Outer Limits

Hamlet, Romeo, and Juliet fight for balcony space in Guerrilla Shakespeare's A Witch, a Bitch, and a Dude in a Ditch; local comedy group Killing My Lobster pokes fun at the naughty '90s in Killing My Lobster Gets Some Action; and L.A.'s Deadpanhandlers offer a little song and a little dance in Butt Pirates of the Caribbean, a raucous, adults-only musical theater piece with elements of Monty Python and Rocky Horror.

And that's just opening night at the 1998 Fringe Festival, a two-week theater, dance, music, mime, and poetry orgy in which performers like Linda Brokenshire come from as far away as Ottawa to deliver The Lecture, a one-woman clown show spoofing the motivational industry. Additional festival highlights include the return of Manhattan's Elisa DeCarlo, whose 1997 entry Cervix With a Smile won that year's "Best of the Fest," while fellow New Yorker Sue Hogan arrives with a sardonic take on dating, Closed Encounters: An Evening of Danced Monologues.

The festival's opening night party begins at 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the Exit Theater, and "Friday Night Cabarets" featuring Fringe performers in comedy, cabaret, and musical numbers will be held Sept. 11 and 18 at 11:30 p.m. The festival begins at 7 p.m. Thursday (and runs through Sept. 20) at five venues located near Union Square: Exit Theater and Exit Stage Left (156 Eddy), Actors Theater (533 Sutter), Cable Car Theater (430 Mason), and Il Teatro 450 (449 Powell) in S.F. Admission to all shows is $8 maximum, and tickets may be purchased at performances only -- box offices open 30 minutes prior to show time, and late seatings are not allowed. For a schedule or more information, call 673-3847 or visit the festival's Web site at www.sffringe.org. (