Fringe Festival 2023: Queer cabaret, Bowie, circus classes, and nearly 300 performances across Philadelphia

When Philly cabaret performer John Jarboe told her aunt that she was trans, the relative informed her of a completely unexpected fact: Jarboe had a twin that she “ate” in the womb, named Rose.

“Of course, that’s why you are the way you are,” Jarboe recalled her aunt saying. After the stunning conversation, Jarboe embraced the idea that she absorbed her sister and, naturally, put the journey into a deeply personal play.

“I was confused at first, but as I digest, so to speak, and think about the aftertaste … of that revelation, I’m taking it as a gift,” she said. Rose: You Are Who You Eat (FringeArts, Sept. 14-23) is a solo show “with music by trans composers and myself … that tells the story about how I ate Rose in the womb and how Rose is eating me from the inside out now.”

Rose will be one of nearly 300 experimental, fun, and provocative performances unfolding across multiple Philadelphia venues for the annual Fringe Festival, running Sept. 7-24. The main location is FringeArts in Old City, where there will be ongoing music and theater performances, as well as a Fringe Bar with pub bites and the outdoor Haas Biergarten.

The 2023 festival offers six curated productions — five are world premieres — and five hubs, where partner organizations host their own independent festivals connected to Fringe.

This year’s hubs are Cannonball, which is producing 150 performances at the Maas Building and elsewhere; Circus Campus Presents, with workshops in juggling, trapeze, and more at Mount Airy’s Circadium; Crossroads Comedy, with stand-up and comedy classes held at Theatre Exile; Laurel Hill, the cemetery venue; and Daydream, a kids and teens hub at the West Philadelphia Boys and Girls Club, where shows are “pay what you wish.”

Jarboe will also be on stage as a host for the Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s Late Night Snacks (Sept. 8-Oct. 1) offering queer variety shows with drag queens, clowns, opera singers, burlesque stars, and more at a “custom-built cabaret” on South Street, cheekily named the Closet. Family-friendly shows are Sunday afternoons; otherwise they’re raunchy.

Jarboe said the queer cabaret company is creating a “healthy, soft space to land for queer folks” amid increasing criminalization of LGBTQIA+ communities and drag shows. “We’re meeting scarcity and hatred with beautiful, vibrant un-dismissible abundance,” she said.

Emily Bate, a longtime Fringe Fest attendee and performer, joins Jarboe in Rose as the musical director who plays guitar and bass. Bate runs Trust Your Moves, a large chorus group for queer and trans singers based in West Philly. She’s also premiering her own work, an interactive music-and-theater show that’s part concert, part community singing experience, called Wig Wag (FringeArts, Sept. 13-24).

Be warned: It is a participatory show with opportunities for karaoke and collective singing (though not singing is also an option). The story is all about interconnectedness and interdependence; in practice, it sets viewers up to belt it out off-key in front of strangers.

“When I say I do participatory music stuff, people say ‘Oh, you don’t want to hear me sing,’” Bate said. “I genuinely do. Singing is a birthright. You don’t have to do it, but I’m here to make it more accessible.”

Bowie in Berlin: Sound and Vision (FringeArts, Sept. 7-8) is another concert event — and sing-along opportunity for fans of the legend who once recorded at Philly’s famed Sigma Sound Studios — featuring tween and teen students from Paul Green Rock Academy playing 28 David Bowie hits from his Berlin albums.

Outside of FringeArts in Old City, two productions will completely transform their historic locations on the same block.

Rhythm Bath (Sept. 17-24) welcomes the audience to move all around the space at Christ Church Neighborhood House. Walk into a room of fabric, light, and dancers where you can sit or stand, come or go as you like. Tony-winning set designer Mimi Lien and choreographer Susan Marshall, director of dance at Princeton, crafted an immersive dance show in collaboration with Temple’s Institute on Disabilities to be like a relaxed performance, open and comfortable for neurodiverse audiences.

In Make Bank (Sept. 15-29) renowned muralist Meg Saligman reopens the Manufacturers’ National Bank, which organizers say has been closed to the public since 1985. Saligman will reveal a new four-story mural. During the day, artists will create jewelry and other crafts from dollar bills; by night, the show promises a “bijouterie-burlesque” dance experience.

The Fringe Festival runs Sept. 7-24 at multiple locations in Philly: the main hub, FringeArts, 140 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd., 215-413-1318, phillyfringe.org. “Late Night Snacks” at the Closet, 201 South St.; “Rhythm Bath” at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St.; and “Make Bank” at the Manufacturers’ National Bank, 27 N. 3rd St.