apply to the 2025 scranton fringe festival

The Scranton Fringe Festival, founded in 2015, has grown into a cornerstone of the region’s arts scene, now offering year-round programming in addition to the main festival. Each year, artists and performers apply for a chance to participate in Scranton Fringe, with selected productions receiving performance slots in our curated venues. The Fringe team handles key production aspects like venue coordination and marketing support, while artists (typically) produce their work, retain creative control, and keep most of their ticket sales. Whether you’re an emerging performer or an established artist, Scranton Fringe is designed to showcase bold, original work and connect creators with engaged audiences.

Our venues range from large, fully equipped theaters – such as within the Scranton Cultural Center or The Ritz  Theater  – to other spaces like art galleries, libraries, bars/restaurants, and outdoor spaces. We also welcome ideas from our artists – via your applications – for site-specific work in unconventional spaces such as storefronts, public spaces, coffee shop windows, and more! 

We believe there’s a place for everyone at Fringe, but not every production fits our festival. Our unique framework allows us to support a diverse range of artists, keep production fees low, and give each show the best specialized support possible. Maintaining clear guidelines ensures a smooth festival experience for everyone while making space for as many productions as possible each year.

• Production Readiness: We provide the venue, tech (lights, sound, projection, etc), box office team, and marketing support. You must perform the show you submitted and be prepared to produce the work (costumes, casting, script, etc). We are always happy to help and be a sounding board! 
• Length: Most shows we will accept run 45-60 minutes. Longer productions are occasionally considered, but all must meet the 45-minute minimum without intermission. These time limits help us support as many artists as possible.
• Venues & Tech: Our venues range from large, fully equipped theaters to pop-up spaces like galleries, libraries, and restaurants, as well as outdoor performances. Some venues offer advanced lighting and sound, while others use simple but reliable tech. We provide a minimum of one (1) tech rehearsal with a member of our production team to support you, and storage is available in all venues (amount varies).
• Equipment: We ensure the venues are equipped with lights, sound, projection, etc. Additional tech requires advance approval – it’s always best to spell out your needs as much as possible on your application! 
• Marketing: We promote the festival; you promote your show. We provide training and various resources for artists to market their shows, such as media contact lists, PR templates, preview performance gigs, features across our social media, and much more. HOWEVER, while we are building an audience for the Festival, you must ensure that you do your part to promote your show.  

One of our most important marketing resources is the annual Fringe Fest Guide, a multi-page color booklet that we make highly available online AND print thousands of copies to distribute near and far within local theaters, art galleries, cafes, retail shops, and more! It includes a listing for all shows (with image, description, content warnings, etc), the full schedule (presented in multiple formats), our partnering restaurants/cafes, and other valuable tips and tricks for audiences at Fringe! The festival guide will be printed in late July and begin regional distribution by mid-August. 

For an example, click here to view the 2023 festival guide. 

Important 2025 Dates

• Applications Open: Friday, February 28th
• Virtual Office Hours: Sunday, March 16th & Monday, March 24th
• Application Deadline: April 11th
• Acceptance Notifications: May 15th (approx.)
• Fringe Fee/Contract Deadline: June 2nd 
• Marketing & Program Materials Deadline: June 27th 
• 2025 Scranton Fringe Festival: September 25th – October 5th

We are happy to provide two (2) virtual office hour sessions this year where members of Team Fringe and a few of our creative alumni will give a short presentation on producing at the Fringe Festival and answer any questions about the Festival and your application! 

• Sunday, March 16th at 3:00 pm (EST) 
• Monday, March 24th, 6:30 pm (EST)

The meetings will be held via Zoom – simply click here on either of the above dates to join us! If you run into any technical issues or cannot make either session but have questions, just drop us an email at info@scrantonfringe.org 

Theater, music, comedy, dance, film, performance art, and more are welcome at the Scranton Fringe Festival! We want bold work for brave audiences. We encourage all creative works, amateur to professional, local, and touring, to apply for consideration. Not sure if you’re a good fit? Our audiences have loved getting to try all sorts of new things, including: 

• Interactive game shows
• Outdoor walking interactive mysteries 
• Storytelling accompanied by music
• Solo shows
• World premieres of brand-new plays

All these things — and more! — are welcome on the Fringe.

We are looking for: creative projects that engage a wide range of communities. This can mean new takes on old works, newly created performance pieces, or quirky, unusual, vibrant, and innovative theater. It can also mean online/virtual works of the performing arts, cabaret, dance, stand-up comedy, improv/sketch, puppetry, magic, musicals, immersive theater, circus, solo shows, or children’s programming! We also love site-specific performances, public art installations, creative workshops, and any other type of programming that encourages the public to be creative. 

We are NOT looking for: work recently performed in Northeastern Pennsylvania or productions running less than 45 minutes. Please also note we do not program a series of short, unconnected works that have long intermissions/multiple scene changes. If you are a live musician, we would be happy to discuss pop-up opportunities during the festival. 

Scranton Fringe charges each project a set production fee (determined by # of performances/events, tech needs, etc.) and then returns 70% of ticket sales (tickets are set at $15 per show) to the production. Fringe subsidizes many of the costs associated with presenting work at the festival (i.e., venue rentals, tech, box office, marketing support, insurance, etc.) so artists can produce their work affordably! 

Production fees for 2025 are as follows: 

• $85 per performance (small/medium venues) 
• $125 per performance (large venues) 

There may be adjustments to fees if special needs for performances are required. Every accepted production can review its final total cost with the festival staff before signing a contract.

Scranton Fringe is proud, once again, not to charge any fees for primary applications/live event proposals.

 Though we will strive to find free local accommodations for our out-of-town performers/crew,  housing for all artists/crew is ultimately the responsibility of the productions/acts themselves. At a minimum, we can always promise a discount code at a local hotel.

Questions? We’re here to help! Contact us anytime via email: info@scrantonfringe.org or leave a voicemail on our office line at 570-290-7011.‬ We are a dedicated but small team, so please give us a few days to reply! The application form is your first step toward joining our festival family. Here are a few tips:

• Be thorough! The more detail you provide about your show and tech needs, the better we can match you to a venue.
• Double-check your contact information so we can stay in touch.
• Review the FAQ section on our website for quick answers to common questions.

A link to the 2025 Fringe Fest application will be available on Friday, February 28th via our website.

After applications close on April 11th, our programming team will review each one very carefully. Though we wish we could accept all applications, we simply cannot due to time, space, and financial resource limitations. We will notify all applicants of their status by approximately May 15th, 2025. If you haven’t heard from us, you can always check in via email at info@scrantonfringe.org.