Aspen Fringe Festival announces 2016 program, auditions

The Aspen Fringe Festival will premiere playwright Sharr White’s “Stupid Kid” and feature the San Francisco-based dance company Soulskin in June.

The eighth annual festival, running June 10 through 14 at the Black Box and Aspen District theaters, will put on “Stupid Kid” June 11 and 12 with Maurice LaMee directing. The festival staged a reading of the play last year, when it also produced White’s “The Other Place.” The festival will hold auditions for “Stupid Kid” on March 13 at the Black Box Theatre from noon to 5 p.m.

“We are hoping that in addition to all the talented local actors who we have worked with before, that some experienced actors we don’t know will step up,” Fringe Fest co-artistic director David Ledingham said in an email.

White, who also writes for Showtime’s Golden Globe-winning series “The Affair,” will return to the festival to workshop the play before its festival run.

Fringe Fest dance program director Adrianna Thompson’s company Soulskin will open the festival June 10 at the Aspen District Theatre with a three-part piece set to the music of Aretha Franklin, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash and Queen.

Anjali Austin’s “Threads” — a multidisciplinary work about the African-American and Native American experiences incorporating dance, song and dialogue — will play June 13.

The closing night program has not yet been determined.

Tickets will go on sale this spring.

Actors interested in auditioning should send inquiries to info@aspenfringefestival.org.