Orlando Fringe 2026
Our critics’ reviews of everything we saw at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, May 12-25, 2026.
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Prank.net (The Impractical Pranksters Summon the Anti-Christ)’
An obnoxious hidden-camera host (Nick Jeurgens) gets possessed by the Antichrist (Emmanuel Tojanci) and embarks on a profanity-packed crusade of cruelty in Prank.net, a hysterically hyperbolic horror-comedy from writer-director Sam Newkirk, a “Fringer of the Future” from Rollins College. This show deservingly sports the most extensive content warning I’ve seen at the Fringe, and from…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Fast and the Bi-Curious’
As a polyamorous Leo who leads the local Rocky Horror Picture Show cast and loves personal attention, Valerie Von Voss is perhaps the perfect person to present a deliciously deep dive into pop culture’s bisexual boom of the mid-late-aughts. But The Fast and the Bi-Curious isn’t just a TED Talk that you can hoot and…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Intimi(dating): A Cabaret About Sex and Dating’
Orlando Fringe favorite Katie Thayer, best known for her bikini advertising service and one-woman Titanic parody, is back with Intimi(dating), a candid comedic cabaret examining her unsuccessful love affairs, which largely involved emotionally unavailable Canadians. Dressed in a red sequined Jessica Rabbit dress that’s slit up to there, and delivering scandalously sharp-witted one-liners about her…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Small Minded’
From the moment Tyler West emerges from a pint-sized proscenium to the strains of Randy Newman’s “Short People,” grasping vainly at a too-tall mic stand as he struggles with a footstool, you know that there’s going to be big fun and bigger ideas in Small Minded, his brilliant blend of sociological soliloquy and circus arts.…
Orlando Fringe 2026 reviews: ‘Unity’ and ‘Letters in Need’
There are two audience-participation site-specific shows worth paying attention to at this year’s Fringe: Unity and Letters in Need. Unity, the latest entrancing audio experiment from composer Nathan Felix, sees audience members sitting on the sidewalk outside Orlando Shakes and following time-stamped instructions to create a cacophonic symphony using squeak toys, stones and Pop Rocks.…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘A Final Girl’s Guide to Surviving a Serial Killer’
Welcome to Camp Sleighmore! On the schedule: roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories, and, of course, murder. A Final Girl’s Guide to Surviving a Serial Killer, written by Kezia Suarez and directed by Eric “Mars” Suarez, gives the 10 rules to surviving a murder spree. Arriving at the meeting spot next to the Orlando Science Center,…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Dress’
Cirque du Soleil choreographer Ana Cuellar caught my attention last year with her Critics’ Choice Award-winning EnMi, but this year, her show The Dress captured my heart thanks to the powerful pairing of performer Elaine “Lanie” Hoxie and dancer Dion Leonhard DiDonna. Hoxie (directed by Bruno Sangar) delivers delicate verses by Cathy Delgado about the…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘In Their Footsteps’
With only wooden boxes and a few props, five women (Amanda Corbett, Ayo Akinsanya, Becca Jimenez, Eunji Lim and Kelly Teaford) illustrate the harsh reality of war in this award-winning documentary drama. Directed and devised by Ash Singer and Infinite Variety Productions from actual interviews, In Their Footsteps tells stories of the Vietnam War not…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘P. Sparkle’s Pajama Party’
Singing? Check. Gossip corner? Check. Fashion show? Check. What is this checklist for? How to make a great pajama party, of course! And no one knows how to throw a pajama party quite like P. Sparkle. Sparkle’s red pigtails and glitter high-heeled boots give audiences a pretty good indicator of what they’re in for. Written,…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Miah’s Critter Comforts’
Writer-performer Jeremiah “Miah” Gibbons (Miah’s Critter Comfort) returns to Fringe as Ranger Miah, an ethereal genderfluid fairy of the forest in a green bullfrog beret. A platinum-level homosexual spouting picture-book poetry à la Beatrix Potter — only with a campy anti-capitalist edge — Miah has a day job sitting at a desk as his soul slowly…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Confessions of the Tall & Tart’
Confessions of the Tall & Tart marked my first time seeing a show inside Ivanhoe 1915, which is an intimate cabaret for patrons sitting up front, and a sea of obstructed sightlines for those seated in the back, as I was. Fortunately, Kevin Fox more than fulfills the first half of his Tall & Tart…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Erika MacDonald: Tea Time’
Erika MacDonald: Tea Time is a funny, strange and unexpectedly moving solo show that turns tea into a full emotional love language. Erika MacDonald builds her performance through audience interaction, repeated phrases, music and a lot of ritual around making/serving tea. The piece feels both playful and deeply personal. What makes Tea Time stand out…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Once Upon a Traitor: Faithfully Ever After’
A dozen of the Magic Kingdom’s most beloved heroes and villains are competing in a cutthroat social contest over a prize pot of pressed pennies, and only one will emerge victorious. Welcome to Once Upon a Traitor: Faithfully Ever After, a pixie-dusted spoof of both theme parks and reality television co-written by Derick Taylor-White and…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Fogville: A Sparkly Vampire Parody Musical’
Fogville: A Sparkly Vampire Parody Musical is 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. Stella MoonSwan (Kristen Lee Vire) stars as the clumsy new girl as she stumbles into Fogville, finding herself immediately trapped in a fierce…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The One Who Calls’
Do you ever have a lingering feeling that we are not alone? Then tune into rural public access TV station WZRD circa 1987, as Shawn (Bre Wells) broadcasts her UFO investigation show from a cluttered control room crammed with analog electrical equipment. Like a female Art Bell, she delights in debunking fellow true believers as…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘World Peace Through Humor: A German 101’
World Peace Through Humor: A German 101 is a high-energy stand-up comedy show that delivers exactly what it promises: a German comic who makes American jokes while preaching global unity. Paco Erhard bounds onstage with relentless cheer, firing off jokes about Florida’s unique perks, U.S. government absurdities and his own peripatetic life as a world…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Onwards!’
Self-described “opera busker anarchist” Bremner Fletcher Duthie always wanted to sing and act, but he’d almost abandoned his art after endless dispiriting auditions, until his wife encouraged him to perform a one-man show at “one of those weird festivals.” Twenty-five years later, Bremner gratefully credits Fringe with saving his life, and he’s repaying the debt…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Masquerade of the Red Death’
Masquerade of the Red Death leans hard into spectacle, dressing Edgar Allen Poe’s plague tale in glitter, flesh and dark burlesque flair. The costumes, designed by Aurora Fable, are intricate and eye-catching as they glitter through each individual dance of the different women, choreographed by Miss Foxy D’Ville. Directed by Sean Holloway with Fable and…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Welcome to Clowntown’
Welcome to Clowntown starts sweet, then explodes into chaos when Tanya Perez’s “Pixie the Clown” turns some kids’ birthday party into her own rock & roll confessional. What begins with two balloons and a really dull backdrop unravels into a clown meltdown that reveals high-end burnout. Perez’s show thrives on that tonal whiplash. She’s got…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Greatest Betrayal’
Morgan Frey walks a tightrope between charm and pain in her solo show, The Greatest Betrayal, as she mines the gap between delusions and darker truths. Framed as a witty soliloquy about crushes and ambitions, the piece opens with a little bit of self-deprecating humor before peeling back the layers of Frey’s personal life as…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Vagina Monologues’
The Vagina Monologues at Fringe this year is bringing different voices, stories and perspectives from women about their experiences having, well, vaginas. Ranging over topics from health and safety to lifestyle and beauty, director Jaimz Dillman’s production of Eve Ensler’s script consolidates various interviews into soliloquies that are read aloud by a large, rotating cast…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Dreamwalker’
Halfway through this show I thought to myself, Did I take a psychedelic drug and just not know it? Nope. What I was witnessing was just that bizarre. Dreamwalker, written and directed by Joseph Breton, tells the story of the Unicorn Clans. What that story is, I can’t exactly say. Not because I’m sworn to…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Suitcase: La Maleta’
Right now there are millions of emigrants to America — documented and otherwise — who simultaneously feel angry, sad and terrorized, and are wondering whether their journey to the USA is worth being trapped inside the nonstop survival cycle of working and spending. Countless souls are striving for something unattainable, suffering in silence lest they…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Pink List’
From Martin Sherman’s Bent to the documentary Paragraph 175, there have been plenty of works of art depicting the suffering of homosexuals under the Third Reich, but relatively little creative attention has been paid to the gay community’s continued oppression under Nazi-era criminal codes, even decades after Germany’s liberation. Writer-performer Michael Trauffer has tried to…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Bytes’
Jamie (Michael Marinaccio), an agoraphobic IT geek, spends his solitary days vibe-coding by the glow of a monitor, and his lonely nights replaying ancient NES games. Alongside a betta fighting fish from his niece, Jaime is birthday-gifted an A.I. companion as a birthday present from his tech-bro buddy. Initially, he resists Odessa’s (Tymisha Harris, appearing…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Mother: A Postpartum Comedy’
In the beginning, there was darkness upon the face of the Green Venue. Then, there was grunting, as clown-faced writer-performer Anne Zander slowly dragged a bucket across the stage, sloshing water onto a tarp, in what was to be the last clean moment of Mother, a “Postpartum Comedy” that’s Fringey with a capital F. Scooting…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Review by Martin Dockery’
How is a reviewer supposed to start a review of a show called The Review? Maybe by mentioning that it’s the newest work from the Fringe-favorite team of writer-performer Martin Dockery and director Vanessa Quesnelle, beloved for their mind-warping yet heart-warming original dramedies? Or perhaps by saying that Dockery is an internationally touring legend with…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘://SHELF_LIFE’
I’m personally waging a passive-aggressive Cold War with my Alexa devices and have defiantly disabled Siri on my iPhone, so the idea that someone would want to transform a beloved human being into an artificial intelligence avatar seems absurd to me. But with ://SHELF_LIFE, writer-performer Zachary Scalzo takes what could just be a chilling near-future…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The $#!T’
The $#!T is a stripped-down solo piece that turns one extremely cramped setting into a surprisingly expressive walk down memory lane. Writer-star Matti McLean’s performance has the feeling of a confessional monologue, using a toilet stall as the main setting for framing a love story that has shifted from romance to resentment to something more…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Then, Eve’
Five years after winning the Orlando Fringe Critics Choice award for scripting Judas, performer-playwright Billie Jane is back with another unconventional seriocomic monologue from the perspective of a vilified Biblical figure. Turning this time to the Old Testament, Jane jumps into the flowing white dress of the titular First Woman, recounting her early days in the…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Mark Vigeant: Out There’
If you always thought that Werner Herzog’s deadly documentary Grizzly Man deserved to be remade as an interactive semi-improvised Fringe comedy, Mark Vigeant’s Out There might just be deliriously out-there enough for you. Playing Larry, a clueless camo-clad YouTuber in search of online attention, the verbose Vigeant ventures intrepidly through the Alaskan wilderness — aka…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Basic Training’
Just to be clear, Fringe legend TJ Dawe is not personally appearing at this year’s Festival, but he is presenting this off-Broadway award-winner in his stead, which should be reason enough to pay attention to solo writer-performer Kahlil Ashanti’s astonishing autobiographical tour de force. In Basic Training, Ashanti recounts his journey from an abusive childhood…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Breaking Brains: A Lewd Lesson in Polyamory’
Breaking Brains: A Lewd Lesson in Polyamory feels less like traditional theater and more like a lively solo lecture from someone who’s living the topic being taught. Dana Prince, performing as Miss Dana, takes the stage as a polyamorous veteran and instructor, breaking down the facts of ethical nonmonogamy. With a mix of personal storytelling…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘My Life as an Inspirational Porn Star’
A woman sits in the middle of the stage in a sheer robe trimmed with feathers. She admires herself in the mirror and then seems to notice the audience that crowds around her. Before the show even starts, she interacts with them in a pleasant manner. Once the show begins, we are introduced to the…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Homecumming’
Homecumming is a raunchy yet sensitive solo piece that uses the loss of female libido and orgasms as a way to reflect on feelings of grief, depression and self-reclamation women can experience in their youth. The mononymous Magalie gives a performance that is bold and physically committed, as the show often walks a fine line…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Colonial Circus: History, Clown Style’
White imperialists may have spread themselves across the globe like mayonnaise, but Brown folks finally get the last laugh in Colonial Circus, a brilliantly bizarre blitz through history that blends skillful absurdist slapstick with savage sociological satire. Storytellers Shreya Parashar and Sachin Sharma hail from India by way of Toronto, and their ridiculous recapitulation of…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Bullock & The Bandits IV: Devil in Deadwood’
David Lee not only stars in the fourth installment of Bullock & The Bandits, but also wrote and directed this high-energy show. These gothic cowboys include an all-star cast of characters fit for a Western Ocean’s Eleven featuring Billy the Kid (Eddie Cooper), Stage Coach Mary (Tymisha Harris), Sheriff Bulloch (Lee) and the other outlaws. …
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Against Her Wishes: A Dark Comedy’
Walking through the doors of the Brown Venue, I’m greeted with organ music and a slideshow chronicling what seems to be most of one woman’s life. I’m also thanked by a woman wearing all black for “being here.” Soon, writer, director and star Emily Fontano walks in and I learn I’m at her mother’s funeral,…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘50% Nonverbal’
Dancing trombonist C. Neil Parsons from Fringe fan favorite Fruit Flies Like a Banana is back with a surreal solo storytelling show exploring his own monologue-less internal psyche. In 50% Nonverbal’s titular half, Parsons mixes mixes masterful horn playing and nonsense scat singing with athletic choreography and sprightly physical comedy, as he chases spotlights across…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Breakfast Reunion’
Twenty-five years after their infamous Saturday detention, five students of Shermer High are once again trapped inside the school library in The Breakfast Reunion, a fan-fiction sequel to the beloved Gen-X classic. Claire (Courtney Cunningham) is divorced with two kids, Brian (Sean Derbyshire) is a tech-bro billionaire, Andrew (Bradley Hubbell) is a bitter has-been, Allison…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Odyssea’s Family Tree’
Last year, Project no. 19 presented AQUILA, an intriguing interpretation of the Prometheus myth incorporating pole dancing with classical drama. This festival, they’ve foregone the Ancient Greek and instead put the emphasis on the apparatus, as writer-director Max Pinsky and fellow students from Dandelion Pole Fitness exhibit their athleticism spinning around a dozen feet of…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘110% Wizard’
If you have any doubts that Orlando Fringe changes lives, look no further than illusionist Keith Brown. A fixture of the Festival for over a decade, Brown landed an agent as a result of his 2024 show here, and is now an in-demand guest artist aboard Norwegian and Virgin cruise ships. Fortunately for us, he…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Four Dinners’
Four Dinners is a sharp, emotionally messy queer dramedy that follows a chronological structure over four meals. These dinners take place in something that feels more like a pressure cooker than an apartment, belonging to roommates Penny (Liv Rawls) and Ynez (Marissa Rodriguez). A complicated dynamic becomes even messier somehow when Penny’s sister, Charlie (McKenna…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Dreamroles’
Dreamroles is a high-energy cabaret-style show that turns wish-casting of infamous characters in musical theater history into a celebration of talent and pure nostalgia. Laurel Melina, Bryan Cantrell and Matt Cordon lean into roles they may not be cast in currently, but are amazing at playing. Together, the ensemble creates a personal and crowd-pleasing performance. …
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Big Gay Jesus: The Third Coming’
Evangelicals are still awaiting the Second Coming of their messiah, but champion gymnast Arthur Davis III is skipping straight to the threequel in his first Orlando Fringe appearance as Big Gay Jesus, the Zeus-sired half-sibling of the better-known Nazarene. Literally rolling onstage in front of a costume rack full of fabulous furs, Davis looks like…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Black Jack Show’
Walking into the darkened Scarlet venue, audience members are greeted by an eerie black curtained box beneath a spotlight in the middle of the stage. After a few moments of anticipation, Black and Jack pop up — no, not Jack Black, but the punk-rocker and ham-actor characters puppeteered by writer-director Charles Hill — and introduce…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Liquid Sunshine 2’
Award-winning singer-songwriter Zelda Grey is back at it again in her sequel to Liquid Sunshine, and this time she’s brought along a band — the You Know Whooz. The show consists of original songs from Zelda as well as lead guitarist Jeremy Lovelady and bassist Brian Byle. Zelda encourages her audience to dance, and while…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Fringin & Flagons Presents: The Last Stand Tavern’
The Orlando Fringe version of the classic role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Automatic Orchestra: Just Add Music’
At its best, art aspires to be a conversation between creator and audience. Automatic Orchestra: Just Add Music is a conversation without words that seeks to tap into participants’ interior life through interactive musical accompaniment, but it left me confused as to what the heck we were even talking about. Described by director Robert Cunha…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘A Strange and Distant Manor’
Travis Ray, the director behind 2017’s improvised Stranger Things spoof, has returned with his troupe to skewer gothic horror conventions in A Strange and Distant Manor, another entertaining exercise in unscripted comedy. Starting with three audience suggestions — “a cave, a Vespa and a fear of spiders,” during the press preview — Ray and company…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Awaken’
The quantity and quality of contemporary dance companies participating in Orlando Fringe has risen and fallen over the years, so it’s gratifying to see director Cindy Heen’s Emergence Dance return to the Festival with Awaken, a polished and passionate piece of movement theater that lives up to the promise of their acclaimed Dream in 2024. …
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘With What We Have Left’
With What We Have Left turns communication into a game, a challenge, and ultimately a shared act of trust. In this unscripted, totally improvised, solo experiment, the performer (Elaina Alspach) steps onstage with only a loosely guiding framework of the production, a shrinking word count, and the audience as an active collaborator for what will…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Unconditionally: The Ultimate Pop Diva Celebration Starring Kayla Fischl’
In Unconditionally, Kayla Fischl brings Orlando Fringe three tight musical sets paying tribute to powerhouse pop divas
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Haunted Co., a Live Ghost Investigation’
Haunted Co., a Live Ghost Investigation starts off as a cheeky paranormal livestream for a popular YouTube show. However, it quickly spirals into something much more unsettling. Framed as a live-ghost hunting special, the production follows Ed and Liz (Andrew Sandoval and Lex Bentley) as they enter the stage armed with heavy equipment meant to…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Wild & Gay Animal Kinkdom’
Homo sapiens may think we’ve cornered the market on horniness, but the diversity of human sexuality pales in comparison to the kinky hijinks found throughout the animal kingdom (and no, I don’t mean the Disney theme park). Writer/director/puppeteer Alexander Hehr (Born Ugly Yesterday, Alphabet Soup) returns to Orlando Fringe, accompanied by co-stars Sean Dunphy and…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘MacShrek: The Comedy of Ogres’
Orlando Fringe has seen far more than its faire share of mashups between the Bard and the big screen, and MacShrek is easily the goofiest and greenest since Shakespeare’s Ghostbusters in 2018. Writer Justin M.G. Hughes (who embodies the titular ogre in verdant vest and theme park headband ears) has dressed up the plot of…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘The Frogs: A New One-Act Adaptation’
Adapted and directed by Stephen Cauley, Cornerstone Charter Academy’s new interpretation of Aristophanes’ The Frogs sets out to explore why humanity can’t just get along. And who better to figure that out than the demigod of theater and wine himself, Dionysus? He sets off to the Underworld to find his favorite philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, and…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Younger Us’
Younger Us is a slow-burn coming-of-age play that finds its power within themes of grief, humor, and the messy connection of complicated relationships after loss. The play takes place during a traditional celebration labeled as a memorial for the loss of a mutual friend, Peter (Sean McKinley), thrown by his boyfriend, Marc (Tony Haberman), who…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Queer!’
A decade after the Pulse Nightclub tragedy made visible the vulnerability of Orlando’s queer Latinx citizens, Descolonizarte Teatro (Desco) is shining a spotlight on the community’s continuing vibrant vitality with their Orlando Fringe revival of Queer! Under director Nadia Garzon, the five-member ensemble of LGBTQ-identifying performers — Mimi Batista, Leandra “Slim” Diaz, Jon Jimenez, Natalia…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Sororicide’
Sororicide wastes no time throwing its audience into chaos. What begins as a fundraiser event for Delta Nu quickly spirals once the sorority president gets murdered in-house. From there, the killer comedy leans heavily into full camp mode, blending Mean Girls-style satire into a classic whodunnit plot. As the production progresses, the characters all fit…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Miss Bellas’
We can’t help but be entranced by musical superstars and haute couture, even as Ticketmaster concert fees and Bezos-sponsored Met Galas enflame us with populist rage. Writer-performer Giselle Bellas — who won acclaim last festival portraying Florence Foster Jenkins — returns this year in the guise of another misguided singer to expertly exploit that cultural…
Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘Chase Padgett: How to Play Guitar (Poorly)’
Chase Padgett walks onstage and immediately disproves his own title. How to Play Guitar (Poorly) opens with a skillful, electrifying number that makes it clear that this show is not about incompetence but about the messy road to discovering identity through musicality and humor. Blending a mix of stand-up comedy, live musical numbers, and deep…
Orlando Fringe 2026: Returning shows
Some artists are lucky enough to get into Fringe multiple years and bring fan favorite shows back. After confirming with the artists that these shows are essentially unchanged, we’re linking to some older reviews here of shows that will be at Fringe this year. Colonial Circus: History, Clown Style Generic Male: Just What We Need,…
