Acoustic Rogue

(Updated Sunday, February 27, 2005, 5:51 AM)

When you click on singer Kien Lim's Web site, you'll see an eclectic travel schedule: On March 31, he's slated to play at a London club called Edward's in Hammersmith ("opposite the Tube station"). Yet for the first two weekends in March, he's booked at the 2005 Rogue Performance Festival in Fresno.

That's increasingly the case with the Rogue: It's attracting more out-of-town performers, some of whom are regulars on the fringe festival circuit.

Lim, who played at the Rogue last year, has written songs for Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. He's a former electric guitarist of Chinese/Thai descent born in Brighton, England, brought up in Malaysia and who now resides in London.

He fell in love with acoustic guitar and now considers himself proudly among the unplugged.

You'll get the chance to hear his "More Songs From London" at 3:45 p.m. Satur-day, 8:45 p.m. March 10 and 7:30 p.m. March 12 at Ashtree Studio. More than 150 performances are scheduled in this year's nonjuried festival, including theater, music, dance, independent film, visual art, spoken word, stand-up comedy, found-object puppetry and magic.

Among other highlights:

The "Rap Canterbury Tales," by Canadian performance artist Baba Brinkman, resets Chaucer's classic on a modern tour bus.

"Upton Sinclair's Licked," by San Francisco actor Jay Martin, presents the true-life history of novelist Upton Sinclair's Depression-era run for California governor.

"Adventures of a Substitute Teacher," a one-act comedy featuring Steven Karkowski of San Francisco, got raves in Canada for his depiction of evil administrators and "realistic" middle school students.

EmSpace Dance is a homecoming for Fresno-raised choreographer Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, who brings her San Francisco postmodern dance company to the Rogue. The program's centerpiece, "Songs for You," throws six flawed characters in a room and locks the door.

The festival kicks off with opening-night events 5-9 p.m. Thursday at Veni Vidi Vici, Ashtree Studio, Javawava and Full Circle Brewery. A full slate of events continues through March 12, with most performances held Thursdays-Sundays.

An updated performance schedule in printable PDF format is available online at roguefestival.com.

-- Donald Munro