“Let’s get this show started,” yelled Murray Utas, Edmonton Fringe Festival artistic director. It was the battle cry every Fringer was waiting for, and Utas, in his brash, charismatic style, did not disappoint at last Wednesday’s media call.
The 43rd annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival, running Aug. 15-25 along Old Strathcona’s Whyte Avenue, has packed 216 indoor shows with more than 1,600 stage performers. And that’s not counting the diverse street performers plying their craft on every corner.
While many shows are housed in traditional theatre settings, others include dance studios, bars, churches, schools, restaurants and tents. Yes, theatre is brought to the masses in every conceivable venue.
The Gazette cut through the massive list of shows to pluck out 24 gems developed by St. Albert-connected artists, directors, designers, producers, and stage managers.
• Rory Turner directs The Flying Doctor, a comedy about a lovestruck young man who will go to any lengths to save the girl he adores from an odious boyfriend, and no scheme he hatches is too complicated or silly.
• Soprano Melanie Gall pays homage to Alberta in Hockey Sticks and Beaver Pie. Together with her mother, Karen, the duo have created a one-hour show that travels across Alberta’s quirky sites from Glendon’s giant perogy to St. Paul’s UFO landing site.
• Two new faces on the St. Albert theatre scene are Janice Thompson Spence and Rick Kiebiech. The playwright-actors have created Syster och Bror Bygga IKEA! (Sister and Brother Build IKEA). This comedy-drama of family dynamics takes place while an estranged brother and sister reunite to care for their ailing father. While building IKEA furniture, secrets, grudges and not-so-nice words pop into the open.
• Dylan Rosychuk, Lauren Boyd and Natalie LaBuick pair up for Crooked Dicks, a comedy-drama where two corrupt detectives, a kidnapped firecracker of a junkie and the Angel of Retribution are brought together in a motel room.
• St. Albert Children’s Theatre (SACT) alumnus Luc Tellier directs Bright Lights, a comedy about a support group of people affected by alien encounters. Several other cast members — Rachel Bowron, Braydon Dowler-Coltman and Jenny McKillop – have also been part of the St. Albert’s theatre scene.
• St. Albert teacher Kirsten Throndson has thrown her hat into the madcap ring of DieNasty! Edmonton’s Live Improvised Soap Opera.
• Former SACT alumna Kate Ryan directs two other SACT alumni Jenny McKillop and Garett Ross in Rob and Chris (Bobby + Tina) - A New Musical. In this production, Rob and Chris meet in high school. They are each other’s first date, first kiss, first love. But in Grade 12 Chris gets pregnant and the world changes.
• Former St. Albert Rotary Music Festival recipient Daphne Charrois and her father Dan have written Fool’s Gold, The Musical. It travels back in time to the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush with high-energy boot-stomping numbers, lively characters and intimate performances.
• In her second performance, Melanie Gall takes theatre-goers to the 1934 back alleys of Broadway in Forbidden Cabaret. She revisits the Perroquet, the most decadent club in New York. During this time, unlicensed musical entertainment was illegal. But once the clock struck midnight, a forbidden cabaret begins.
• St. Albert’s Kaden Wilson directs The Bells, a folk musical retelling of the Brontë sisters from childhood to their untimely deaths.
• École Saint Marguerite d’Youville graduate Donna Leny Hansen joins the cast of improvisors for King of the Hill, a round-robin of improvised sketches judged by the audience.
• Lauren Boyd, Jesse Harleton, Dylan Rosychuk and Andrew Boyd team up for The Silence of the Lambs Jr., an hour-long version with song, dance and puppets.
• Connor Meek, Andrew Boyd and Lauren Boyd wing it in Batman, Bob and Bill. It’s the true story of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, two friends who created Batman. Bob takes all the credit and Bill watches as his friend receives fame and fortune while his own life spirals into poverty and illness.
• St. Albert Dinner Theatre actor Anne-Marie Smyth joins The Canterbury Tales cast in a tale of seven Medieval pilgrims who meet at a pub and tell stories for their supper.
• Actor/playwright-director Sam Daly takes the helm at Soup and Hogans 16th annual Hotdog Eating Contest, a sizzling showdown about crazy hotdog competitors.
• Spencer Kryzanowski directs Trial By Jury, a condensed version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s courtroom tale of a jilted bride. Adding to the drama is an opinionated jury, a bevy of beautiful bridesmaids, a quirky lawyer and a lovable judge with a questionable rise to the bench.
• Kryzanowski also tickles the ivories while Ron Long sings That’s What She Sang! This cabaret extravaganza features Broadway’s iconic female songs composed by luminaries such as Cole Porter, Sondheim and more.
• Tap dancer Paige Tirs is part of the fearsome quartet in The Ladies of Jazz, featuring song-and-dance charts from swanky classics to more modern jazz tunes.
• Sarah Gibson, an acting staple at St. Albert Dinner Theatre, also appears in Dick Piston, Hotel Detective in “Prague-Nosis.” The Czech crown jewels have disappeared, and Dick Piston is searching for the international jewel thief.
• Molly Boryski joins the cast of Funny Beyond Words: A Physical Comedy Cabaret that requires 26 costume changes while poking fun at Dirty Dancing, Flashdance and Footloose.
• Playwright-actor Scott Bourgeoise spins Naked Lady, a tale of dark magic and a sadistic millionaire’s strange scheme for vengeance against his wife, an actress who left him.
• Stage Manager Isabelle Martinez is backstage during Sweet Jesus – the Gospel According to Felt. In this 60-minute show playwright-actor Randy Brososky manipulates the puppet Jesus. A remount of last year’s show with some fresh additions, it is a rant on life, dating, religion, career, guilt and daddy issues.
• In Regression, playwright Erin Hutchinson introduces the citizens of Prior. They are obsessed with the past, going to operas, museums, old art galleries and Shakespearean plays. As nostalgia reaches a tipping point, a group of artists notice a regression in their creative rights.
Tickets range from $15 to $20 and artists receive every dollar. Tickets are available in person at Fringe Theatre Arts Barn, 10330 - 84 Ave., online at fringetheatre.ca or by phone at 780-409-1910.
