You’ve seen a play before, of course—donned your evening best, collected your program, and settled into plush seats as the lights fell. But what if you’re looking for—in the words of Monty Python—something completely different?
Enter the weird and wonderful San Diego International Fringe Festival, an array of theatrical performances that hang on the edges of what’s acceptable, palatable, and expected. This month, the festival celebrates its 13th year. Nearly 50 local, national, and international acts will perform 230 shows from May 15 to 25 at nine different venues all over the city.
The most famous of fringe festivals is Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, where, in 1947, eight uninvited acts crashed the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival and performed at unconventional venues, like pubs, hotels, and sidewalks, across the city—the literal fringes. And thus, with a little rebellion, theatre history was born. San Diego’s Fringe brings clout, especially with performers, as it’s part of the World Fringe organization, a sister festival of the Edinburgh behemoth.
Courtesy of San Diego International Fringe Festival
“[San Diego Fringe Festival] has all the independent voices. We don’t curate. We don’t jury,” says Kevin Charles Patterson, founder and CEO of San Diego International Fringe Festival. “Anybody with an artistic voice that wants to see their work shown has an opportunity.”
That means you get a full breadth of theatrical performances—you may love it, you may hate it, but, hey, that’s art. Expect mostly satisfaction, though. “I think that our roster of artists tends to be at a higher level than in so many smaller cities,” Patterson adds. “I attribute that to us having a presence within World Fringe.”
The San Diego International Fringe Festival also aims to reach those on the fringes of access to art. “Part of our mission and making it affordable”—tickets for each show are $13 (or even free) after a one-time $7 festival fee—“is we try to get stuff out there [to help] people get exposed to the arts [in places] where maybe they wouldn’t normally get that,” says Shaun Davis, the producing director of SD Fringe.
Courtesy of Monarch School
This year, the venues have broadened to underserved communities, like City Heights, Barrio Logan, and Lincoln Park. The festival has a new partnership with The Chrysalis: Monarch Center for the Arts, a 6,000-square-foot arts space in Barrio Logan with a dedicated 100-seat theatre, dance studio, visual art classroom, and storefront gallery. It’s also teaming up local churches whose stages generally stay dark outside of Sundays.
This is the first year that cinema will be a part of Fringe. San Diego State University is partnering with Fringe to present a student film showcase. “Now we’ve got film,” Davis says. “I want to make sure that that keeps going.”
All proceeds of ticket sales go to the artists themselves. Passes are also available for multiple performance viewings:
Individual Tickets: $13
3-Show Pass: $35
5-Show Pass: $55
10-Show Pass: $104
Fringe Tag: $7(This one-time badge supports the festival and must be presented for all ticketed events.)
You can find the full list of performers and the entire schedule at sdfringe.org, but in the meantime, check out these highlighted acts for a taste of what your Fringe experience could be.
Courtesy of San Diego International Fringe Festival
5 San Diego Fringe Festival Shows to Attend
First Contact
Local theatre-maker Lavani Ko creates a choose-your-own-adventure B-movie. In this madcap world-premiere homage to all-things sci-fi, the audience must form an intergalactic committee and help decide whether to navigate through an alien encounter with friendliness or force.
Showtimes: May 15 @ 9 p.m. | May 16 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 17 @ 10:30 p.m. | May 20 @ 6 p.m. | May 22 @ 7:30 p.m. Venue: Light Box, Liberty Station
BABY BABY BABY
Written by juggernaut dramatist Connie Harris, BABY BABY BABY tells the tale of two expecting parents, one considerably older, as they dream about their newborn and all that parenthood entails. Harris has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and is a lauded player in the UK.
Showtimes: May 16, 2025 6 p.m. | May 17 @ 1 p.m. | May 19 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 24 @ 9 p.m. | May 25 @ 6 p.m. Venue: Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theatre, Balboa Park
Pretty Beast
Japanese comedian Kazu Kusano fights against stereotypes and embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery and self-reliance in this celebrated one-woman show that takes on mental health, sexism, and absenteeism.
Showtimes: May 15 @ 6 p.m. | May 17 @ 2:30 p.m. | May 21 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 23 @ 9 p.m. | May 24 @ 1 p.m. Venue: Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theatre, Balboa Park
Holy O
Hailing from Houston, Texas, writer-actor Lauren Hance wants to talk taboos—like sex and religion. Inspired by her own and other women’s fraught experiences in the bedroom, this one-woman show about an aspiring nun who just can’t give up her vibrators asks audience members to offer some divine guidance.
Showtimes: May 15 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 17 @ 9 p.m. | May 18 @ 1 p.m. | May 22 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 23 @ 10:30 p.m. Venue: Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theatre, Balboa Park
Alisha’s Light
Alisha Richards has been reborn. Coming into her truth as a trans woman in 2023, Richards found her voice—in a parking lot. Follow her through her first year of transitioning in this vulnerable production that blends spoken word poetry and storytelling.
Showtimes: May 17 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 18 @ 2:30 p.m. | May 18 @ 6 p.m. | May 24 @ 7:30 p.m. | May 25 @ 2:30 p.m. Venue: The Chrysalis: Monarch Center for the Arts, Barrio Logan
Danielle is a freelance culture journalist focusing on music, food, wine, hospitality, and arts, and founder-playwright of Yeah No Yeah Theatre company, based in San Diego. Her work has been featured in FLAUNT, Filter Magazine, and San Diego Magazine. Born and raised in Maui, she still loves a good Mai Tai.
