SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE — A youthful avant-garde theater festival, aptly named Fringe San Miguel, kicks off Thursday at 8 p.m. with ancient classical music as the main event in the Miguel Malo performance room at Bellas Artes.
“Cultus Interruptus” is a “clown-style” humor-laden performance with medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical and 20th century romance performed live.
And this is only one of the 22 different productions, from five different nations, to be performed from Feb. 24 through March 5. The Fringe San Miguel festival also boasts 12 different theater and dance workshops, and six conferences to be held in 12 different venues throughout town.
Fringe San Miguel festival director and organizer Helena Frigola says that this is the third time the festival is being held, but the major difference is that this time around it is being partly supported by the recently created Culture Secretariat.
“We received 70 percent of the festival’s costs from the federal government,” she said. “This is an effort to support contemporary arts and decentralize them from Mexico City,” where most of the public that enjoys these types of spectacles are concentrated.
Yet, despite being “avant-garde,” all of the performances “are designed in a way so that everyone attending understands them.”
For full programming, contact www.fringesanmiguel.com