The 44th annual Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival running Aug. 14 to 24 welcomes the world. And this year’s theme is Fringe Full of Stars, an opportunity to illuminate and reach beyond the unknown.
This year more than 30 St. Albert-connected artists in 24 shows are hoping to give supernova performances audiences will enjoy and remember.
This huge theatrical extravaganza shines a light on 223 productions spread across 40 venues. More than 1,600 artists from the Edmonton region, across Canada and the world have descended for indoor and outdoor performances, cold beer, warm onion cakes and the chance to share our Alberta summer with equally enthusiastic theatre-goers.
Every visitor has the opportunity to hand-pick a favourite genre. Choices range from burlesque, cabaret, clown shows, comedy, drama, dance and improv to magic, mystery, musical theatre, performance art, physical theatre, satire and storytelling.
But Fringing is more than buying a ticket, sitting in a darkened theatre and watching actors perform a scene.
As Megan Dart, festival executive director stated, “Stories connect us. They challenge us, spark empathy, stir action, and crack open new ways of seeing the world around us. Stories remind us of who we are.”
Ticket prices range from $10 to $20 plus fees. They are available online at tickets.fringetheatre.ca or in person at Fringe Theatre Arts Barn office.
St. Albert connected shows
• Sarah Gibson, who performed during St. Albert Dinner Theatre’s Barely Heirs, has landed a role with Hearts Left Open, a one-act hospital drama about the thin line between devastation and connection. Set in a pediatric cancer ward, two mothers form a unique bond while navigating the uncertainty of watching a child fright for its life.
• St. Albert playwright Josh Languedoc takes a few social-political jabs at seemingly unfettered wealth and power in Elon Muskrat. In this one-man show, Elon is about to sell his casino, and Languedoc explores what floats on the surface of power and what hides underneath.
• Former St. Albert pianist Spencer Kryzanowski takes the lead as music director in La rondine. The 90-minue opera is Puccini’s tale of Magda, a Parisian courtesan who dreams of a simpler life.
• Joanne Poplett and Myrna Ferris, two St. Albert Dinner Theatre alumni, hit the comedy button in Are you listening Juanita? Trevor is helping his 40-something daughter recover from an illness when she decides to write up a “bucket list.” Two sisters and their mediator, Sunny, add to the confusion.
• The multi-talented St. Albert actor Kristen Throndson joins the cast of the whack-a-doodle DieNasty! Edmonton’s Live Improvised Soap Opera.
• Singer Martha Livingstone takes on the role of assistant director in St. Albert's Visionary Centre for the Performing Arts production of Heathers, the Musical Teen Edition.
• The Spotlight’s Shadow pulls back the curtain of backstage dressing rooms during the 1920s. Two New York Ziegfield Follies girls fall in love creating a heart-wrenching romance filled with impossible choices. Playwright Daphne Charrois takes the lead as an actor performing alongside Grace Bokenfohr.
• Sean Bedard, a member of the Alberta Ghostbusters cosplay society and improv actor, steps under the lights in Ghostbusters One Man Show. Bedard plans to recite the entire 1984 film line for line in just one hour.
• Want to see a play that takes place in St. Albert? Check out The Divorced Dad’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. St. Albert actor Marshall Eglinski joins a cast of eight while Kevin, a divorced dad tries to free St. Albert from Dracula’s fascist regime.
• Eglinski also joins St. Albert playwright-actor Sam Daly in Sam’s Clam and Oyster Bar, a musical packed with seafood, chaotic romance and mythological madness. As the promotional material states, “Bring your own barrels. They’ll be full of laughs.”
• Byron Martin, a former St. Albert improv instructor, puts his Cards on the Table, so to speak. Adding a new talent to his toolkit, the Grindstone founder displays magic and sleight-of-hand card tricks.
• St. Albert actors Sika Clarke and Nicole Gaskell star in Pair of Guys Lost: A New Musical. In this new satirical, biblical comedy, angels spill tea, snakes offer wisdom, and a Trump-like administration struggles to control Eden.
• Morinville’s Rory Turner, known for both his onstage and backstage theatrical skills, is in The Cult of the Clitoris. It’s London in 1918. The Great War is raging and so is the trial of a Canadian dancer guilty of treason and lesbianism. Is Germany masterminding a homosexual plot or is this true story just about espionage and eroticism?
• Giorgi of the Jungle takes viewers back to an Italian family’s dilemma in the 1980s. Ten-year-old Giorgi is devastated when she gets her first social cue that she needs better personal grooming. Things get hairy when different members of the family advocate for different approaches. St. Albert playwright Lynda Celentano celebrates her first Fringe work while local actor Kristen Throndson takes on the role of Giorgi.
• St. Albert businessman and playwright Jeff Halaby scores another Fringe production in Romeo and Juliet’s Notebook. Set in Strathcona County, this new parody musical mashup introduces Romeo Yellowhead and Juliet Henday in a romance packed with passion, puns and pop hits.
• Morinville playwright Marty Chan once more stages a chilling production of The Bone House. Eugene Crowley is about to give a lecture, a deep dive on serial killers and the psychology of violence. But Eugene has a horrible secret and the audience is about to find out.
• Step into the shadowy world of the afterlife in St. Albert playwright Scott Bourgeois’ Mr. Tilly’s Seance. In Madame Cumberbatch’s salon candles flicker, secrets unravel and ghosts might drop by. Or is it just mumbo-jumbo? Either way join St. Albert Dinner Theatre actor Darrell Portz and company for a spirited night.
• A St. Albert cast that includes Andrew Boyd and Jesse Harleton as well as director Lauren Boyd sharpen their wits in SPEED! A 1940s Radio Drama. It’s a comedic behind-the-scenes reimagining about a bus that can’t slow down.
• St. Albert playwright-actor Louise Casemore (Sabrina) becomes one-half of the Lost Sock Rescue Society along with Christine Lesiak (Sandra). The good-natured duo do their best to find companionable friends for single socks.
• Zombies, Inc has invaded Manhattan and former St. Albert Children’s Theatre musical director Ryan Sigurdson spins a killer score while a solo jeweller battles the hordes.
• Former Bellerose High School grad, playwright and director Erin Hutchison has gone on to create Scamway 2025. When a cynical social work student attempts to improve her negative outlook, she gets swept into the wacky world of multi-level marketing and discovers all is not what it seems.
• Local actor Andrew Boyd puts his playwrighting skills to the test along with Samantha Fraughton in The Last Perfect Game: The Jerry Stephenson Story. In 1963, Jerry, a regular guy bowled 12 strikes in a row at Plaza Bowling. It’s virtually an impossible feat. But who was the mysterious Jerry?
