It’s that time of the year, Fringe Time! The summer in Toronto would not be the same without the yearly installment of the Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival. This year, they’ve managed to pull 155 shows out of a hat for us. From solo shows, musicals, dramas, family-friendly and art shows, this year’s Fringe will have something for everyone!
Here is my preliminary list of some of the shows I’ll be checking out, in no particular order…
One in a Million (a micromusical)
Director & Choreographer- Steven Morel
Composer & Musical Director- Samuel Sholdice
Book & Lyrics – Ron Fromstein
Lighting Design & Stage Manager- Tracie Burgess
Starring: Mark Allan, Shaina Silver-Baird, Aurora Browne, Russell Tyson Clark, Jeff Giles, & Blair Irwin
This is the story of four sperm struggling, as individiuals and as a squad, to get to the egg. It’s the original quest (now with songs)!
The Judy Monologues
Conceived & Directed by Darren Stewart-Jones
Starring: Philip Cairns, Michael Hughes & Darren Stewart-Jones with Kimberly Roberts as Judy Garland
Stage managed by Mark Tara
This is a one act play is a multimedia docudrama based entirely on rare voice tapes recorded by Garland in the years leading up to her death in 1969 at age 47 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
The Bear / Lady with a lap dog
Written by Anton Chekhov
Translations by Lisa Hamalainen
Directed by Ellen Hurley
Featuring: Lisa Hamalainen, Jaime Polatynski, James Patrick Pettitt, John Fray and Steve Ward.
Stage Managed by Darcy Stoop
Chekhov’s classic farce The Bear is paired alongside the author’s most-famous short story Lady with a Lap Dog for a unique and modern new staging. Using the magic of theatre and the exciting elements of improvisational music, this production is set to feature a live acoustic and electronic soundscape created by Toronto based trombonist Steve Ward of the award-winning band Caribou.
Mahmoud
By: Tara Grammy & Tom Arthur Davis
Director: Tom Arthur Davis
Cast: Tara Grammy
This is a one-woman show about an aging Iranian engineer-cum-taxi driver, a fabulously gay Spaniard, and a young Iranian-Canadian girl, all trying to get by the day-to-day grind in the city that they call home: Toronto.
Of Mice and Morro and Jasp
By
Heather
Marie
Annis,
Byron
Laviolette
&
Amy
Lee
Direction
and
Dramaturgy
by
Byron
Laviolette
Additional
clown
direction
by
John
Turner
Morro and Jasp feel the pinch of the recent economic downturn and arts cuts and decide to make ends meet by tackling a John Steinbeck’s classic tale. The desperate clown sisters seek to stick to the story but will they both make it out alive?
PORNSTAR
By: Chris Craddock
Starring: Heather Marie Annis, Amy Lee, Lynne, Griffin and Sarah Mennell.
This is a story from a simpler time, when sex‐shame and homophobia seemed to be the worst things the religious right could do to us. He knows better now. But isn’t it interesting how the more some things change, the more they stay the same?
jem rolls: TEN STARTS AND AN END
By: jem rolls
Cast: jem rolls
Jem Rolls returns with a high-energy charge into the joys of language. With the longest tongue-twister in Canadian History, some 100km/h wordplay, the occasional rise to the lyrical sublime, and an English zeal for dumb dumber and smart jokes.
The Wakowski Bros. – A Canadian Vaudeville
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Wesley J. Colford
Directed by Alex Fallis
Music Direction by Chris Mounteer
Featuring: Derek Scott, Duff MacDonald and Lorretta Bailey
Eight years after splitting the act, Canadian Vaudeville legends Jimmy and Conrad Wakowski reunite for a one night tribute performance. As the night goes on, original skits and songs bring old demons to the surface. Jimmy’s ex-wife Caitlyn joins them as painful memories and past betrayals conspire to destroy the attempt to rebuild their shattered relationship.
The House of Bernarda Alba
By: Federico García Lorca
Director: Bruce Pitkin
Cast: Ana Lía Arias Garrido, Kit Boulter, Ann‐Marie Banksi, Sophie Mercer, Denise Norman*, Ellie Posadas, Kaleigh Richards, Darlene Spencer, Amanda Testini
This is the last play that Garcia Lorca composed before his assassination. The plot centers on the lives of women in Spain, its shocking and brutal portrayal of honour trumping humanity. Following the death of her second husband, Bernarda Alba imposes an eight‐year mourning period on her daughters, who rebel against her autocratic control with tragic consequences.
The Soaps: A Live Improvised Soap Opera
By: The Soaps
Musical director: Peter Cavell
Staring: Jim Annan, Matt Baram, Paul Bates, Lisa Brooke, Christy Bruce, Jan Caruana, Chris Gibbs, Sandy Jobin-Bevans, and Lisa Merchant
How it works: After coming up with an environment to set the show in, each improvisor creates a character that they bring to life each show. The show opens with the director introducing the show backed by the musical director who plays a theme song written specifically for the show.
The show returns to tell a story two hundred years in the making: the War of 1812! It will certainly be interesting to see this improvised.
Help Yourself
Written by Kat Sandler
Co-created by Daniel Pagett
Directed by Kat Sandler
Featuring Tosha Doiron, Daniel Pagett, Tim Walker
The play focuses on the story of 35-year-old Donny who is in the business of clearing consciences. For a hefty sum Donny will help clients justify to themselves their desired immoral actions.
Temple of Khaos
By: the cast
Cast: Daniel Nimmo, Kristian Remier, Amy J. Lester, Nicole Ratjen, Christel Bartelse
Imagine Monty Python, meets Game of Thrones at the Moulin Rouge. Experience this epic myth filled with clown, circus and comedy. Starring the primordial god KHAOS, the lord of mankind, the court Jester, a princess and more.
TICK
Written by Matthew Mackenzie
Directed by Jajube
Starring Jessica Moss
Convinced that City Council’s cost saving measures amount to a war on kids, ten year old Tickailia “Tick” Summers decides to lead a revolution against adult rule when her local library is slated to be closed.
FRINGEKIDS!
The Empire of the Magic Beanstalks
Age range: 8 and up
By: Daniel J Karpenchuk
Company: Vampire Frog Productions
Director: Allyson M. Bradley
The Little Mermaid and Rapunzel join forces in an epic and hilarious tale to bring down the corrupt Empire of the Magic Beanstalks, controlled by Jack and his mother, before its pollution destroys the world for good.
The Super Secret Subway Society
Written & Directed by Katherine Sanders
Age range: 6 and up
Starring Kevin Dowse, Brittney Filek-Gibson, Freddie Rivas
Sound design by Adam Reich
Stage managed by Kaitlin Winslow
10 year-old Seymour is used to riding the subway by himself, in fact he’s invented a whole imaginary game
about it, using subway station names for characters and magical objects. He’s right in the middle of an important quest, when he is suddenly and inconceivably befriended by Amy Anderson, the coolest girl in school. And Seymour has to decide whether to let her in on his secret game.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Age range: 3 and up
Written by CS Lewis, Dramatized by Le Clanché du Rand
Starring Stevie Jay and Marla Brennan
Stage managed and lighting design by Geoff Kolomayz
C.S. Lewis’ classic tale is performed by two actors and set to beloved rock songs. A high energy play for children as young as three years old and equally enjoyed by all ages.
Please be sure to check fringetoronto.com for full details on the festival. And come back to this page for updates and reviews as well. Let’s get Fringeing!