The spirited ‘Hollywood Fringe Festival’ is ready to charm – NBC Los Angeles

Tinseltown, at least in many minds, brims with searchlights and sequins and plush carpets leading up to plush premieres and the sorts of parties that are frequented by above-the-title celebrities.

That’s totally true, and taking on the enduring myths of the Dream Factory is an errand we won’t run. But in addition to its knack for outsized movie moments, Hollywood has long possessed an enticing independent flavor, plenty of plucky panache, and can-do spunk.

Look to The Hollywood Fringe Festival, which is celebrating 15 years in 2025 in a big, huge, like totally enormous way.

How totally enormous?

There are over 400 productions set to take part in the multi-day happening, which will feature theatrical performances, poetry, comedy, music, and everything, just about, that can be presented on a stage or stage-like setting.

Some 2,000 performances will roll out starting June 12, and the gamut is, well, gargantuan. Spoken word to song to snappy performance art: This festival is a fertile field of new growth.

“Hollywood Fringe is proud to provide a platform for financially accessible theatre not only to artists producing work, but also to the audiences who get to experience it,” said Hollywood Fringe Co-Executive Director Ellen Boudreau-Den Herder.

Over two dozen productions will be free, several are “pay what you wish,” and for the ticketed shows? The average ticket price is $15.

And if you’d like to be among other Fringers at the festival’s “community hub,” a nexus for socializing, discovering new performers and shows, and just being in the gorgeous glow of it all? And possibly score a Fringe Button, the “official community badge” which is good for some nifty discounts on tickets?

Make for Ovation Hollywood, where the “Fringe HQ” is located.

It’s a lot — a lovely lot, to be sure, but a lot — to take in, especially if you’re seeking out specific venues or genres or approaches or something you can’t quite put your finger on.

You’ve got a hankering, in short, for a certain type of show, but you need more guidance.

This is where to start on your joyful journey to find your next cool discovery; just search by date, category, or location, and then let your fanciful heart lead you to the fringe.

That is, after all, where some of the most imaginative, offbeat, and future-changing stories, characters, and fresh trends emerge, something that Hollywood is still known for after all of these dazzling decades.