Chicago Fringe announces 2011 Lottery Results Party

Chicago Fringe will be announcing the lineup for its 2011 festival on February 27, 2011. Fringe’s lottery—where shows are selected to perform at the arts festival randomly from a pool of applicants—will officially kick off the pre-festival events for the city’s second annual Fringe Festival.

Applications from all over the world will continue to be accepted through February 15th. At the lottery, 50 shows will be chosen at random to perform in this year’s festival, September 1-11 in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The Fringe Lottery is open to the public and admission is free. The lottery will take place on February 27th at TEMPLE Gallery (1749 S. Halsted St.). Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the lottery will begin at 4:00 p.m.

A full list of this year’s lottery winners and the festival’s waiting list will be available following the February 27th lottery event at http://www.chicagofringe.org/.

Chicago Fringe announced it is expanding the number of shows from 45 to 50 for the 2011 festival. The addition of 5 more shows in its sophomore year, in addition to the adding of a second weekend, speaks to the success of Chicago Fringe’s first festival in 2010.

Of the 50 shows that will perform at 2011 Fringe, four were drawn from a special Midwest Fringe tour circuit lottery in January. These four pieces, including local dance group The Space/Movement Project, will tour to the Kansas City, Minnesota, and Indianapolis Fringe Festivals, ending the tour in Chicago. In addition, 25% of the slots in the festival are reserved for a sub-lottery to ensure artists of color, youth, disabled and senior theater applicants are well represented.

The Chicago Fringe Festival invites emerging and established performing artists from Chicago, the U.S. and beyond to showcase their work and add to the dialogue of theatrical art. The Festival also seeks to enhance the perception of Chicago as a major hub for theatre. Chicago Fringe encourages performers to take bold risks by providing an avenue for affordable productions. It also seeks to bring in non-traditional theater-goers through a commitment to low ticket prices and outreach into communities not commonly represented. In this fashion, The Chicago Fringe Festival provides an avenue for diverse artists and audience members to connect in a singular and immediate way.

Chicago Fringe is celebrating its second annual festival in 2011. To find out more about the Chicago Fringe Festival, visit http://www.chicagofringe.org/.