The Immaculate Convection

November 21, 2018

Fringe 101: Everything About the Fringe

Clockwise from top left: Longtime Artist Services Coordinator Jess Amy Shead, 2018 Public Market Pick of the Fringe winner Diana Bang, and 2017 Public Market Pick of the Fringe winner Rohit Chokhani are our extra special guests for Fringe 101!

There’s still time to RSVP for Fringe 101! Whether you’re interested in putting on a Fringe show in the future, want to discover different ways to Fringe, or just want to learn what we do, you’re invited to this free information session. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Vancouver Fringe Festival, from the different ways you can be part of the Fringe as an artist, to the nitty-gritty things you need to get in order once you’ve been accepted. We’re also bringing Fringe alumni to talk about their experiences and see what the Fringe has done for their artistic careers!

We just wrapped up the first Fringe 101 session on November 14 with our long-time Artist Services Coordinator Jess Amy Shead and 2018 Public Market Pick of the Fringe winner Diana Bang (SELF-ish and The Lady Show), who shared tips that would benefit prospective Fringe performers and stressed the importance of seeing Fringe shows during the Festival. Our next session will be on November 21 at the Strathcona Community Centre’s Multipurpose Room, where we’ll be joined again by Jess, and 2017 Public Market Pick of the Fringe winner Rohit Chokhani (Bombay Black). The session starts at 7:00pm, with space for Q&A and informal conversation until 8:30pm.

If you’re interested, RSVP to news@vancouverfringe.com and let us know your dietary restrictions and other needs that we could accommodate. There will be food and refreshments during the event. There will also be ASL interpretation available for the session.

Can’t make it to the event? Don’t worry—we’ll be filming the event, which will be available on our website soon!

Announcing the CAFF Touring Lottery Winners!

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) recently announced the winners of the 2019 Touring Lottery, which guarantees companies a spot in the Fringe Festivals of their choosing. Let’s see who’s coming to the 2019 Vancouver Fringe Festival!

Gracing the Fringe Mainstage for the first time in 2019 will be Write in the Kisser / Dumb Ax Productions’ Naked Tourist, Sacred Mountain by Rod McPherson, Rage Sweater Theatre Productions’ Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior by Monica Ogden and Ann-Bernice Thomas, An Actor’s Quest by Arthur MacKinnon, Things the Trees Taught Them by Meg Webster, Janoah “anygoodjokes?” Productions’ SpinS by Janoah Bailin, and a yet to be titled production by Convection Productions’ Laura Anne Harris.

We’re also glad to have returning Vancouver Fringers for the 2019 Festival—say hello again to Squirrel Suit Productions’ Carlyn Rhamey! You may remember her from The ADHD Project, where the Georgia Straight commended her for being “openhearted and generous [as] a performer!” Also coming back will be Bill Santiago with The Immaculate Big Bang, which Colin Thomas praised as being “so much better than the rest of the stand-up I’ve seen at [the 2017] Fringe that he makes the other guys look like they’re sitting down.”

Give a warm welcome to Tonic Records’ Didn’t Hurt by Rodney DeCroo and Fringe veteran TJ Dawe. Rodney’s 2013 Fringe show Allegheny, BC, was applauded by the Georgia Straight for “build[ing] a real, heart-aching intimacy over 50 minutes,” while TJ Dawe has received praise for his shows at the 2018 Fringe, including A Sad-Ass Cabaret, which he was hailed for being a “master of transforming research into riveting stories.” And finally, another familiar Fringe face coming back to Vancouver is Shane Adamczak with a show that’s yet to be titled. You may remember him from the 2016 Fringe hit The Ballad of Frank Allen, the show about a guy who lives in another guy’s beard that the Georgia Straight called “Hilarious. Insanely original.”

Feeling excited yet? Let us know that you’re looking forward to see at the 2019 Fringe!

The Theatre Scene

Just a taste of what Vancouver has to offer in the way of Theatre!

Hir
November 22-December 8
ANNEX
A timely and darkly comedic interpretation of the classic dysfunctional family, Pi Theatre‘s production of Taylor Mac’s Hir follows the story the story of Isaac, who returns to a household in revolt upon coming back from war. Arnold, the patriarch, has become disabled, leaving Paige liberated from an oppressive and abusive marriage. Isaac’s younger sibling Max, is a newly out transgender teen with a thing or two to teach the world. And Isaac? He has to come to terms with where his loyalties really live.

Soul Samurai
November 22-December 1
Studio 1398
If you missed Affair of Honor’s production of Qui Nguyen’s Soul Samurai at the 2017 Fringe’s Dramatic Works Series, here’s your chance to see it again! Set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan, the play is about young samurai Dewdrop, who is on a mission to avenge the death of her lover at the hands of the Long Tooth Gang. But she’ll have to battle burnouts, shoguns, flashbacks, and her wise-ass b-boy sidekick just to make it across the Brooklyn Bridge.

House Nocturnae is back with another show that’s Deeper and Darker. Check them out this Friday at the Havana Theatre!

House Nocturnae – Deeper & Darker
November 23
Havana Theatre
Vancouver Fringe sensation House Nocturnae is back with five acts that go Deeper & Darker in tantalizing the senses! They invite audiences to step into an electric roadhouse where enigmatic fantasies come alive after dark. With every sip, witness a menagerie of captivating performers prowling the dusty stage. Eclectic dancers, burlesque stripteasers, and torch singers show you the intoxicating taxonomy of the night.

Double Your Prison Time

October 30, 2018

Watch and Save With a Theatre Wire Package

Let’s fix your gloomy November with a hot serving of theatre! From November 7-9, catch award-winning performer Kahlil Ashanti in his new one-man show Razor. Directed by Fringe veteran TJ Dawe, Razor is an autobiographical production about Kahlil’s stint as a midnight worker at an Albertsons during the largest supermarket strike in history, where he builds unlikely friendships with his coworkers—hardened criminals and ex-convicts. If you saw Basic Training during the Pick Plus, then you definitely don’t want to miss this!

If you enjoyed Kahlil Ashanti’s Basic Training, then you don’t want to miss his new show, Razor, about working alongside hardened criminals and the lessons he learned from them.

If seeing one show isn’t enough, we have just the solution for you: a Theatre Wire Package! Shows in the Theatre Wire Package are produced by some of Vancouver’s best independent theatre companies and Fringe Festival favourites. This year’s shows include Razor, The How and the Why, Soul Samurai, and more. And when you buy a Theatre Wire Package, you get great benefits like easy ticket exchanges, and a shareable, personal discount code! Click here to see what shows the Theatre Wire Package has to offer and start planning now!

Last Chance to Double Your Gift!

Supporting the Fringe means supporting emerging and veteran artists through an unjuried and uncensored platform! Photos of (clockwise from top left) Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night!, FIX, and Training of the Shrew by Al Ricard.

While you can sign up to be a monthly donor at anytime, there’s only two days left to stretch your dollars even further! Become a monthly donor before midnight on Halloween, and your first gift will be doubled thanks to the generosity of Austin Property Tax Consultants. Give now and be a champion for artists and the theatre community!

Donate online here, call us at 604.257.0350 ext. 107, or e-mail our Sponsorship Manager, Chelsey Stuyt, at sponsorship@vancouverfringe.com to make Theatre for Everyone a reality every year!

Advance Theatre Applications Now Open!

Loretta Seto’s The Ones We Leave Behind was part of 2018’s Advance Theatre, and is now a full production at The Cultch!

If you’re a playwright or director who identifies as a woman/gender queer/non-binary who wants to be featured at the 2019 Fringe, you can apply now to be part of Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women! Presented in partnership with Ruby Slippers Theatre and Playwrights Guild of Canada, Advance Theatre features dramatic readings of five new plays written and directed by female-identifying theatre artists during the Festival.

Playwrights can submit their play synopsis, 10-page script excerpt, and a brief bio, while directors can submit their resume and cover letter to diane@rubyslippers.ca. Deadline for applications is February 15, 2019. Selected playwrights and directors will have the costs of their rehearsal space, promotion, venue, and all artists’ fees covered by Ruby Slippers Theatre and the Fringe.

Looking for the Fringe’s Lottery Applications? Don’t fret—watch out for it in our next newsletter!

The Theatre Scene

Just a taste of what Vancouver has to offer in the way of Theatre!

Heart of the City Festival
October 24-November 4
Various Venues in the Downtown Eastside
With 100 events over 12 days, the 15th Heart of the City Festival celebrates the richness and diversity of the communities living in the Downtown Eastside. Catch Vancouver Fringe alumni Pedro Chamale in Made in Canada?, Fringe circuit veteran Tayo Aluko in Call Mr. Robeson, and Theatre Terrific’s 2018 Fringe show Roy and Janet! Check out their festival program guide here.

The Ones We Leave Behind
October 24-November 3
The Cultch Historic Theatre
Part of this year’s Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women, The Ones We Leave Behind is making its world premiere at The Cultch Historic Theatre! The play is about the redemptive power of human connection, examined through the story of Abby Chung, a Public Trustee investigator assigned to find the next-of-kin of an elderly woman who died without anyone to claim her. During this process, she is forced to face the truth about the father who walked out on her years ago.

Rohit Chokhani’s production of Anosh Irani’s Bombay Black is part of the 2018 Diwali in BC celebrations.

Bombay Black
December 5-15
Firehall Arts Centre
Award-winning director Rohit Chokani is bringing Bombay Black to Vancouver as part of Diwali in BC celebrations! A 2017 Public Market Pick of the Fringe winner, Chokhani’s production of Anosh Irani’s Dora Award-winning play follows an Indian exotic dancer and her embittered mother, whose lives are altered when a blind stranger visits them.

Fake Ghost Tours
Online
Looking to add some spook to your Halloween night? Why not do a virtual walking tour of Gastown and explore the sights, sounds, and spirits that lurk there? Let Abdul Aziz and Shawn O’Hara of the sold-out Fringe show Fake Ghost Tours tell you the absurd and supernatural past of this trendy yet historic neighbourhood—right on your phone. And the best part? It’s free!