KC Fringe is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Join your Arts Alive friends to enjoy an all-things-Fringy afternoon and evening. Your $40 Arts Alive ticket includes cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a Fringe button plus two Fringe show tickets (one to use during this event plus access to a future Fringe show.)

For 20 years KC Fringe Festival has been giving artists a place to try new things and find an audience where they can strut their creative stuff. Fringe enthusiasts are excited about what’s in store from July 12 to 28th at 12 venues around town. The festival features the work of 580 artists through 300 performances of 53 different theatrical productions, eight new films, six special events and two visual arts galleries.  

Maybe you’ve wanted to attend but didn’t know how it all works? This event will be a great introduction. Committed Fringers can come to share the excitement of KC Fringe with their Arts Alive friends.

The activities for the Sunday, July 21 Arts Alive event begin at 4 PM in the WTC Conference room on the second floor of Union Station. Enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a visit with friends. At 4:30 PM KC Fringe Executive Director Audrey Crabtree will fill you in on everything you need to know about the KC Fringe mission and how you can be part of it. The playwright and director of the show we will see this evening (Cory Busch and Sequoia Crissman) will also join us to talk about their work.

Around 5 PM you can head downstairs to visit the KC Fringe Visual Arts Exhibit in the Grand Hall. All works are for sale, so you can do a little shopping.

Next we’ll go downstairs to City Stage for the debut of “The Cardboard Knight” at 6 PM. The new play was written by Cory Busch during the pandemic, as he and Dreamline Theatre Company co-founder Sequoia Crissman struggled to keep creative juices flowing. The story, written and produced by local artists, features Simone, a traveler in an unnamed country who finds herself lost and exhausted during the throes of war. Coming across a group of refugees, Simone has to brave the terror of vulnerability while preparing herself for what lies ahead and enlisting the help of the refugees. Doors open at 5:30 PM with general admission seating.

 Tickets are only $40 each and, as always, nonrefundable. They are, however, transferrable, so if your schedule changes, you are welcome to give (or sell) them to friends Our Facebook page should be helpful with this.