San Diego International Fringe Festival turns 10 years old this week, with a scaled-down version of the annual indie theater event taking place for the fourth time in Balboa Park, May 18-28.

Launched in downtown San Diego in 2013, San Diego’s Fringe fest was inspired by the famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which has spawned offshoots all over the globe since its founding in 1947.

Fringe was born when eight theatrical groups showed up uninvited to the Scottish city’s famous Edinburgh International Festival and were forced to find random places to perform — basements, stores and alleys — on the fringes of the main festival. Today, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest event of its kind in the world, with more than 500 acts performing during a five-week period each summer.

In its early years, San Diego’s Fringe festival grew to include up to 90 different acts performing in downtown venues centered around the Spreckels Theatre and Horton Plaza. But in 2019, the festival was forced to find a new home due to construction at Horton Plaza and the impending sale of the Spreckels Theatre.

That year the festival relocated to Balboa Park and its list of performers was pared to about two dozen acts. Fringe took 2020 off due to the pandemic, but returned to Balboa Park in 2021 and 2022 with limited lineups.

This year’s festival has 19 shows. All but one of them are taking place at two park locations: the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater near the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages, and the Centro Cultural de la Raza on Park Boulevard. There will also be one off-site Fringe show for adult audiences at Les Girls nightclub in the Midway District.

Fringe fest founder and CEO Kevin Charles Patterson said the 19 shows being presented this year will offer a combined 100 performances. Many of the acts this year are returnees from past years, but they will be presenting all-new material.

This year’s festival will not have any free or outdoor performances. Because the content of the shows ranges from family-friendly to adults-only, each show has a rating from G to NC-17. All shows are 60 minutes or less and cost $10 each.

As in the past, some of the performers at this year’s Fringe are international artists. This year’s visiting acts are from England and Australia.

Patterson said he’s excited about many of the shows this year, including one from the newly formed Loud Fridge Theatre Group of San Diego.

“San Diego’s Loud Fridge is doing a new show, ‘Normal Heights,’ which should be a lot of fun. There’s also a new musical called ‘1996’ that pivots on the songs of blink-182,” Patterson said. “‘Arson 101: A Choose Your Own Adventure’ sounds fun, right? But as you know, we do not curate any of the content. I haven’t seen any of the shows, so it’s always a great adventure,” Patterson said.

Here’s a look at this year’s Fringe lineup:

‘Arson 101: A Choose Your Own Adventure’

Levani Korganashvili and Kaylin Saur present the world-premiere play where the audience will act as confidants with the actors offering advice on how to handle the challenges of a romantic relationship from start to finish. The actors will improvise on the advice with skills that include acting, dancing, singing, acrobatics, drag and circus skills. 40 min. Rated PG-13. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 1 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. May 21; 6 p.m. May 25; 9 p.m. May 27.

‘Censored Heart’

Golden Corpse Productions presents this theater piece described as “a heaven or hell implosion about social injustice in the 1950s.” The show mixes jazz music, modern dance and art-burlesque. Rated R. Les Girls Theater, 3970 Riley St., San Diego. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. May 21; 7 p.m. May 26-27.

‘Choice Words’

Playwright and former KUSI reporter Sasha Foo and director Terry Ross present a staged reading of this collection of monologues about the fight to save women’s reproductive rights, inspired by the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24. 60 min. Rated PG-13. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 7:30 p.m. Friday; 9 p.m. May 20.

‘The Coffee Plays’

Asian Story Theater and San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre presents this new theater piece featuring multiple coffee-related stories from the hills of Ethiopia to celebrity coffee fans from history to the notorious kope luwac coffee made with civet-excreted coffee beans. Each story will be served with a coffee sample for audience members. 50 min. Rated PG. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 4 p.m. Thursday; 6 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. May 21; 9 p.m. May 23; 6 p.m. May 26.

‘Delusions and Grandeur’

Classically trained cellist and improv comedian Karen Hall presents this one-woman show where she presents this comic, clowning-infused music recital. 55 min. Rated PG. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. 9 p.m. Friday 6 p.m. May 21; 9 p.m. May 22; 6 p.m. May 27; 2:30 p.m. May 28.

‘How to be Japanese: Your Normal is Not My Normal’

Japanese storyteller Miyo Yamauchi presents this one-woman play directed by Jane Morris about her efforts to conform to a different culture and learn how to live as an outsider. 60 min. Rated G. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. 6 p.m. Friday; 4 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. May 21 and 27; 4 p.m. May 28.

‘I Got Bit By a Monkey Once’

Australian stand-up comedian Matt Harvey, a veteran of fringe fests in Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, will present this comedic show featuring four true stories from his life about a monkey bite, a long bus trip, an arrest and a mugging. 55 min. Rated R. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. 9 p.m. Thursday; 2:30 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. May 21; 9 p.m. May 25; 4 p.m. May 27.

‘Juno and the Jetpacks’

Fizz & Chips Productions from England presents this one-woman play about Juno writing her second album, a long-overdue breakup album that forces her to reckon with her bisexuality. 50 min. Rated PG-13. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 9 p.m. May 22; 7:30 p.m. May 24; 4 p.m. May 26; 7:30 p.m. May 27; 1 p.m. May 28.

‘Kiddables Anonymous’

San Diego Balboa Park Puppet Guild presents this all-new puppetry theater production for all ages. 60 min. Rated G. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. 7:30 p.m. Friday; 9 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. May 23; 9 p.m. May 24; 7:30 p.m. May 25.

‘Love American Style’

The Core Group Co. of Poway’s Mojalet Dance Company will present a wacky, playful look at American culture and the use and abuse of the word “love.” The program includes dance, text, video and an exploration of culture on dating, clubbing and materialism. 55 min. Rated G. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday 7:30 p.m. May 21 and 23; 11:30 a.m. May 28.

‘Mark Pleases You’

Writer-director Mark Vigeant stars in this one-man show which he first presented at New York’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. It’s the story of a man who dies in a freak accident onstage and goes to Hell, where he tries to convince his 11-year-old self not to be such a selfless people-pleaser. 60 min. Rated PG-13. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. PG-13. 6 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m. Friday; 7:30 p.m. May 21 and 24; 9 p.m. May 26.

‘1996: A blink-182 Musical’

This original musical by Daniel Durston, set to the music of Poway-born band blink-182, is the fictional story of Flyswatter, a Los Angeles pop-punk trio trying to find its way and record its first album in 1996. 60 min. Rated PG-13. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. May 21; 9 p.m. May 26; 6 p.m. May 27; 4 p.m. May 28.

‘Normal Heights’

San Diego’s Loud Fridge Theater Group presents this new play by local playwright Christian St. Croix set in the local community of Normal Heights. In a seemingly quiet neighborhood, several neighbors gather to tell stories of sci-fi, fantasy and horror occurring in their community. 50 min. Rated PG-13. Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 6 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. May 22; 9 p.m. May 23; 6 p.m. May 27.

‘On Earth As It Is In Hell’

Andrew Spinks stars in this new solo show about a man protecting his daughter, losing his faith and navigating family conflict, in a story that combines comedy, storytelling and history to explore out beliefs about the afterlife. 50 min. Rated PG-13. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 4 p.m. May 23; 9 p.m May 24; 7:30 p.m. May 25; 2:30 p.m. May 27; 6 p.m. May 28.

‘105 Miles From Home’

Written and directed by San Diego native Alexis Hernandez, this play is inspired by the real-life Pedro Pan flights during the early 1960s that brought 14,000 Cuban children to the U.S. In this story, a young Cuban girl flees Communism and discovers love and hardships in her new life in America. 45 min. Rated PG. Centro Cultural de la Raza. 6 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. May 22 and 24; 1 p.m. May 27.