Third annual Fringe Festival starts Thursday

Honolulu will again join a global celebration of the arts with the Oahu Fringe Festival, which has now grown to a three-day event since it first landed in Chinatown in 2011.

Fringe festivals are part of a tradition going back to 1947, where the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe was held in Scotland. There are dozens of events across the country, and our local festival aims to span the Pacific.

"We are fortunate to again have a variety of acts which is central to Fringe," says organizer Misa Tupou, who originally hails from New Zealand. "We've got theatre with storytelling, puppetry, improv, dance (Tahitian, hula, ballroom), and multi-media works 'Kardia' and 'Etched.'"

Nearly all of the performers are from Honolulu, save Bonnie Kim from Hilo (with a Korean folktale puppet show) and storyteller Katy Rydell from Portland, Maine. And Tupou says he is glad to see solid female representation.

"Most of the acts and shows this year have been created by women, or have strong women involved," he says. "This is isn't to say that [wasn't true in] other years... but certainly this year it is noticeable."

One of the highlights of this third year's festival will take place above the ground.

"[We will have] aerial dance inside NextDoor... the aerial artists will construct their aerial structure inside NextDoor," Tupou says. "This is a first for Fringe, an exciting prospect."

The aerial performance kicks off the opening celebration, followed by "fringe bites," five minute previews of many of the acts that will be featured throughout the festival. Tickets for each performance are available online; for more information, visit the Oahu Fringe website.

Photo courtesy OahuFringe.com.