PREVIEW
Fringe 'O' Saurus Rex
Edmonton International Fringe Festival
Aug. 16 to 26
Old Strathcona, Edmonton’s French Quarter, CKUA
Tickets: $8 to $13. Call ATB Financial Arts Barns at 780-409-1910 or at www.fringetheatre.ca
From the weird and wacky, the hilarious and poignant, the mesmerizing and captivating – you never know what you’ll see at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
The 37th edition opens Thursday night and runs until Aug. 26 at Edmonton’s Old Strathcona, the French Quarter and CKUA.
This year’s theme is Fringe ‘O’ Saurus and Fringers can expect to see the T-Rex mascot wandering throughout the site promoting stories, conversations and gatherings, said artistic director Murray Utas.
This year’s lineup presents 227 shows from Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa and Iran.
Nearly half the shows are local featuring comedy, drama, musical theatre, dance, burlesque, storytelling, puppetry, sketch comedy, circus arts, spoken word and performance art.
“We have about the same number of venues as last year, but we’re fitting in more shows. It’s a tighter schedule,” Utas said.
Utas first directed a Fringe show in 1993 and four years ago landed the position of artistic director.
“One of the big changes I’ve seen is the genres. Dance has become integral. We’re also showcasing more storytelling and poetry. We’re also seeing more cross-over artists and we’re making sure their voices are heard. And Indigenous artists are more prevalent in the Fringe as well.”
One of the big venue changes this year is the Kids Fringe location. McIntyre Park, previously a popular location, is under construction. Kids Fringe has moved two blocks east to the Strathcona Community League’s open park.
“There’s a kids’ theatre, an open area, a box office. Everything is there in one location.”
Utas also encourages Fringers to check out the daily discount booths where tickets are on sale first-come, first-served, at 50 per cent off.
Last year, the Fringe broke box office records, selling just under 130,000 tickets. This year, more than 400,000 visitors are expected to attend.
St. Albert and area artists are contributing to a significant number of shows and they’re thrilled to receive the upcoming deluge of visitors.
Below is a list of local actors and their shows:
- St. Albert actors Jesse Harleton and Catherine Wenschlag step into a time warp shooting back to the mythical Camelot legend in Guenevere.
- In a new work by Impossible Mongoose, St. Albert actor Kristen Padayas co-produces The Alien Baby Play, a story about fate, family and extraterrestrial love.
- In Tragedy: A Tragedy, St. Albert actors Sarah Ormandy and Luc Tellier get ready to poke a stick at the media as it blubbers along reporting a catastrophe.
- A contributor to St. Albert Children’s Theatre (SACT), Matt Graham puts his best foot forward in Miscast, a Broadway cabaret of gender-bending, body-bending and mind-bending proportions.
- Matt Boisvert, one of St. Albert’s strongest character actors, joins the cast of The Great Gromboolian Plain, a tale about a young woman protecting a deep secret.
- Soprano Melanie Gall returns from New York to perform in Piaf and Brel: The Impossible Concert.
- Local Indigenous actor/playwright/director Josh Languedoc whisks the audience to a time far away in Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land.
- Once again Gall reprises her vocal skills in We’ll Meet Again: Vera Lynn, the Forces’ Sweetheart for a series of nostalgic wartime songs.
- University of Alberta fine arts graduate Alexandra Dawkins is both playwright and cast in All Proceeds Go To:, a play that asks taxpayers to listen up with a wink and a nudge.
- Go 4 Broke Productions, a St. Albert improv company featuring Sean Bedard, Ali Yusuf and Josh Languedoc, go wild in Drinking At the Movies.
- Catherine Wenschlag, one of the region’s most-sought after semi-professional character actors dishes out a wacko helping of southern charm and arrogance in For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls.
- Former St. Albert resident Judy Stelck is in Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone, a light-on-its-feet, cryptic view of the final apocalypse.
- Braydon Dowler-Coltman, a brilliant multi-faceted artist who grew up in St. Albert, tackles Punch Up, a play about a misfit loner who kidnaps a comedian to make a suicidal girl laugh.
- Two SACT alumni, David Johnston and Owen Bishop, collaborate in the comedy/drama Let’s Talk About Your Death.
- SACT music director Rachel Bowron and SACT alumna Jenny McKillop take the lead in A Lesson in Brio, Teatro La Quindicina’s new Fringe production.
- This year, Plain Jane Theatre’s Everything’s Coming Up Chickens has attracted numerous SACT alumni – Karina Cox, Jarrett Krissa and Garett Ross as well as director Kate Ryan and current company artistic director Janice Flower.
- The Varscona Theatre’s resident team of lawyer-actors, including St. Albert’s Morgan McLelland, present The Many Loves of Irene Sloan, a brain-bending new comedy centred on an unfinished manuscript.
- Garett Ross whips out his magnifying glass in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, a spoof that follows two theatre critics watching a silly setup of a country house murder mystery.
- St. Albert resident Kieran Murphy causes mayhem in Clean Cut, a story about two women who endure a bad week after a roommate dies and the discovery of something darkly suspicious surfaces.
- Local directors Josh Languedoc and T. J. Eggleston mentor youth improvisers as they explore their imagination to create worlds that do not yet exist in KidLibs and SkEtChEd KiDs.
- Once more Morinville actor Rory Turner is cast in a period play. This year, he stars as the frivolous, irreverent Algernon in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
- St. Albert director Emily Belke and company retell a Greek legend about a princess whose beauty offends Aphrodite in Psyche: A Vision of Beauty.
- Husband-and-wife duo Brett and Pattie Hammerlindl, two members of St. Albert Theatre Troupe, as well as Denise England, ham it up in The Ever After Musical, a fairy-tale parody.
- The Sunday morning church service was never this insane as in Y2K Black Death Oratorio church choir learns a new work. Join Hans Forbrich, Spencer Kryzanowski and Mike Otto as they dust off the stereotypical image of church choir.
- SACT star Madelaine Knight is at her regal best in 2 Queens and A Joker, a tale about a double agent who solicits his skills to both Queen Elizabeth 1 and Mary, Queen of Scots.
- Matt Alden, another SACT star, join’s the cast of Rapid Fire’s Off Book, The Improvised Musical.
- Legal actress Joëlle Prefontaine resurfaces in Walk, inspired by Lianne Faulder’s The Long Walk Home, a book about a Canadian soldier who loses his legs in Afghanistan.
- Miriam Ayles joins a dance cast of thousands in Swing Showcase, a show that tells the story of dance and how it shaped North America through Lindy hop, jitterbug and blues.
- Former St. Albert resident Olivia Latta directs Adopted, a one-man show that explores the serious and comedic themes of childhood and family.
- Check out musician Andrew Brostrom, formerly of St. Albert, as he entertains with Merk and her Sideshow Boobs in Merk du Soleil.
- Join Xanadu as the Greek muse Kira descends from Mount Olympus to 1980s Venice Beach in hopes of inspiring a struggling artist. St. Albert’s Logan Stefura makes a cameo appearance as “the fan guy” on roller blades.
- Karina Cox and Bellerose High alumnus Keat Machtemes team up of for [title of show], a Tony nominated musical about two guys writing a musical.
- Former St. Albert puppeteer Brendan Boyd reprises his skills in Mr. Boots, a bizarre comedy about rules and ghosts.
- Megan Verbeek of Morinville’s Verbeek clan directs The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, a physical comedy about how relationships change.
- Go For Broke's Improv Against Humanity merges fast-paced, quick-thinking short-form improvisers Sean Bedard, Ali Yusuf and Josh Languedoc.
- The Cast of the Irrelevant Show reunite with special appearances from former St. Albert pianist Jan Randall and triple-threat performer Kieran Martin Murphy.
- Stretching her acting muscles beyond St. Albert Theatre Troupe, Rhonda Kozuska zips down memory lane in A Golden Girl’s Tribute: Sofia’s Wild Ride.
- Nadine Veroba, a favourite among the community theatre circuit, is back at the Fringe in Cult Cycle: A New Musical focusing on a new fitness studio in town that helps you burn fat – or die trying.
- St. Albert actress Nyala Pittel stars in the Bushes in the Basement, a comedy about a young girl whose father is killed in a car accident and she is forced to live with her evil grandmother.
- Three St. Albert artists – Dylan Rosychuk, Jeff Punyi and Sarah Elder – pair up in Titanna Bowa: How to Succeed in Hollywood, a spoof about two immoral filmmakers who kidnap Tinseltown’s sweetheart.
- Over at CKUA Radio, Madelaine Knight sings in Sweethearts of the 49th, a quartet performing a musical tribute to Second World War history.
