Toronto Fringe is catching up to Winnipeg, Edmonton and even Montreal in offering a communal space and added entertainment to create a festival as opposed to a series of showcases in unrelated theatres. This July, the uncensored performances by some of Toronto’s most talented performers will be centralized around the Bloor and Bathurst area due to a new partnership with Mirvish Enterprises and the Randolph Centre for the Arts.
The new Fringe Club in Mirvish Village will lead guests from Bloor Street through Honest Ed’s Alley (between the two Honest Ed’s buildings) to a large beer tent and patio equipped with multiple performance spaces and interactive art experiences. The Randolph Centre for the Arts, located across the street from the south end of the Fringe Club, will host performances from twenty six independent theatre companies over the course of the twelve day event, and house the Fringe’s main festival Box Office.
This major operational shift will bring central operations of the Fringe to an easily accessible point along the Bathurst line to connect Fringe South (Factory Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille at Bathurst & Queen) and Fringe North (Tarragon Theatre at Bathurst & Dupont). The arrangement also ensures that one company showcased in the venue during the Fringe will be a class of graduating Randolph Academy students.
George Randolph, President and Founder of the newly formed Randolph Centre for the Arts, which houses the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, Bathurst Street Theatre, and Annex Theatre, says “It is a positive step toward building a stronger, more vibrant and unified community in these challenging times for the arts.“
The annual Toronto Fringe Festival, running since 1989, is Toronto’s largest theatre festival that has been bringing artists together to perform for the community. The festival provides a chance for many of Canada’s most acclaimed theatre artists to showcase their work at its earliest stages, while also developing a strong connection between new audiences and theatrical performance. In 2009 it set new records with over 60000 ticketed attendees and was host to over 150 theatre companies from around the globe – most from right here in Toronto!
As a member of CAFF (Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals), the Toronto Fringe chooses applicants by lottery, allowing equal opportunity for all interested participants. To help independent artists, the festival provides a series of workshops that give artists and companies the tools they need to make their show a success.
Application Deadline for the 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival is November 18, 2009
The Toronto Fringe Festival will run from June 30 – July 11, 2010. Lionel Felix, who is organizer of Toronto’s Annual Flamenco Festival, and who performed himself in Fringe 1999, says the “Fringe is a great place for dance companies to start and is a great opportunity for dancers to be exposed to the public.”
Dancers, are you interested in putting on a show? Winning applicants will be provided with
- A venue equipped with basic lighting and sound, assigned based on technical needs.
- Inclusion in the free Fringe program guide, website, and overall event publicity.
- A series of free seminars (producing, stage management, publicity, technical/design, tech rehearsal how-to).
- 100% of their ticket revenue.
The deadline to apply to participate in the festival is fast arriving, so make sure to apply before November 18 – that’s this coming Wednesday!
Toronto Fringe Festival website:
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