Fringe the Halls with Applications, Signs, and Theatre

December 11, 2018

Mainstage Artist Applications Now Open!

If you’re a theatre artist who wants to produce a show at the 2019 Vancouver Fringe Festival, we have good news for you: applications for the Mainstage Category are now open!

Vancouver Puppet Theatre was one of the 2018 Mainstage Lottery winners for British Columbia, bringing Baba Yaga and the Black Flower to the Festival! Photo by Bruce McPherson.

Keeping in the spirit of the Fringe as an unjuried and uncensored Festival, Mainstage Artists are chosen through a lottery—we literally draw names out of a hat! This means that everyone gets an equal chance of getting into the Festival. You don’t need to have a complete show, script, or outline when you apply. You only need to enter your contact information on Eventotron and a $55 application fee. We’ll ask you for more information about your show if your name is drawn. It’s that easy!

Mainstage Artists are placed in a venue supplied by the Fringe, and includes a technician, basic lighting and sound, Box Office services, and a listing in the Fringe Festival Program Guide. Shows run for approximately six performances during the Festival from September 5-15, 2019. For more details about becoming a part of the Fringe, visit the Artists’ page on our website.

Applications are close on January 8, 2019 at 5:00pm PST. Stay tuned for more details about our lottery party in mid-January, which starts at 8:00pm!

Other ways you can be involved in the Fringe include applying for Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV), Dramatic Works Series, and Site-Specific Categories. Applications for these categories open once the Mainstage Lottery is done.

If you’re a playwright who identifies as a woman/gender queer on the femme spectrum/nonbinary, applications for Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women are open until February 15. Presented with Ruby Slippers Theatre and Playwrights Guild of Canada, selected plays will be staged as dramatic readings during the 2019 Festival. Find more information about Advance Theatre on Ruby Slippers Theatre’s website.

Partner Profiles: Thunderbolt Sign

Did you notice the beautiful signs we had during the Festival? We have Thunderbolt Sign to thank for that! Based in British Columbia and Alberta, they specialize in customized signages, banners, and graphics that reinforce a business or event’s brand identity and message.

Carl Rivera from Thunderbolt Sign personally delivered these Fringe Bar signs to our office before the Festival! Photo by Debby Reis.

Tell us a bit about your business.
Offering the latest in premier sign-making and efficient printing technology, extensive graphic design expertise and top-notch customer service, Thunderbolt Sign can help bolster your brand identity and business message through a variety of products and services.

How long has Thunderbolt Signs been around? How did it come to be?
Thunderbolt Sign has been around for nine years. It started as a small print shop and has expanded into a full-service sign centre.

What is something that people may not know about Thunderbolt Signs that they should?
We are like an extension of our client’s marketing team. As part of the service we provide, our staff also act as advisers to our clients on the best ways to achieve their marketing goals.

Four words that would best describe your business are:
Service-Oriented, Creative, Passion, Quality.

If Thunderbolt Signs were a show at the Fringe, what kind of show would it be?
Action Comedy.

If Thunderbolt Signs and the Fringe were people, what would they do on an afternoon together?
Have a productive conversation over a delicious lunch and some drinks.

We want Fringers to know a bit about why your business is involved in the Fringe. So, why Fringe?
Thunderbolt Sign supports local businesses and events. We take pride in helping them succeed.

The Theatre Scene

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

O Christmas Tea
December 10-11
Kay Meek Theatre
Calling all Monty Python, Mr. Bean, and Dr. Seuss fans—grab your teacups! Vancouver Fringe veterans James & Jamesy have just come off Off-Broadway to tour their Holiday physical comedy across British Columbia. Catch them at West Vancouver’s Kay Meek Theatre for two nights of funny and brilliantly inventive Christmas comedy!

Bah Humbug!
December 6-22
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
The Charles Dickens holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, is being retold using Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside as the backdrop! Echoing the harsh social and economic conditions of Dickensian London, Bah Humbug! celebrates the transformative power of human redemption.

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.