Then Eve Orlando Fringe
Critics’ Choice Award winner Then, Eve, by Billie Jane, was “among the most entertaining and affecting original scripts Orlando Fringe has seen.”  Credit: Courtesy Orlando Fringe

The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival wrapped up its 35th annual installment on Memorial Day with 116 sold-out performances (up from 70 last year) and a total of 43,901 tickets sold to 63,096 patrons, returning a near-record $518,196 to over 1,700 local and traveling artists. 

Fringe’s traditional closing ceremonies in Loch Haven Park once again featured the presentation of the Critics’ Choice Awards, as determined by myself and Orlando Sentinel reviewer Matt Palm. This year’s big winner was Basic Training by Kahlil Ashanti, an “astonishing, award-winning autobiographical tour de force” about his experience in the Air Force’s performing troupe. 

In addition to the Critics’ Choice, Fringe presented “Fringe-bassador” awards to me and Matt Palm, as well as a “Lifetime Achievement” plaque to local actor and longtime Fringe staff member Scott Browning, who is leaving Orlando. 

Finally, Orlando Weekly published a record-high 62 new reviews this year — thanks to the invaluable assistance of my co-reviewers, Arsheeya Garg and Sabrina Hansen — while I personally saw 88 different productions, not including holdovers from prior festivals. 2026 also marked my 20th year reviewing Fringe shows, which is a perfect time to start passing the torch to the next generation. Don’t expect me to go away entirely, but I’ll be taking a step back to help provide more room for new voices.

Here are the rest of the 2026 Orlando Fringe Critics’ Choice outstanding honorees:

SOLO SHOW — COMEDY: Against Her Wishes: A Dark Comedy, by Emily Fontano, a heartfelt interactive eulogy that “contains a nice blend of laughter and tears.”

SOLO SHOW — DRAMA: Then, Eve, by Billie Jane, which is “among the most entertaining and affecting original scripts Orlando Fringe has seen.” 

SOLO SHOW — IMPROV: Becoming Magic Mike 2: Stranger Thongs, by DK Reinemer, a gloriously juvenile collection of silly schtick, sewn together by DK’s superb crowdwork.

SOLO SHOW — SPECIALTY: Erika MacDonald: Tea Time from Paul Strickland Presents, “a well-written show with just enough hilarity about the absurdity of life, all communicated through a mutual love of tea.” 

SOLO SHOW — MUSICAL: Chase Padgett: How To Play Guitar (Poorly) from Peacock Farm Productions, a show “about the messy road to discovering identity through musicality and humor.”

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Mark Vigeant: Out There, creative production by Charles Day, which is like “Werner Herzog’s deadly documentary Grizzly Man … remade as an interactive semi-improvised Fringe comedy,” complete with live-streamed “nature” footage.

CHOREOGRAPHY: Dad Bod Dance Off!, choreographed by Izzy Warren, may be a ridiculous spoof, but T. Robert Pigott and Joel Warren took their dancing surprisingly super-seriously, from interpretive ballet to terrific tapping.

ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Single Rider Songbook, by Emilie Jean Scheetz, features a divinely diverse score — ranging from 1930s swing to space-age shanty — with devilishly dense lyrics that Disney annual passholders will delight in decoding. 

ORIGINAL SCRIPT: Bytes, by Aradhana Tiwari, “stands out for both its naturalistic repartee, seasoned with rhetorical flights of fancy that the actors devour with relish; and the raw humanism of this Twilight Zone-style cautionary tale.”

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE — COMEDY: Alexander Mrazek in Once Upon a Traitor: Faithfully Ever After was “by far the best reason to see” this “pixie-dusted spoof of both theme parks and reality television.”

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE — DRAMA: Robin Olson, in The Sting of Revenge: A Prequel of Sorts, elevated the third installment of Sandi Linn’s “Bugged Lady” trilogy with her deeply moving portrayal of an abused wife who’s estranged from her trans child.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE — MUSICAL: Tymisha Harris, from Josephine, Bullock & The Bandits IV: Devil in Deadwood and Masquerade of the Red Death, was the hardest-working woman at the 2026 Orlando Fringe, appearing in a half-dozen productions. Her Patrons Pick finale embodying Josephine Baker was among the top five performances I’ve seen in my lifetime on any stage.

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: Queer! was devised by Descolonizarte Teatro’s Mimi Batista, Leandra “Slim” Diaz, Jon Jimenez, Natalia Soler and Alejandro “Nico Speed” Montano, who “collaborated to devise this emotional collage of storytelling and singing based on their personal experiences.”

SITE-SPECIFIC SHOW: Letters in Need by Phoenix Tears Productions, a “charming one-on-one interactive experience by creator-designer Mary Hosford, where you’ll read and redirect missives from various lonely souls.”

IMPROV SHOW: A Strange and Distant Manor, by Travis Ray, an “entertaining exercise in unscripted comedy” that’s ideal for audiences who “enjoy your improv comedy super-sized and served with a side of screams.”

MAGIC SHOW: Repeat winner Keith Brown retired from this category with a “lifetime achievement” award for 110% Wizard, which “blends many of his classic sleight-of-hand tricks and mentalism effects with anecdotes from his nascent nautical career.”

AGITPROP PRODUCTION: The Cage, produced by Natasha Junkermeier, written by Melanie Bailey, directed by Rebekah Lugo. This harrowing immersive ICE interrogation — which starred an amazingly brave Anna V. Eskamani in my performance — was the opposite of entertainment, but still an indelible experience.

SPECIALTY SHOW: It’s Alive! Live, by Casey Berkery and Anomalo Labs, a wonderfully unhinged improvised talk show for off-brand monsters that proves late night isn’t dead yet, despite Colbert’s demise.

DANCE SHOW: The Dress, by Ana Cuellar Productions, features “the powerful pairing of performer Elaine ‘Lanie’ Hoxie and dancer Dion Leonhard DiDonna,” who “gives a master class in leaving everything on the stage,” making this show “a must-see.”

DIRECTOR: Fogville: A Sparkly Vampire Parody Musical, directed by Bianca Matheson and Jules Bevilacqua, “a gleeful, high-octane parody that takes the Twilight saga and amplifies every brooding stare, sparkly vampire cheekbone and dramatic love triangle into campy, musical perfection.”

PLAY — DRAMA: In Their Footsteps, by Ash Singer and Infinite Variety Productions, a “real, raw and sometimes uncomfortable” look at nurses, WACs and other women who served in Vietnam.

PLAY — COMEDY: Dolley. F***ing. Madison., by Michael Knight and New Generation Theatrical, is a razor-sharp satire about the War of 1812 that’s pointedly political yet proudly patriotic, featuring more hard-hitting punchlines than any other show in the Fringe, as well as a surprisingly heartfelt defense of American’s lost art of sitting down and talking to each other.

PLAY — MUSICAL: Ozma: A New Musical, by House of Wayward Queers (book and lyrics by Tyler Scott, Bryan Jager and Emily Holcomb; music and additional lyrics by Mikayla Thompson), a refreshingly wholesome drag re-imagining of Return to Oz, has a better score than Wicked: For Good, and better production values than the latest Broadway tour of The Wiz. 

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This article appears in June 3-9, 2026.