2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival kicks off

An Inconvenient Squirrel
Joseph Scrimshaw in "An Inconvenient Squirrel," presented in 2008 by Joseph Scrimshaw Productions at the Rarig Center Thrust Stage.
Photo Courtesy of Lauren DeSteno

Get ready for art from the fringe.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is kicking off Thursday. It's an annual 11-day festival of stage shows ranging from traditional plays to musical performances to kids' plays, all put on by amateur artists at 22 theaters in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Most are original works.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival started in 1993 and is now the largest arts festival in the Upper Midwest. This year, there are 162 shows with a total of 850 performances.

Tickets to all shows cost no more than $12 with 65 percent of proceeds going to the artists themselves.

The Fringe Festival runs through August 9.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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