Love variety? Comedy, drama, musicals, clowns, political satire—mix all those tasty theatre flavours together and you get the Vancouver Fringe Festival! With 101 shows to choose from, you’re bound to find some “Theatrically Delicious” performances this September 5 to 15.
The music at the Phillips Fringe Bar will be snap, crackle, and popping every night of the Fringe. Located at Ocean Art Works on Granville Island, families will be cheerio-ing ‘cause the Bar is all ages and open Saturday and Sunday afternoons too.
Some highlights:
Opening Night featuring the Georgia Straight Fringe-For-All: September 4
Join fellow Fringers in a celebration to kick off the Festival! Hosted by Fringe Alumni Abdul Aziz (Fake Ghost Tours) and Davey Calderon (Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night), you’ll be led through 40 two-minute previews at the Georgia Straight Fringe-For-All—a great way to snack on shows in this year’s Festival. Plus, there’ll be hors d’oeuvres and desserts from The Keg and Dockside Restaurant, as well as a tasting of new products from Georgian Bay Spirit Company.
Advance Theatre: New Works by Women
Ruby Slippers Theatre and Playwrights Guild of Canada partnered with the Fringe to showcase dramatic readings of five new plays by diverse Canadian women playwrights. From first language reconnection and siblings dealing with parental loss, to working in a country bar, walking 1,600km, and being a Vietnamese oceanic refugee, these new works will be featured as matinees during the Festival.
Dramatic Works Series
With support from the Lochmaddy Foundation, the Fringe boosts dramatic content at the Festival. This year’s Dramatic Works Series artists have been mentored by Hardline Productions’ Co-Artistic Director Raes Calvert, a Métis theatre artist who’s toured internationally. Showcased at The Cultch’s Vancity Culture Lab, this year’s series includes work by Jacob Richmond, Yukio Mishima, Sarah Kane, Madeleine George, Rajiv Joseph, and John Logan.
Fringe Awards and Closing Night Party: September 15
The Public Market Pick of the Fringe Awards will be announced as well as the Joanna Maratta Award, the BC Touring Council Award, and the Artistic Risk Award—all of which help emerging artists take their work to the next level. The TD Fringe Forward Award is also being launched! In partnership with Neworld Theatre and sponsored by TD Bank Group, this award recognizes a production that centres the work of artists from historically marginalized communities.
The Fringe is comprised of un-juried, un-censored productions that are literally drawn from a hat or chosen on a first come, first served basis! This means the theatre you see at the Fringe is filled with emerging artists and seasoned veterans in traditional and experimental work alike.
The Festival is centred on Granville Island, but venues extend across the city to The Cultch, the Firehall Arts Centre, Havana, and beyond—and site-specific shows use unusual locations on and off Granville Island too!
Tickets go on sale August 7 and are $15. Half-Price tickets will be offered to select performances. Frequent Fringer Cards offer a great value and limited quantities are available for four, 10, or 30 performances. Tickets and Frequent Fringer Cards can be purchased at VancouverFringe.com or at the Fringe Box Office, located at 1398 Cartwright Street on Granville Island. The Fringe Box Office is physically open from September 3 through to the end of the Festival on September 15.
Show descriptions can be found at www.VancouverFringe.com and in our program guide, available at select Blenz Coffee locations and other Fringe friendly businesses.
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