It’s hot, it’s humid, it’s definitely summer. And that can mean only one thing for anyone near Old City -- it’s almost Fringe time. Nick Stuccio and Co. are busily preparing for their sixth festival of all things cutting edge, experimental and just plain mystifying, to take place in and around Old City Aug. 30 through Sept. 14. Emphasis on the “in and around,” as Fringe is pushing its own boundaries (literally) by moving some of its programming, including, rumor has it, some of the spotlight shows, out of its home neighborhood.

Old City has become intricately associated with Fringe over the past six years, to the point where its residents anticipate rowdy antics come Labor Day. While walking down to the Painted Bride during last year's festival, I witnessed a group of confused-looking folks filing a report to a couple of cops while another officer led a man away in handcuffs. It seems the man had grabbed a woman's purse and her appeals to passersby for aid went unheeded. Typical cynical apathy? Not at all. The folks who witnessed the crime assumed it was a Fringe performance. Luckily, they figured it out in time to nab the guy, but still, the story shows how all things Fringe-y are ingrained in the minds of Old City residents.

But this year, some of the other aspects of the festival that we took for granted in the past will change. First, there will be venues in Northern Liberties and in theaters across town on Sansom Street (InterAct, Theatre Catalyst and the Roxy). Northern Liberties offers some interesting new spaces that Fringe organizers hope to take full advantage of. Everyone's favorite old space, the site of performances and the Fringe box office in previous years, will not be a part of the Fringe this season. The National Building, that bright-orange beacon of Fringeness, is officially off-limits. Due to its impending sale, the owners of the building aren't allowing the rental of the space this year. As of now, the festival does not have a location for its box office, a somewhat daunting fact given that we're only two months away from showtime. In a recent conversation, Stuccio seemed confident that the festival would have a home base in Old City in plenty of time for ticket sales to commence.

On Thu., June 27, the Fringe staff is expected to announce the full schedule for the festival. As usual, offerings include spotlight shows, adjudicated shows (screened by a panel and approved for participation in the festival) and Unfiltered Fringe (all ya gotta do is sign up and produce your own show). [Web editor's note: A list of the Spotlight Shows has been posted here.]

One featured Fringe event will be Headlong Dance Theater's Britney's Inferno. As previously reported in this column, the festival received a $51,000 grant to commission the piece from Headlong, which mixes Dante and MTV culture. Another Fringe spectacle has a City Paper connection, as our recently returned Editor in Chief David Warner will act in Mark Lord's production of Peter Handke's The Ride Across Lake Constance. Warner also appeared in Lord's 2000 Fringe show, Across.

Lots of folks are wondering what two Fringe favorites, New Paradise Lab and Pig Iron, are up to this time around. While members of Pig Iron will be taking part in various Fringe pieces, the group is not officially putting up a show this year. NPL isn't doing a new work either (you'll have to wait until November for that), but it will be presenting 60 Minute Mental Vacations, an interactive event that NPL founder Whit MacLaughlin describes as "a theater experience where narrative passes through the audience members' bodies." Er, we'll just go check that one out and ask questions later.

As for the rest of the program, we'll have to wait until the festival's announcement, which is followed at 5:30 by a block party to celebrate the start of Fringe Season. The party takes place on Vine Street between Third and American, and features David Sherick's band Gato. Sherick is a veteran Fringe artist and returns this year as well.

There are some numbers available already on how this Fringe differs from its predecessors, and, on the whole, all of the numbers have gone up. More performances, more applicants (up 135 from last year's 298) and more participating artists. The visual arts side of Fringe is still small, with only one more artist than last year joining its ranks (up from five to six).

The most interesting stats concern out-of-town artists. While it's been traditional for some of the spotlight and adjudicated artists to come in from outside of Philadelphia, including international artists, this year shows a marked increase of non-Philly residents making the trek to town to produce their own unfiltered Fringe shows. Last year's festival included nine unfiltered acts from out-of-towners, and this year the number jumps to 46 acts coming in to give Philly's Fringe a try. Clearly the word has spread that it's worth the hassle to find a space, produce a show and get your name out at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.