WHEN:
Monday, August 11, 8 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.Additional Fringe Festival Preview Series events will be held on Monday, August 18 & 25.

WHERE:
Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancy Place, Philadelphia

ADMISSION:
Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the door, and $12 for a 3 night pass, and are available from Plays & Players online at www.playsandplayers.org or by calling (215) 735-0630. For information on the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe, visit www.livearts-fringe.org or call (215) 413-9006.

WHAT:
The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe, running from August 29 - September 13, 2008, will present a three-part Fringe Festival Preview Series, as part of Plays & Players's new On Stage Philadelphia program - a unique event designed to unite artists and audiences. On Monday, August 11, the Festival will present the first installment of the series, featuring eight short preview performances from a variety of 2008 Philly Fringe artists representing a wide range of artistic disciplines. The preview series offers audiences a behind-the-scenes look inside the Fringe, a sneak-peak at upcoming productions and the opportunity to meet and discover new artists and Festival favorites.

Presenting '08 Philly Fringe artists include Squid Inc., the theater company behind the '07 Fringe hit Jersey Devil, who will preview The Giant Squid, and IdRatherBeHere, who will preview the parody Wawapalooza 2: Get Shorti, a follow-up to the sold-out '07 Fringe favorite Wawapalooza. Additional artists include Aboveground Theater (Foot Locker, musical theater), Alexander and His Band of Argonauts (Killer Bass, musical theater), Malleable Dance Theater (7 Veils, dance), RA Friedman (A Cabinet of Photographic Curiosities, visual), Rocketship Productions/Paden Fallis (The Play about The Coach, theater), and Starving Actors Society (Les Femmes, theater).

Following the performances, audiences will have an opportunity to meet and mingle with artists, have a drink at the bar which will offer drink specials, and purchase tickets to the upcoming Philly Fringe productions at the post-show marketplace.

Additional Fringe Festival Preview Series events will be held on Monday, August 18 and 25; artists to be announced. Plays & Players' On Stage Philadelphia series will continue throughout the year, following the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe. Held on the first Monday of the month starting on October 6, 2008, the unique series will be open to the entire performing arts community. Audiences and artists interested in learning more about the series or participating in future events are encouraged to visit Plays & Players online at www.playsandplayers.org, email mail@playsandplayers.org, or call (215) 735-0630.

PROGRAM INFO/TICKETS
The Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival runs from August 29 - September 13, 2008. Tickets for most shows cost between $10 and $25. Some shows are free. This year, ticket buyers who purchase tickets to multiple shows can save 20% when they buy tickets to 2 or 3 shows and 25% for 4 or more shows. Students and Festival goers 25 and younger pay $15 for Live Arts Festival tickets and receive $5 off Philly Fringe tickets.

All Festival tickets are available for purchase online at www.livearts-fringe.org, or after August 18 by calling the Box Office at (215) 413-1318, or visiting in person. The Festival Box Office is located in the National Showroom Lot, the parking lot outside of the National building at 113-131 North 2nd Street. The Festival guide, which includes descriptions of each performance, in addition to dates, times, locations, and other Festival information, will be widely available throughout the city beginning August 1, 2008.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival features performances by acclaimed contemporary dance and theater artists who are selected and invited to the Festival by Producing Director, Nick Stuccio. While some Live Arts artists are based in Philadelphia, many come from other parts of the U.S. and from around the world. The Philly Fringe is the "unfiltered" portion of the festival, where new and established artists of all kinds may choose to present their own work, free of a selection process. Together, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe bring audiences sixteen days of the most stimulating, provocative new art being created in Philadelphia, across the U.S., and around the world.

ABOUT PLAYS & PLAYERS
Plays & Players is celebrating its upcoming 97th Season of local and community focused performance in Philadelphia. Located in the historic Plays & Players Theatre at 1714 Delancey Place, which includes two dedicated spaces for the performing arts, Plays & Players offers year-round memberships that include both social and entertainment possibilities. It will open its 2008-2009 season with Neil Labute's The Shape of Things, running August 6-10, directed by up-and-coming director Carol Laratonda. For tickets or to learn more about memberships go to www.playsandplayers.org or call (215) 735-0630.

The Presenting Sponsor of the 2008 Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe is PNC Bank.

To request press kits, photos, interviews, and more information please contact: Emaleigh Doley, Canary Promotion + Design office: (215) 242-6393, email: emaleigh@canarypromo.com