Something for everyone at theater Fringe Festival

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Robin Gelfenbien stars in “My Salvation Has First Name: A Wienermobile Journey” at the Chicago Fringe Festival.

Updated: September 2, 2011 8:35PM

Edinburgh, Scotland has one. New York has one. And, since last year, Chicago, too, has staged its own action-packed showcase of new and experimental theatrical works.

The second Chicago Fringe Festival, a two-weekend event running Sept. 2 through Sept. 11 in five spaces in the Pilsen neighborhood, will feature 50 performance groups chosen by lottery (and hailing from Chicago as well as 14 states, Canada and Great Britain), each of whom will take to the stage several different times. And because all the activity is in Pilsen, audiences will have the added advantage of being able to snack on Mexican street food between shows, including the mole dishes of the festival’s official food vendor, DeColores.

But back to the real festival fare, which includes an eclectic mix of drama, comedy, horror, physical theater, spoken word, dancing, singing, puppetry, monologues, clowning and aerial acrobatics. One enterprising New York-based performer, Tim MacMillan, generated funding and publicity for his show, “Soul Mates Don’t Die,” by biking from Brooklyn to Chicago in August.

Other shows range from an all-girl take on “Moby Dick,” to the story of years of speech therapy for a stutterer, to an exploration of the American super hero (wittily entitled “Spandex”).

Also among the many offerings will be Robin Gelfenbien’s “My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey,” which won praise at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival. It is described as “a 60-minute performance that uses music, photos and video footage from the author’s road trip to take the audience on a touching yet wild ride during which Gelfenbien faces a horndog co-pilot, a media circus and her college bully.” Gelfenbien’s show will be presented Sept. 3-5 and 10-11 at the Dream Theatre in Pilsen.

The festival also has collaborated with HumanThread to present a special commemoration of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It will be presented Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. at the organization’s center at 645 W. 18 St.

Tickets to festival shows are $10. For a full schedule and more information visit chicagofringe.org.