Ottawa Fringe unveils eclectic 2024 lineup
iPhoto caption: Poster courtesy of Ottawa Fringe
The Ottawa Fringe Festival has unveiled its 2024 lineup. Selected by lottery and made up of 50 productions playing a total of more than 300 performances, the offerings include drama, comedy, musical theatre, improv, and more.
In a press release, the Ottawa Fringe highlighted four anticipated productions. The Fringe’s Open Doors mentorship program is hosting Fenton Ho’s On the Verge of Whiteness, a riff on Waiting for Godot that unpacks the ramifications of Canada’s 1923 “Chinese Exclusion Act.” A crowd favourite, UNSUNG: The Accidental Villains of History, from Toronto’s Duck and Roll Theatre, is returning after sold-out performances at last year’s festival. Out of Perth, Australia, Shane Adamczak and Sam Longley bring the wild Vehicle, in which they share chaotic tales of the troubles and triumphs of touring. And in Jessica Pigeau’s How to Lose Friends and Irritate People, a surrealist comedy from Vancouver, the champion of social awkwardness demonstrates how not to deal with friends, family, strangers, animals, Americans, college, and confrontations.
In addition to last year’s venues, the Fringe is bringing back two performance spaces at La Nouvelle Scène and introducing a new BYOV venue, the DARC Microcinema at Arts Court.
The Fringe Courtyard at Club SAW will also host a variety of free events reflecting the diversity of Ottawa, from How Queer: A Night of Burlesque, a returning hit from February’s undercurrents festival; to a collaboration with Cranium Festival honouring Black culture and music; to QiGongidaa!, a clown performance from Hilary Wear that celebrates their Indigenous heritage.
The 2024 Ottawa Fringe Festival runs June 13–23. Tickets and the complete schedule are available here.
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s publishing and editorial assistant. Based in Toronto, his writing has appeared in Maisonneuve, This Magazine, NEXT Magazine, and more. He loves the original Super Mario game very much.
LEARN MOREComments
Leave a Comment
iPhoto caption: A stock image of Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover.
Lighthouse Festival Theatre announces 2025 season, curated by incoming artistic director Jane Spence
Lighthouse Festival Theatre, located in Port Dover and Port Colborne, has announced its jam-packed 2025 summer season.
iPhoto caption: Photo of Toronto Dance Theatre by Marlowe Porter.
Toronto Dance Theatre reveals exhilarating 2024-25 season
The season will see the return of audience favourite The Magic of Assembly, as well as new work produced in partnership with local institutions such as Nuit Blanche and the Toronto Biennale.
Stratford Festival unveils 2025 season, including the return of Robert Lepage
Next year’s season includes two beloved musicals as well as the return of acclaimed director Robert Lepage, who will direct Macbeth at the Avon Theatre.
iPhoto caption: Image courtesy of 1s1 Theatre.
Dawn Jani Birley to debut new show in the Tarragon Extraspace this September
This fall, internationally acclaimed Deaf actor Dawn Jani Birley will premiere a new work, Qalb: A Journey of the Ego, at the Tarragon Extraspace.
iPhoto caption: Two Fringers pose next to a wall of posters. Photo courtesy of Toronto Fringe.
Missing Toronto Fringe? Now’s your chance to make a difference
Following a successful festival, the Toronto Fringe continues to accept donations as part of its Tip the Fringe campaign.
iPhoto caption: Jane Spence and Derek Ritschel. Photo courtesy of Lighthouse Festival.
Lighthouse Festival announces shake-up in artistic director role
“I couldn’t have imagined how great this theatre would become, thanks to the support of our incredible community and the unwavering dedication of our team,” says Derek Ritschel, who will pivot to a new role as the company’s director in residence. Jane Spence will step into the role of artistic director in November.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Rick Clifford
REVIEWS: Toronto International Film Festival 2024
A filmed production of an experimental Egyptian opera, a TV series penned by Jordan Tannahill, and the moviemaking debut of Broadway director Marianne Elliott are among the offerings at this year’s TIFF with connections to the world of theatre.
iPhoto caption: Production photos courtesy of SummerWorks. Shows, from left to right, top to bottom: Girl's Notes III, SUBJECT TO خضوع, The Movements, Warm up.
REVIEW: This year’s SummerWorks Performance Festival embraced danger — in more ways than one
Several of this year's productions took direct aim at our present moment’s evils: Targets included corporate speaking gigs, rent payments, climate change, global wealth inequality, and the ostracization of horse girls.
iPhoto caption: Poster courtesy of GFT.
Guild Festival Theatre to present one-night-only concert version of Evalyn Parry’s SPIN
Inspired in part by the incredible true story of Annie Londonderry, who in 1895 became the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle, SPIN travels from 19th-century women’s emancipation to the present day, forging unexpected links across time and history.
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of Dos Mundos
A whimsical TYA solo show about a talking snake is coming to the Toronto Fringe
Written and performed by Priscila Gonzalez, Snacey! is a high-energy tale right out of an early-2000s TVOkids television program.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Peggy Baud-Woolsey.
REVIEW: Geoff Sobelle’s HOME journeys from hyperrealism to slapstick
It’s a multivalent work that toggles between gentle and abrasive, understated and triumphant, complicated and straightforward, experimental and crowd-pleasing.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Zeeshan Safdar.
REVIEW: With the help of a daring set, The Caged Bird Sings brings Rumi into the present day
Literal and metaphorical cages abound in this radical adaptation of Rumi’s Masnavi, produced by Modern Times Stage Company and presented in the Aga Khan Museum’s courtyard.
What are some of the anticipated productions highlighted by the Ottawa Fringe Festival for its 2024 lineup?