, no dry cleaner, and the nearest Starbucks is an hour away

There’s Something Seriously Wrong With Cyrus
Written & Performed by Cyrus Deboo
A one-person solo show/stand up comedy about growing up queer in an immigrant household and learning how to tell the truth without losing your sense of humor.

White as Snow
Written & Performed by Rose-Ingrid Benjamin
The story of a Queer eldest immigrant daughter coming home to herself.

Who Does Your Laundry?
Written & Performed by Martina Demaio and Alice Litchfeld
When Alda, an Argentinian cleaner, and Celia, an Australian lawyer, collide over a broken washing machine in the local laundromat, small talk turns into a battle of worlds — art versus commerce, feeling versus logic, connection versus survival.

Your Love Isn’t Love
Written & Performed by Anthony P. Pennino – Montclair, NJ
He once believed that the song had it right – “Love is all you need”. He would soon discover that true love can find itself in battle with despair, pain, and fear.

The Rat NYC
(68-117 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY 11201)

A Baby For Me? No Thank You, Please!
Written & Performed by Bailey Swilley – New York, NY 
When everyone in her life pressured Bailey to have a baby, she spent a lot of time questioning, researching and agonizing over what was wrong with her—until she found the answer, literally inside of her—at the gyno’s office.

All the Rage
Written & Performed by Venessa Peruda – New York, NY 
The righteous breakdown every woman needs. Peruda demonstrates how anger and humor are linked, sharing a trick that will reduce your urge to castrate men on a weekly basis.

Becoming Psychic
Written & Performed by Gada Jane
A lifelong skeptic discovers her psychic abilities.

Black Trashbag Magic
Written by Alina Garcia-Burke – New York, NY 
As Natalie loses control of her narrative, memories resurface in a new light. 

Chase Montana: From Funny to Fatherhood (A New Yorkers Story)
Written & Performed by Jason Flood
From Chase’s wild beginnings as an orphaned kid hustling to survive, to the moment he meets the one person who changes everything, the light of his life—his son Jefft,

fainting couch: a one woman show… (with a butler)
Written & Performed by Katherine Humes
When Lady K is struck by a debilitating episode of pain and hysteria following her presentation to society, she is sent to the seaside for her health.

Hagnificent
Written & Performed by Debora Fromm
Life is too short not to welcome the change with wit, warmth and unapologetic badassery. T

How Not To Feel
Written by Pete Cheema
A comedic musical tragedy.

Mother.
Presented by Acting Political – Brooklyn, NY
A treatise on the nouns we associate with the word, in the many forms they take.  Five artists explore themes of adoption, birth, admiration, nurture, and abandonment through both light humor and painful truth. 

Online & Personal
Written & Performed by Elizabeth George – New York, NY
Paige Lerman finds herself stuck in a personal haunted house of boredom, mediocrity, and virginity until one day she decides to brave the real world.

Presley Tweed: Fancy AF
Rodney Brazil and Benjamin Farha
This comic cabaret centers on Presley Tweed, a self-proclaimed almost-star, and his delusional quest for fame,

The Isle of Slaves Revisited – A Theatrical and Musical Spectacle For Our Times
Written by Pierre de Marivaux, Adapted & Translated by Marisa Stefatos
A new take on a tale of the four survivors of a shipwreck, two masters and their servants, who land on the isle of Slaves, where the tables are turned.

The Third Choice
Written & Performed by Tai Chatur – Brooklyn, NY
What if we chose not to choose anymore? A one-person show that blends storytelling, stand-up comedy, and a faux group therapy session

The Total Veronica Experience
Written & Performed by Veronica Manning
Veronica’s journey forces her to confront her tumultuous past.

Walter Schlinger’s Romeo and Juliet
Written & Performed by Sean Gordon,
Former English undergraduate, Walter Schlinger attempts to provide insight into the world’s most famous love story.