It was like a "taste" of the Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, but without food.

And yet, at Thursday's preview launching the 10-day alternative theater showcase on and around Mass Ave., Minneapolis actor Andy Brynildson did distribute juice boxes to "shamelessly promote" his show, "Confessions of a Fringe Technician."

And Milwaukee modern dancer Susanne Carter brought a cucumber to the Indianapolis Historic Fire Museum and Memorial as a prop for "Improscaping," an improvisation blending movement with commentary about the cylindrical salad staple.

But the point of the preview -- a series of randomly chosen, rapid-fire show excerpts -- was to tantalize viewers with a taste of the 53 acts that constitute the fourth annual IndyFringe.

Most members of the standing-room-only crowd at the Fire Museum were there to perform, or because they had some connection to the acts gathered from 13 states, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

But not even insiders always knew what to expect from this year's Fringe Preview.

"I'm going into this cold," said actor-playwright Larry Manion, as he smoked a cigarette before the preview. Manion was clad in a coat, tie and new red sneakers to play a dubious psychiatrist in the new play "Dr. Goddard and Mr. Angst."

Tony McDonald, who is directing "Jealous Sky," a play about a fantasy meeting between pioneer aviators Harriet Quimby and Amelia Earhart, said the preview offered Michigan playwright Paul Bancel his first chance to see the vintage costumes used in the show.

Young Actors Theatre kicked off the series of 29 acts with "Check Please," a play about the horrors of dating.

Los Angeles comedian Phil van Hest, returning for his fourth Indy Fringe gig, sipped a beer as two men from the audience tried to get free tickets to his show, "Phil the Void: Comedy Over Quality." The contestants had to read comic, bilingual, erotic poetry without cracking a smile, and the second competitor succeeded.

After the preview, Bloomington actor Ryan Wells said it had given him the sense of a cohesive "community effort" on the Indianapolis arts scene. He said it also provides a forum for new plays such as "The Babbling Banshee," in which he plays a bartender from Ireland.

But with the advent of IndyFringe's 270 performances, festival Executive Director Pauline Moffat said she was "looking forward to seeing some shows that had been developed here, gone off to other Fringe festivals, and are now coming back."