2025 ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL KICKS OFF ITS FIRST WEEKEND

"Go Big!" at New York State's largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival! 
Tuesday, September 9 – Saturday, September 20

• More than 250 shows and 650 performances at 39 venues in just 12 days!
• 1,600 performers take center stage at this year's Fringe! 
• Artists from over a dozen countries, including: Italy, France, Taiwan, the UK and Canada.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2025 ESL Rochester Fringe Festival is kicking off its first weekend with a spectacular lineup that is bold, immersive, and brimming with creativity. Running from September 9 to 20, this year's Fringe is pulling out all the stops with over 250 shows and 650 performances across 39 venues in downtown Rochester. This includes returning favorites, festival debuts and major U.S. premieres of comedy, music, drama, dance, kids entertainment, magic, acrobats and so much more. Tickets are available at rochesterfringe.com or on the new Rochester Fringe Festival App, which is available for download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Now in its 14^th season, Fringe has become one of the largest, most successful, and most prominent fringe festivals in the nation, the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festivals in New York State, and one of the region's most anticipated festivals each year. More than 1,600 performers will find a home on Rochester stages—each as unique as the acts themselves. Local, regional and national artists are joined by performers from more than a dozen countries, including: Italy, France, Taiwan, the UK and Canada.

The festival hub is at One Fringe Place on the corner of Main and Gibbs Streets across from Eastman Theatre. The urban pop-up lounge is home to the Spiegeltent and Dawn's Spiegelgarden, and is nearby major festival venue Parcel 5. There are 39 venues throughout Rochester, including traditional theater style venues and non-traditional venues for site-specific shows, such as breweries, forests, parked cars and even hot tubs. While at Fringe, also make sure to visit the Theatre Bar in Dawn's Spiegelgarden at One Fringe Place, and at Fringe bars at Parcel 5, to try the newly released, first-ever Three Heads Brewing x Rochester Fringe Pumpkin Spice Latte Ale. A portion of all sales will be donated back to the Fringe to support its free, accessible programming during the festival.

Fringe is a non-profit organization with a mission to offer platforms for artists, new audiences for venues, and unparalleled public access to incredible art. Festivals help drive the local economy with festival goers supporting local bars, restaurants, accommodations, parking facilities and beyond.

Several shows have already sold out, and in the case of The Event with David Calvitto, the original show planned for Saturday, September 13 sold out so fast that festival organizers have added a second performance on Sunday, September 14 at 5:30 p.m.

Production highlights from the 2025 Fringe include:

• World famous Italian SPHERE making their dazzling Rochester Fringe debut
• Comedy headliner CHELSEA HANDLER at Kodak Hall in the historic Eastman Theatre
• Renowned, immersive, outdoor light and sound experience SUBMERGENCE
• World premiere of the all-new CIRQUE DU FRINGE: CLAWS OUT!
• U.S. premiere tour of TRACES from the internationally acclaimed Théâtre de L'Entrouvert
• Edinburgh Fringe First Award Winner THE EVENT with David Calvitto
• Three of Rochester's Most Fabulous Drag Queens in DRAG ME HOME
• Beloved children's entertainers Les Kif-Kif sisters in THE RETURNS DEPARTMENT
• GOSPEL SUNDAY provides an afternoon of uplifting, soulful and sacred song
• All-styles dance competition STREET BEAT in MLK Park

It is impossible to see everything at Fringe over the course of the 12-day festival, but you can see a lot! People are encouraged to support their favorite artists and local venues, as well as try something new. "Many shows have already sold out and many others have very limited tickets remaining. "We urge festival-goers to purchase their tickets as soon as possible," said Erica Fee, CEO and Festival Producer. "Make sure to also take advantage of the free programming. Public access to world-class art is very important to us and more than a quarter of our shows are free." 

The free, public spectacle at Parcel 5 in the heart of downtown Rochester is returning to this year's Fringe, with four mind-bending performances of eVenti Verticali's SPHERE. Italy's eVenti Verticali is a performing troupe making their Fringe debut by bringing the magic of SPHERE to Rochester with a spectacle about our miraculous planet, and what can happen when greed, beauty, energy, fragility, and a collective embrace can occur. Picture a giant luminous sphere, suspended 60 feet in the air, surrounded by aerial dancers who abound with whimsy. Now add in mesmerizing lights, music and incredible acrobatics. The allure of the public spectacle draws thousands of people to Parcel 5 each Fringe season. Fringe is one of the only Fringe Festivals in the world that offer such spectacular, large-scale, free public programming.

Every year, a major comedian fills the coveted comedy headliner spot to deliver major laughs to a lively, sold-out audience at Rochester Fringe. This year, Chelsea Handler joins a growing list of A-list performers to share their comedy talents (and chops!) at Fringe. Prior Fringe comedy headliners have included John Mulaney, Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Mike Birbiglia, Tig Notaro and Colin Jost. Chelsea Handler is a comedian, television host, and seven-time New York Times best-selling author whose humor and candor have established her as one of the most celebrated voices in entertainment and pop culture. After a strong seven-year run as the host of E!'s top-rated Chelsea Lately, a tenure in which she was the only female late-night talk show host on-air, she launched her documentary series Chelsea Does, followed by her talk show Chelsea on Netflix in 2016. She has penned seven New York Times best-selling books, six of which have reached #1, including her seventh and most recent book I'll Have What She's Having, published February 2025.

Immersive experiences are cornerstone to the Fringe experience. Submergence provides a large, immersive sight and sound experience that is outdoors and walkable. It uses many thousands of individual points of suspended light to create feelings of presence and movement within physical space. In its entirety, the 12-minute piece forms an abstract narrative with a gradual increase in tension, building to a final climax. Each movement has its own elements, atmosphere and responsiveness. They are also all open to one's own interpretation. Submergence has been shown in over 70 spaces and events on six continents. It was created by Squidsoup, who are artist pioneers in the use of light, sound and technology to create immersive installations and encourage people to view the world from different perspectives.

Premieres and debuts are anticipated each year at Fringe. This year, Las Vegas legends and Fringe favorites Matt and Heidi Morgan, are back with a world premiere of Cirque du Fringe: Claws Out. It is glamorous, dazzling, unforgettable–-and that's just the cats! Audiences are invited to become fully immersed in an evening with beloved socialite and renowned opera singer Madam Kitty Ross. She is a purrfect host and the cattiest cat lady at Fringe. Will it be an evening to remember or turn out to be a real "catastrophe?" It is not to be missed. All the cool cats will be there—glamorous aerialists, mind-blowing acrobats, and a swashbuckling swordsman—from America's Got Talent, Das Supertalent, Penn & Teller Fool Us, Spiegelworld's Absinthe, Opium & Vegas Nocturne, Circus Roncali and NBA halftime shows.

Fringe programming supports a range of artists from local favorites to new and emerging talents. With another completely free, public art performance, Fringe presents TRACES, which is part of the U.S. premiere tour from the internationally acclaimed Théâtre de L'Entrouvert. TRACES will feature 25 people from Rochester of different ages, cultures and backgrounds. They are not actors, just people who will represent a cross section of the city, led by world renowned French ice artist and puppeteer Elise Vigneron. Her work with ice has been featured in performances from the Seoul Performing Art Festival to the World Festival of Puppet Theatres in Charleville-Mézières, France, Mime London Festival in London, and the Chicago Puppet Festival. TRACES is a spellbinding public conversation of sculpture, sound, and movement used to tell a unique story of the beauty and pain in our individual journeys and collective humanity. In TRACES, Vigneron will bring a poetic sensibility to the interdependence of humans with one another and the environment. TRACES will be performed during the first weekend of the festival and is made possible by funding from Villa Albertine, The French Institute for Culture and Education.

When it comes to Fringe, there is always more to see, hear and feel. Fringe is bringing back past favorites—Silent Disco, Bushwhacked, Dashboard Dramas and Pedestrian Drive-In in the Spiegelgarden. Other new highlights include Les Kif Kif: Jam Side Up! and Les Kif Kif: The Returns Department, which feature identical twin sisters from Quebec who are also clowns, gymnastics, puppetry and magic. Drag Me Home features, for the first-time ever under one Rochester roof, three of the city's favorite drag queens—Mrs. Kasha Davis, Darienne Lake and Pandora Boxx, all of which performed on RuPaul's Drag Race. Shotspeare is back with an all-new adaptation of Titus Andronicus, which takes the world's most beloved playwright, soaks him in beer, and flips him on his head. Then in The Event, which was honored with a Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Fringe and Best Actor Award at Adelaide Fringe, audiences watch as a man stands on stage in a pool of light and attempts the ultimate trick: disappearing while remaining in full sight.

Fringe offers programming for people of all ages, including families and children. Some family-favorite annual events, include Kids Day Saturday, September 20 with chalk art, pumpkin painting and Disco Kids; Street Beat regional all-styles and breakdancing dance competition at MLK Park on Saturday, September 20, and Gospel Sunday on Sunday, September 14 in the Spiegeltent. A quarter of the Fringe's more than 250 shows and 650 performances are completely free. Additionally, Fringe has partnered with the Mary Cariola Center and Center for Disability Rights to have all Fringe venues assessed for accessibility and inclusion.

2025 venues include: Aerial Arts of Rochester, Austin Steward Plaza, Bop Shop Records, Central Library of Rochester, Dawn's Spiegelgarden, Eastman School of Music, The Focus Theater, Garth Fagan Dance, Genesee Valley Sports Complex, George Eastman Museum, The Harley School, Java's JCC, Joseph Ave Arts and Culture Alliance, La Marketa at the International Plaza, Memorial Art Gallery, MuCCC, Parcel 5, Photo City Music Hall, RIT City Arts Space, RMSC Garden of Fragrance, ROC Cinema, ROC City Circus, Rochester Music Hall of Fame, RoCo, The Rose Room, Salena's, School of the Arts, Spiegeltent, Strangebird Brewery, St. Joseph's Park, The Hochstein School, The Little, The Spirit Room, UR Sloan Performing Arts Center, Washington Grove, Washington Square, St. Joseph's Park and Writers & Books.

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ABOUT THE ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL:

The 12-day ESL Rochester Fringe Festival is one of the nation's largest fringe festivals and has been recognized by the New York Times as "one of the country's more prominent multidisciplinary events." It is also New York State's largest performing arts festival and the current winner of CITY Magazine's Best of Rochester Award for Best Arts Event. Nearly a million people have attended more than 5,700 performances and events at the Fringe since its inception in 2012. The non-profit organization's mission is to offer platforms for artists, new audiences for venues, and unparalleled public access to incredible art. It strives to be diverse and inclusive, as well as to stimulate downtown Rochester culturally and economically. The Fringe showcases the work of regional, national, and international artists from emerging to superstar. Audiences at Fringe also have the rare opportunity to attend a performance at the Spiegeltent, which is one of the most unique performing arts venues in the world.

ABOUT ESL:

With more than 100 years of locally owned history, ESL Federal Credit Union serves as a full-service financial institution to more than 438,000 members and 17,200 businesses. Founded in 1920, the company provides personal banking, business banking, mortgage services and wealth management services through its locally based 24-branch network; telephone, mobile and online banking; and live chat center. The Rochester-based financial institution employs approximately 950 people in the Greater Rochester area and holds more than $9.4 billion in assets. Since 1996, ESL has paid out 30 consecutive Owners' Dividends to its members totaling more than $320 million. Since the creation of its Community Impact initiative in 2018, ESL has reinvested more than $153 million in grants throughout the community. The company has appeared on Great Place to Work® lists since 2010. ESL Federal Credit Union is headquartered at 225 Chestnut Street, in Rochester, and can be found online at www.esl.org.

ROCHESTER FRINGE SPONSORS:

ESL Federal Credit Union, Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; Rochester Area Community Foundation; 7Crest Financial Partners; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts, City of Rochester; Monroe County; University of Rochester; RIT, Dr. Dawn F. Lipson; Mary Mulligan Trust; Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation; Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Foundation; Konar Enterprises; The Rubens Family Foundation; Lake Beverage; Garber Automotive Rochester, The Inn on Broadway; Hyatt Regency Rochester; Nazareth University; St. John Fisher University; Monroe Community College; WXXI, D&C Digital, 13 WHAM, The Pike Company; Hamilton A/V; Wilkins RV; McCarthy Tents & Events; Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care; Finger Lakes Distilling; Aspire Transformation Services; Visit Rochester; The Spindler Family Foundation; The Harley School; Wegmans; Quebec; Villa Albertine; Institut Francais; Joint Agreement Fund; City Blue Imaging; Canandaigua National Bank; Yelp!; AdHouse Productions, Walk Up Advertising, Mary Cariola Center; Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC; House of Guitars and Northeastern Pool & Spa.

ABOUT FRINGE FESTIVALS:

In 1947, eight theatre groups showed up - uninvited - to perform at the newly established Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. Although not listed in the official program, the groups performed anyway, at venues they found for themselves. The following year, a Scottish journalist coined the term "festival fringe" to describe these non-curated shows that began turning up annually. The Edinburgh Fringe is now the world's largest arts festival and the third largest event after the Olympics and the World Cup. Today, there are more than 250 Fringe Festivals worldwide, with nearly 50 in the United States. The ESL Rochester Fringe Festival was the first in Upstate New York.

Image & Online Press Kit 
More information and high-res image can be found online: Press - Rochester Fringe Festival. 

SOURCE Rochester Fringe Festival, Inc.