The Fringe Manila Festival opened its third year last Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Pineapple Lab with new, daring and exciting works for fans of dance, film, visual arts, multimedia performance and theater.

Festival director and founding board member Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan said “more than 100 shows” are being staged in various venues until Feb. 26. Some 14 performances fall under theater, he added.

Fringe Manila coincides with National Arts Month, making February an extra-busy time for the local performing arts. “Sa Wakas: A Pinoy Rock Musical,” which Pamintuan wrote and directed, is having its final show on Feb. 12, at Power Mac Center Makati, which will then be the venue for FEU Theater Guild’s one-day-only (Feb. 19) staging of Allan Lopez’s “Anatomiya ng Pag-ibig.”

This edition of Fringe Manila is co-presented by Pineapple Lab, a performance space and gallery on Palma Street, Poblacion, Makati, where Pamintuan also serves as art curator.

It is the venue for Collab’s “So, Ano Na: State of the Nation Address,” Egg Theater Company’s “Apat,” Filipino-Canadian performance artist Maylee Todd’s “Virtual Womb” and more.

“Apat” is the staging of four one-act plays resulting from Egg Theater’s first playwriting workshop held middle of last year under the supervision of playwright-actor George de Jesus III. From 10 new works, four were chosen for staging.

Actor-playwright Julienne Mendoza, with his rib-tickling “Clowning Around,” leads three new playwrights, all in their 20s: Rick Patriarca (“Ang Lihim na Buhay ng Mga Anghel ng Kamatayan”), JM Oleo (“Jeepocalypse”) and Manuel Tinio (“Upuan”).

Fringe Manila Festival 2017 participants, volunteers, officers and artists: (from left, standing) Christian Reasonda, FEU Theater Guild; Legato, Flow Arts Collective; Manuel Domes and Jomelle Era, PARC Foundation; Marco Sumayao, “Deus Sex Machina”; Rhosam Prudenciado, Airdance; Kenneth Keng, “Deus Sex Machina”; Chantal Primero, Airdance; Joyen and Lucky Rapscallion, Burlesque PH; Jeremy Sulit, Star Ore; (from left, seated) Fringe Manila associate festival director Eric dela Cruz; Jodinand Aguillon, creative producer; Anissa Aguila, graphic designer; Fiona Lazaro, programs coordinator; Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, festival director; Sam Sewell, PR/marketing —FLORENCE GAIL CHEE

CCP performances

The Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Studio Theater or Tanghalang Huseng Batute (THB) is the venue for a group called Bored Horny Underpaid Writers and its “Deux Sex Machina 12: Fringe With Benefits 3”; ADHD Productions’ “Titas of Manila Reawakens”; Tanghalang Batingaw’s “La Strella”; Yugto Theater Ensemble-Mapua Institute of Technology’s staging of three award-winning plays under the collective title “Tinag: Tinag(tag), Tinag(po), Tinag(uan)”; and a devised theater play by Black Canvas titled “Werk In Progress.”

THB is also the venue for Antipara Collaborative’s “Si Edgar, Si Allan at si Art”—three versions of horror inspired by Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” and William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.”

Sugid Productions’ “Baril at Buwan sa Eb Major,” ongoing until Feb. 12 at Bantayog ng mga Bayani Memorial Theater in Quezon City, is also a participant.

PARC Foundation in San Juan City, meanwhile, is the venue for Husay Talents and Vibe Studio’s “Si Chester at ang UV Ride Pa-Ayala,” The Scenius Pro’s “Ang Pag-ibig ni Lalake at ni Babae” and Crammers Collective’s “Love Labs,” among other exciting new works. —CONTRIBUTED

For schedules, visit www.fringemanila.com. Tickets at TicketWorld tel. 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.