Abstract: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest arts festival. Its success has inspired imitation and so fringe theatre festivals have proliferated around the world. This dissertation is not a history of the Fringe, but an examination of those structures of the Edinburgh Fringe which have allowed it to continue to grow and succeed. To understand how the Edinburgh Fringe works one must understand that no performer is invited, those performers who come to Edinburgh are not given any financial assistance by the Fringe and the productions are housed in temporary performance spaces. There is no central governing body at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Fringe Society coordinates rather than coerces by providing needed services to performers and venue managers. The importance of these basic structures is often neglected. Both in Edinburgh and beyond three myths exercise as much influence as an understanding of these structures. The term "myth" is used to describe three ideas which are not factually correct, but which serve a useful purpose in promoting fringe theatre in both Edinburgh and beyond. The most important of these myths holds that the Edinburgh Fringe is dominated by new and edgy work. This last myth is so foundational it has come to be incorporated in the very definition of fringe theatre. Each of these myths has had an impact on non Edinburgh Regional Fringes, few of which closely imitate the structure of the Edinburgh Fringe. The most misunderstood and arguably the most important of the structures which have ensured the Edinburgh Fringe's continued successes are the entrepreneurial venues administered by independent venue managers. This dissertation scrutinizes the antipathy some at Edinburgh have for the entrepreneurial venues. It then investigates in some detail the risks and labors undertaken by managers of venues large and small to demonstrate how these venues operate and why the managers take on such a demanding task.