EXIT Theatre will produce the 35th annual EXIT Theatre Fringe Festival from Nov. 5 through Nov. 22, 2026, at EXIT Theatre in Arcata, Calif. Applications will be available Aug. 1 on the EXIT Theatre website, www.theexit.org. Applications will be accepted online until midnight PST Aug. 31, 2026.
How the Fringe Works
Artists apply and pay a $5 application fee. Performers are selected randomly by a public lottery. Performers pay a $250 performance fee and receive three fully staffed performance spots. Performers choose their ticket price up to $15 and then receive 100% of ticket revenue.
History of the Exit Theatre Fringe Festival
The EXIT Theatre Fringe Festival is the second oldest fringe festival in the United States. It began in 1992 when EXIT Theatre and a group of other Bay Area small theaters — calling themselves BAIT (Bay Area Intimate Theatre) — joined together, rented a theater, and produced a festival of their plays. After three years as the BAIT Fringe Festival, EXIT Theatre changed the name to the San Francisco Fringe Festival before moving to Arcata and becoming the EXIT Theatre Fringe Festival.
EXIT Theatre
EXIT Theatre was founded in 1983 when Christina Augello gathered together a group of retired vaudevillians and young method actors and presented an original play in the lobby of a Tenderloin residential hotel. EXIT Theatre went on to build a series of small theaters in vacant storefronts in San Francisco, peaking with five theaters hosting 100 indie theater companies in 2009. As the number of theater companies in San Francisco declined over the next decade, demand for EXIT’s stages declined. During the COVID pandemic shutdown EXIT Theatre built EXIT Theatre in Arcata, Calif. As the decline continued in San Francisco after the pandemic, EXIT Theatre closed its Eddy Street multiplex in 2022. After the 2025 Fringe Festival, EXIT Theatre closed its final San Francisco theater and moved all operations to Arcata.
Applications and more information about the 2026 EXIT Theatre Fringe Festival is available at www.theexit.org.