Vancouver Fringe Festival unveils full live program of more than 70 acts from B.C. and beyond
Under new leadership, fest features nine venues around Granville Island, plus more slated for September 8 to 18
Carly Pokoradi and Pippa Mackie (photo Pink Monkey Studios)
TJ Dawe’s Blueberries Are Assholes.
THE VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL is back in expanded and refreshed form, unveiling more than 70 different shows to take place on and around Granville Island from September 8 to 18.
At an event last night at Performance Works, new executive director Cory Philley and her team handed out a new, more compact fest guide with a map to all nine venues—including the Revue Stage, The Improv Centre, and the Waterfront Theatre, plus new offerings such as the Lumière Lounge and Arts Umbrella’s new theatre. In a throwback to the last few years’ lockdowns, there are a few shows that will stream throughout the fest.
The schedule is already out and tickets go on sale via the redesigned website in early August—stay tuned.
Shows span comedy to drama, venturing beyond theatre into spoken word and dance. Monster Theatre’s Juliet: A Revenge Comedy finds local stage star Pippa Mackie reimagining the Shakespearean heroine’s unhappy ending, gathering support from the Bard’s other female characters (all played by a madly multitasking Carly Pokoradi). Returning B.C. Fringe favourites include TJ Dawe, back with his one-man Blueberries Are Assholes, and Martin Dockery, with Every Good Story Ends With One. Vancouver’s Chase Padgett blends comedy, storytelling, and song in Lucky Break, about participating in an unscripted singing show, while Dolores Drake returns with her solo hit The Distance Between Newfoundland and Toronto, which was a sell-out at the Vancouver Fringe in 2016.
The comedy realm features names like Ed Hill (Stupid Ed) and DK Reinemar (The DK Effect), while dance offerings include PointeTango.
“We’re going to be asking you throughout the festival, ‘What do you want? How do you see the future? What is working for you? What is not working for you? All of those things,” Philley said. “It’s really important that we want to engage people the entire time….I’m here trying to figure out what are we going to do next that’s going to excite us all, what’s going to support artist development, what’s going to support artists as they move forward.”
Philley emphasized several partnerships with other organizations. Philley announced the Fringe would be partnering with Carousel Theatre for Young Audiences on a new TYA award that will bring new artists into the genre, complete with studio space, funding, and a chance to work with the Fringe and Carousel throughout the year on a show that will eventually debut at the fest.
New executive director Cory Philley has launched a podcast to run through the Fringe.
Pick of the Fringe will follow the festival, with returning hit shows, September 21 to 25 at Performance Works.
Philley took the reins of the Vancouver Fringe Festival in January, following her role as artistic director for the theatre season at Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
The live lineup this year is a huge increase from pandemic times. Last year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival was a scaled-back affair taking place across Performance Works, the Revue Stage, the Picnic Pavilion, and Alder Bay Dock, with 15 in-person shows, one live-stream show, and 17 pre-recorded digital shows. Previous to that, former executive director Rohit Chokhani oversaw a pivot to a series of scaled-back mini-festivals in fall 2020 during semi-lockdown.
The Fringe board had committed to “rethink and refresh” the event for this year and beyond.
Philley has already kicked off a podcast that will continue up to and through the fest, “every single day”, with artists interviewing each other. “So through the Fringe we’re going to be there, we’re going to be live, and we’re going to be happening,” Philley said.
Elsewhere at this year's fest, the Phillips Fringe Bar will be located near Granville Island Market on Johnston Street. And the Fringe has kept tickets to shows at $15 across the board. Find more information here.
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