After a rough stretch for Orlando Fringe, the nonprofit is getting back to basics this January — with reason to celebrate.
Orlando Fringe will celebrate the 10th installment of its popular winter festival this January, the organization has announced. It’s a positive sign after the cancellation of its Orlando Out Fest, which would have had a second installment this fall.
And in a sign of regrouping, after giving up its downtown ArtSpace venue on Church Street, Orlando Fringe has returned the name of its festival — known the past few years as FestN4 — to Winter Mini-Fest and moved the five-day event back to the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park.
Artistic director Tempestt Halstead said the return of Winter Mini-Fest will re-emphasize that Fringe — known primarily for its two-week festival of short plays, concerts and other shows each May — is focusing on what it does best.
“For us, it’s important to be consistent where we can be consistent,” Halstead said. “For continuity’s sake, our audience always knows Winter Mini-Fest.”
Unlike the main festival in May, in which performances are selected by lottery, the January festival features hand-selected shows, generally a mix of previous festival hits, new works by acclaimed Fringe artists and the Orlando debuts of shows that were hits at other Fringe festivals around the country.
Halstead previewed that this year, for example, veteran Fringe artist Jon Bennett would present a new show, while Martin Dockery, another familiar face to Fringegoers, would revive his “1 Small Lie,” an award-winning hit at last May’s fest. That festival saw attendance stabilize after a drop in 2024, with about 55,000 in attendance.
For the past few years, the smaller January festival had been rebranded as FestN4, but Halstead said that moniker never really caught on.
“We heard our audience reaction that it was a little confusing,” she said. “Everyone was still calling it Winter Mini-Fringe anyway.”
In 2018, actor Mike Carr, from left, then-executive producer Alauna Friskics and then-festival producer Michael Marinaccio used finger puppets to open Orlando Fringe’s Winter Mini-Fest. (Matthew J. Palm/Orlando Sentinel file photo)
The festival will return to the Shakespeare Center, where it originated, after being staged last year at ArtSpace. Orlando Fringe closed that venue, managed by the City of Orlando and currently vacant, after a series of financial setbacks related to the maintenance of the space.
Halstead said Orlando Fringe would use three spaces at the Shakespeare Center, up from two at ArtSpace: The Santos Dantin Studio Theater, the Goldman Theater and the Patrons’ Room, known to Fringe fans by their color-coded nicknames Blue, Yellow and Purple, respectively.
Using three theaters will allow the festival to program 23 shows, she said.
Winter Mini-Fest will begin, as it has the past couple of years, with a preview program that lets theatergoers see snippets of the featured shows. The preview helps the artists as much as the patrons, Halstead said.
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“If they’ve not been here before, it gives them a chance to get their names out there,” she said.
The Winter Mini-Fest preview will take place Jan. 7. The festival continues through Jan. 11.
Ticketed shows will cost $15, with that money going directly to the artists. A $3 button, which supports the festival itself, must be purchased to see any ticketed show. Free programming includes children’s activities and a visual-art exhibition.
Halstead said Fringe was also planning additional free or pay-what-you-can events, such as readings of new plays and a puppet slam, in honor of Winter Mini-Fest’s 10th year.
A complete listing of shows and schedules will be announced in the coming weeks at orlandofringe.org/winterminifest. Tickets go on sale November 7 for Club Fringe members and to the general public on Nov. 21.
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https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/27/fringe-winter-minifest-2026/
