Start Here: The Fringe Shows We’re Betting On (Part One)
Frigid’s New York City Fringe Festival is one of the best parts of the year for discovering new theater in New York. It’s where artists take big swings, follow their instincts, and put work on stage that feels fresh, specific, and alive. This is your greatest chance to see the type of theater that we’re all worried about disappearing. We’ve pulled together a few shows we’re especially excited to see and spoke with the creatives behind them. Ahead is Part One, stay tuned for more over the next few days.
Star Stone from Cl*t Cult
TAWK: Give us the elevator pitch, but the one you’d actually say at a bar, not in a grant application.
Cl*t Cult is the story of what happened when I was both spiritual and horny in my 20s and wanted to have an orgasm but oops accidentally joined a sexual wellness cult.
TAWK: At its core, what is this play really wrestling with?
Belonging, Feminism, Female pleasure as taboo, sex ed, pleasure, exploitation, power, control, and narcissism.
TAWK: What’s the line (or moment) you’d tattoo from this play?
The patriarchy is the real cult.
TAWK: What’s the real origin story of this play, the one you wouldn’t put in the program notes?
I was living in the Costa Rican jungle and also in a community in this jungle and some of the community dynamics mimicked what I went through in the cult, which inspired me to write about the show, now- years after surviving OneTaste.
TAWK: What moment in the show do you secretly watch the audience for instead of the stage?
After I say- I watched him stroke her clitoris for 15 minutes.
Frigid Fringe Festival 2025. Star Stone. Cl*t Cult.
Jennifer McAuliffe from Chip on Her Shoulder
TAWK: Give us the elevator pitch, but the one you’d actually say at a bar, not in a grant application.
Coping mechanisms, but crunchy. She’s in New York, doing that very familiar thing of trying to “make it” while being professionally rejected, romantically underwhelmed, and financially humbled on a near-daily basis. So she adapts. Slightly questionably. Feet pics fund the Broadway tickets, the Broadway tickets fund the emotional stability, and the emotional stability… Well, that’s a work in progress. She’s desperate to see it all, soak it all up, sit in the cheap seats and pretend it’s enough. Even buried under grief, chaos, and a deeply unreliable roster of men, that part of her won’t quit. Which is either inspiring… or the problem.
TAWK: At its core, what is this play really wrestling with?
At its core, it’s about working so hard to be seen, and still feeling invisible. And that tiny, stubborn flicker of hope that keeps telling you to try again anyway.
TAWK: What’s the line (or moment) you’d tattoo from this play?
Chips over European dicks.
TAWK: What’s the real origin story of this play, the one you wouldn’t put in the program notes?
Honestly? It came from being just functional enough that no one worries about you…but not quite okay enough to enjoy any of it. That very specific space where you’re holding it together in public and quietly unraveling in private ...usually with snacks. So instead of dealing with it like a well-adjusted adult, you turn it into a show… and hope that if people are watching, it might finally count as being seen.
TAWK: What moment in the show do you secretly watch the audience for instead of the stage?
The first minute.
It’s immediate ...people laugh, then realise what they’re laughing at, then get a bit uncomfortable, then laugh again. It’s that perfect moment of should I be enjoying this?
I love watching how people handle it. Who leans in, who panics, who fully commits. It tells you everything about the audience.
Frigid Fringe Festival 2025. Jen Mcauliffe. Chip on her Shoulder.
Jefferson Lind from The Sexiest Man Alive
TAWK: Give us the elevator pitch, but the one you’d actually say at a bar, not in a grant application.
You know how Peoples Sexiest Man Alive choice is almost always wrong? Okay fine, maybe Jonathan Bailey wasn’t a bad pick, but Krasinski? Really? Sexiest Alive? What if somebody who actually cared about accuracy in reporting took over and went on a quest to find the objective sexiest man alive? That’s our story. (If I’m me: Yes, I did name him after myself).
TAWK: At its core, what is this play really wrestling with?
Our play wrestles with what star power can offer us in this economy, what role “real journalism” plays in the world of tabloids, and why Timothy Olyphant hasn’t been selected for Sexiest Man Alive yet despite being the obvious choice.
TAWK: What’s the line (or moment) you’d tattoo from this play?
Save the Rats.
TAWK: What’s the real origin story of this play, the one you wouldn’t put in the program notes?
Seth Meyers once said “I think of all my best ideas sitting in my office trying to think up ideas.” The same for me, except instead of an office, it’s driving around the San Fernando Valley and looking at frustrating billboards of muscle-bound stars of The Office. From there, I was introduced by a former writing professor to our composer and lyricist Sayali Gove, and magic was born.
TAWK: What moment in the show do you secretly watch the audience for instead of the stage?
The lost interview with President Reagan we unearthed. No further questions.
Frigid Fringe Festival 2025. Jefferson Lind. The Sexiest Man Alive.
