If you see only one Fringe performance this year, make it Cat-A-Strophe, farcical satire, a Barrymore Awards candidate that puts a mirror in front of your face (and may make you reevaluate your life). Side effects may include squirming in your seat, tears of laughter and a pressing need to go to the bathroom. Opens August 25 and runs indefinitely. Thursday performances pay what you can.

$15 / 135 minutes 

Fail Better Productions is a local Philadelphia company, headed by dramaturge Samuel Beckett. It presents new plays that will make audiences see theater in a whole new light. Their latest production of Cat-A-Strophe will bite you in the ass if you are only willing to expose it.