This weekend, the Capital Fringe Festival will stage its final scheduled shows. (Some audience favorites, to be announced on July 26, will return next week for encore performances.) Haven’t used your festival button enough? Cram in a some last-minute plays or storytelling series with these thematic double-headers.
Hero Complex
Ripple of Hope: One Teacher’s Journey to Make an Impact (above)
The former is about a guy who truly believes he’s a superhero. Solo artist Karen Sklaire promotes the latter as “a true-life story about a drama teacher struggling to engage her inner city students with everything from gangsta improvs to a rap version of Annie.” Twinsies!
Burlesque Classique’s Vaudevillian Romp (above, top)
Death and the Mermaid (above, bottom)
Though only the romp promises any actual baring of bods, both shows advertise with mirror-image drawings of ample booties. It’s hard to imagine what the mermaid’s bottom half looks like, given her very distinct posterior. Can a sea creature have two separate butt cheeks but no legs? Find out this weekend, I guess.
Xtraction
Salvation Road (above)
Call it the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt effect: Both of these plays center on dudes trying to “save” their unwilling siblings from cults. (Xtraction's run unfortunately ended before it began.)
The Suicide Journals
315 (above)
In the first show, hear the stories of five young adults—The Jumper, The Hanger, The Shooter, The Pill Popper, and The Cutter—who kill themselves. In the second, find out which of four friends will be the 315th person to jump to their death from the George Washington Bridge. Schedule a therapy session after the lights go up.
Ten Principles )’( (above)
Dust to Dust
At the end of next month, ravers and start-up bros alike will descend on the dusty Nevada desert to create a utopian world of art and radical generosity. If you haven’t already been subjected to Burning Man devotees waxing reverent on the playa, you can pay $17 for the privilege at Ten Principles )’(. Dust to Dust, a musical about a farmer and a jazz vocalist, pairs well for the title alone.