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Todd Fisher currently has no paintings hanging on his office walls.

Instead, he taped up signs that read: "Put Your Art Here!"

"I thought it would be cool if I could get a local artist to hang something up to get some face time or whatever because tons of people come into my office all day long," Fisher says. "I am trying to give somebody the opportunity."

As the producer for the Greensboro Fringe Festival since it began in 2003, Fisher applies that same philosophy to downtown Greensboro by inviting playwrights, dancers and other live performers to present original live works for local audiences. Now in its eighth year, the festival will present 27 shows over 18 days starting today.

"Some days, like on the weekends, you have four shows that you can go and see," Fisher says. "So for Greensboro that's pretty ridiculous, and it's all new material."

Citing the local economy, Fisher believes there are few local theater companies that are willing to perform brand new plays -- especially by local or regional playwrights. For this reason, he views the Greensboro Fringe Festival as being important now more than ever.

"To produce a new play on a professional level or an equity level is expensive, so usually the first relationship that gets cut is the relationship between a playwright and a theater," Fisher says. "It's unfortunate because that can be hugely successful."

While the objective of his festival is to showcase new live works, Fisher calls the theme for this year's lineup "Classics Revisited" because two of this year's plays feature classic stories with a modern twist. With "Perseus in Suburbia" playwright Tommy Trull takes the Greek myth of Perseus into a contemporary setting, while "Song of the Sirens" by body painter and songwriter Scott Fray is an ambitious musical retelling of Homer's "The Odyssey."

"(Fray)'s a graphic artist and he's also a musician, so I am sure he is going to incorporate all of those elements into his show," Fisher says.

With more than 50 submissions, Fisher says the Greensboro Fringe Festival is gaining the attention of more artists than ever before. Part of this is because it's the only fringe festival in the country he knows of that doesn't charge a submission fee for artists.

And as more playwrights become interested in submitting their works, Fisher's ultimate goal is that their success might inspire theater companies to produce brand new plays outside of the festival.

"The thing we're doing is hoping that some people from the theatre community will come and see how enthusiastic people in Greensboro are to see brand new Fringe works," Fisher says. "If that gets to at least add one show in their lineup that ---- even if it's not done by a Greensboro playwright or a North Carolina playwright ---- but something new, then that's something people can look forward to."

Contact Joe Scott at movieshowjoe@gmail.com