The Toronto Fringe Festival is a platform for innovative theatre and performance. Shows are selected by lottery or first-come-first-served processes, and all ticket revenue goes straight to the artists.

The Toronto Fringe is Ontario’s largest performance festival and will include three dance shows, five KidsFest shows, over a dozen new Canadian musicals, the Next Stage Series, plus dramatic theatre, clown, storytelling, comedy, puppets, and more.

Below, I give you the first half of my curated personal picks for shows I hope you and I get to enjoy at this year’s Fringe. So many shows… how exciting!

Hye’s TO Fringe Picks Part 1

ALPHA
By Naparima College Drama Club (NCDC)
July 2–13, 2025

Set in the elite fictional “Hilltop College,” the story follows five privileged boys grappling with the shocking arrest of their classmate, Alpha, for rape. Through storytelling, dance, live music, and the ritual of Kalinda (stickfighting), the play explores themes of power, masculinity, identity, and accountability. Written and performed by students aged 12–18, ALPHA is a collaborative creation rooted in the lived experiences and observations of the students.

Bitty-Bat and Friends
Produced by Snacks Provided
July 2-12, 2025

She’s got a squeak in her voice, a twinkle in her eye, and a stage full of surprises. After delighting audiences across Canada and abroad, Bitty-Bat & Friends is swooping into the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival for a hilarious, heartfelt, and wholly unpredictable night of comedy and charming chaos.

Presented by members of Toronto Fringe’s 2024 cohort of the Theatre Entrepreneurs’ Networking and Training (TENT) Program, this show is an energetic physical comedy that features a different opening act at every show.

Body As Nature
Created by Caitlin Griffin & Hana Shafi
July 2–13, 2025

Exploring themes of embodiment, ecology, and artistic legacy, Body as Nature asks how our
bodies can act as sites of resistance and renewal in an era of environmental crisis.

Broken Teléfono
By Dead Mariachi Teatro
July 3-11, 2025

This is a Spanglish comedy meets stage adapted telenovela that dives into friendship, emotional misfires, and the trials and tribulations of modern-day dating. When sisters Sabrina and Raquel attempt to help their new friend Chloe get over a man, they soon discover that not everyone is who they claim to be. Expect chaos, laughter, and miscommunication that’s bursting with Latin sabor.

Edgar in the Red Room
By The Shylock Project
July 2-13, 2025

This is a multi-media macabre cabaret-style musical about the final nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe.
Music, movement, projections, and shadow play combine to follow Poe through the catacombs of his final nightmare, encountering his most infamous creations along the way.

Frat Haus: Evicted!
By Apothecary Theatre
July 2-13, 2025

The iconic Frat Haus is on the chopping block, set to be demolished and reborn as… luxury condos! But the Boyz aren’t going down without a fight… Will they save their beloved home or will they finally have to grow up?

Grown Ass*d Broads Talkin” Dirty
By Shout on a Whim Productions
July 2-13, 2025

Five bawdy and fierce broads meet monthly to enjoy theme parties at each others’ houses; friends since belonging to the same volleyball team as teenagers. Several decades later, they are not so much friends but sisters…sometimes rivaling sisters. There will be booze, food, bitching, arguing, laughing and cussing. It’s like an episode of the Golden Girls but funnier…and much dirtier!

Have Fun Kids
By Convection Productions
Part of the 2025 Next Stage Festival
July 3–14, 2025

In the wake of the suicide of her friend and fellow theatre artist Jordan Mechano, performer and playwright Laura Anne Harris discovered more than 700 pages of his writing. This show is the result of a raw, tender, and quietly radical solo show that blends Jordan’s text with Laura’s own stories of grief.

Content Advice: Suicide, Grief, Mental Health

Honey Never Spoils
By Bait and Switch
July 2–13, 2025

This slow-burn psychological drama revolves around a true crime podcast team unraveling the unsolved murder of their childhood friend. As they dig into the case, buried secrets begin to surface, and the line between storytelling and exploitation starts to blur. We’d love to invite you to attend a performance and consider reviewing or featuring the production.

In The Diving Bell
By Tantie an Dem Productions
July 4-13, 2025

In this speculative tale, a Black clown finds herself on a Middle Passage journey of survival and repair. An unlikely deep sea diver, she becomes immersed in a salvage operation to recover what was lost. Drawing on African and Caribbean history and memory, this solo performance is a mash up of mime, movement, mask, and installation.

Killy Willy
By First Born Theatre
July 2-13, 2025

This folk musical-comedy follows Willy, a captive killer whale yearning for freedom. Through song, dance, and Shakespearean soliloquy, they chart their destiny while wild whales rally to confront their greatest threat: the humans. With a strong desire for mass destruction, orgies, and good old fashion fun, the wild whales place leadership onto an unlikely messiah.

Lucian, Plato and The Secrets of the Pussy
By bound productions
Show Run July 2-13, 2025

Leaina runs off to Lesbos with her best friend Megillus, and her ex-husband Lucian is desperate for answers. When he turns to the genius Plato to help unravel the intimate and unfathomable mysteries of Leaina’s new relationship, these Great Philosophical Minds are forced to confront their own repressed desires simmering beneath their togas.

Full Toronto Fringe show listings, schedule and tickets are available at fringetoronto.com.