The Milwaukee Fringe Festival is back for a second year, and it’s bringing the weird stuff.

The two-day festival, in and around the Marcus Center, is host to 25 live acts featuring theater, music, dance, visual art and performances that may defy description. As Fringe Festival founder/co-producer/creative director Matt Kemple said recently, "You’re not going to see 'Hamlet' here, but you might see 'Hamlet on the Moon.'"

Kemple says he and his colleagues started the Fringe last season because, "Although Milwaukee has an incredible, vibrant arts scene, there’s a niche for performances that are off the beaten path." To him, "fringe" simply means art that isn’t mainstream.

"Things you’ll see at the Fringe Festival this year are all unique performances of very high quality — a lot of acts that are normally underground, or in found spaces," he said. "We put them on big stages and invite the whole community to check them out, and discover something new."

So what’s changed this year?

Kemple says the festival is more contained this time around. "We had about 4,500 people come to the free and ticketed events last year. We had venues on both sides of the river, with multiple shows going on simultaneously. It was a very big undertaking. Now we’ve got a better handle on the logistics," he noted, adding, "Also, we have better signage, so it should be a lot easier for people to navigate their way around."

Who should come?

"Any and all audiences are welcome at the Fringe," Kemple emphasized. "Anybody in Milwaukee who has heard of the arts, who loves the arts or anything in between. This is a great opportunity for people who are already enthusiastic about one genre – music, modern dance, or theater – to experience something different." Kemple says he’s hoping for between 3,000 – 4,000 people to attend events at the Fringe Fest this year.

So which performance is he most looking forward to during the experimental arts intensive weekend? "Something I’ve never seen before," he said with a grin.

What to watch for

Whether you are intrigued by Bollywood-style dance, poetry by Milwaukee’s Artist of the Year Dasha Kelly-Hamilton, learning hot Latin moves while sampling some homemade salsa or saying hello to a human statue, the Fringe Festival has you covered.

Here are some more events you’ll want to plan for.

Angry Young Men presents "Full Frontal Puppetry"
Saturday, Aug. 26
8:30 p.m.
Vogel Hall

Maybe you’ve heard of the Broadway blockbusters "Avenue Q" and "Hand to God," irreverent theater pieces that feature puppets as the baddest actors onstage. Milwaukee has its own homegrown version of "Muppets Gone Wild": the sketch variety show "Full Frontal Puppetry," created by Angry Young Men Ltd. It features wacky characters that have been developed by the company over years of performing together, including cute monsters, killer robots, hillbillies, a giant ogre and zombies. Lots of zombies.

"The jokes move pretty fast and the tone can shift from absurd to ribald, to corny to dark, sometimes in the same sketch," said AYM founder Billy Ray Olsen.

AYM’s first big break came in 2007, when a local horror and indie film convention was looking for some unique, alternate programming to round out their schedule. The group decided to do a puppet version of "Night of the Living Dead," and it was an instant hit. They’ve been performing it annually on Halloween ever since.

So who’s going to be in the audience for "Full Frontal Puppetry" at the Fringe? Olsen thinks it will be "a mix of younger and older, artists and professionals, normal people and oddballs. The show is really for anybody who loves puppets, loves skewed, sometimes violent or adult humor, and wants to see something unique, but approachable." That being said, please note that this show is rated PG-13 — PG for Puppet Gore, and 13 for an adolescent sense of humor. It’s not a cute show for the preschool set.

"We’re not changing the world with what we do. We're just giving the people a good time," Olsen concluded.

Reconstructing Grimm presents "The Incredible Adventure of Alvin Tatlock"
Sunday, Aug. 27
6:15 p.m.
Todd Wehr Theater

This new play by local author Liz Shipe was created expressly for the Fringe, with a small cast and a large appeal. "I write very commercial theater," Shipe admitted. "As an audience member, I want to sit down and listen to great stories, so that’s what I write." Inspired by movies like "The Three Musketeers" and "The Pirates of the Caribbean," her last big production in Milwaukee was the acclaimed swashbuckler "Bonny Anne Bonny," produced by Theater RED.

"I’ve been doing a lot of large cast shows, so for the Fringe, I wanted to try something smaller – a four-person show – thinking that if it works, we could take it to schools, or other places," she said. The cast includes Sean Duncan, Bryan Quinn, Bobby Schmeling and Liz herself. "I usually put myself in the shows that I write," Shipe explained. "That’s my fun. And it’s interesting being on your feet in your own play, working with the whole cast as collective directors. You have to be able to switch gears very quickly."

Set in England in the late 1940s, Shipe’s "The Incredible Adventure of Alvin Tatlock," focuses on a man who is stuck in a routine, leading a dull, unremarkable life. His only delight is in buying used books. One day he discovers a second-hand novel that sets him on a whole new path.

"I think it’s a good fit for the Fringe," Shipe said. "It’s very fast-paced, it’s funny and it has a lot of heart." Clocking in at just under an hour, the show should be perfect for family audiences. It also checks off one of her bucket list goals: performing on the Todd Wehr stage.

Roving artist Anja Notanja Sieger

A self-described full time "interdisciplanetary" writer, artist and teacher, Sieger’s "act" is to compose impromptu poems, pounding on the keys of an old, manual typewriter. "People hear it, and they come over," she explained. "I personally like the challenge of typewriters – there’s no delete button, so you have to think more precisely."

For the Fringe Fest, Sieger will be stationed outside the Marcus Center with her trusty typewriter, offering portraits of people’s faces. "I will stare deeply into a person’s face and write a poem about what I see," she explained. "Elements of their souls. Whatever flickers through." Then, on top of the poem, she’ll draw an image of their face that shows "the energetic content of who they are."

So look for Sieger if you’re interested in a personalized portrait like no other. She’ll be waiting for you.

"I’m looking forward to the oddness that you cannot forsee coming," she said, "but that you will inevitably embroil yourself in, just being at the Fringe Festival where things fray and reveal."