(HAMMONTON, NJ) -- Summer is here and the New Jersey Fringe Festival is near!  The 3-day outdoor marathon event features live theater performance, music, art vendors, food, craft brews and wine, plus outdoor yoga for the whole family. The event runs August 18th-20th and celebrates creativity and artistic expression, bringing together talented artists and performers from the region to showcase their work in multiple hand-picked venues throughout Downtown Hammonton.

As the first fringe festival in the state of New Jersey, the Jersey Fringe Festival provides a unique platform for artists of all backgrounds to share their stories and connect with audiences. Performances run anywhere from 20-90 minutes, in both intimate and more expansive performance spaces including Hammonton Town Hall, Paul Morris DanceXplosion, Allies in Caring, Hammonton’s Family Success Center, St. Joe’s Academy, Forged Soul Fitness & Yoga Studio, and Eagle Theatre.

Artist performers include Atlantic City Theatre Company’s production of The Profession by Walter Wykes, The Hotspurs! Improvisational presentation of Fringe Unhinged, Colleen Renee Lis’s Destigmatized: Our Bodies, Our Rights, Our Stories, Allegory Dance’s performance Of Lilith, The Melodymaker’s presentation of Carole King’s Tapestry, DeMauray McKiever’s Is Everything Ok?, Lexi Schreiber’s Fitting In: Tales of The Fat Ingenue, Tara Lake’s I Know It Was The Blood: The Totally True Adventures of a Newfangled Black Woman, and returning to Fringe is Joey Novick’s autobiographical comedy show COMEDIAN ELECTED TO TOWN COUNCIL IN NEW JERSEY.

Philadelphia’s acclaimed experimental and immersive producing company Die-Cast will also join the festival this year as the featured artist at St. Joe’s Academy.  Die-Cast will perform their piece Planet of the Bored Apes, and will offer writing and physical imagination masterclasses for those looking to take a deeper dive into the theatrical forms and process of their unique approach.

Theater artist, Jenna Kuerzi, last seen on Eagle’s stages in Xanadu, brings her hit solo piece Johnny Depp! (A Retrospective on Late Stage Capitalism) to Fringe: AFTER HOURS at Eagle Theatre for an exclusive one-performance event at 10pm Saturday evening.

The NJ Fringe Festival kicks off Friday, August 18th with an outdoor party to bring artists and audiences together.  All are welcome as this party is FREE and open to the public!  The evening will feature food trucks, Eagle Theatre’s HUB of wine & brews, live music, plus mini sneak-peek performances of what to expect throughout the weekend.  Festival performances will then span over Saturday and Sunday, all within walking distance from the Open Access HUB featuring food trucks, wine, brews, live music, and craft vendors all throughout the weekend.

On Saturday morning join them and Forged Soul Fitness & Yoga Studio at 10:30am for a FREE yoga class to start your day on the path of serenity and wonder!

The outdoor area is always FREE to access for all ages to come shop, eat, and drink!  Indoor performances can be attended with an $39 All-Access Weekend Pass and is the best deal to join for all Fringe performances (excludes Die-Cast workshops). $24 Day passes are available for Saturday and Sunday performances.  Single tickets for individual Fringe performances are $15.

Tickets are on sale now!  To purchase your pass or ticket, or for more information on the festival lineup of artists, visit the New Jersey Fringe Festival website at www.njfringefestival.com.

The New Jersey Fringe Festival is a program of Eagle Theatre in Hammonton, NJ, made possible by support from the Town of Hammonton, OceanFirst Foundation,  the Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, as well as funds from the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism.

PHOTOS (From Top to Bottom) Fringe - Outdoor Hub, Photo by: Eagle Theatre; Die-Cast Members in Workshop, Photo Credit: Die-Cast; Allegory Dance Theater project, Photo Credit: Allegory Dance Theater; Jenna Kuerzi in Johnny Depp! (A Retrospective on Late Stage Capitalism), Photo by Greg Nanni