The Charlottetown Festival’s first-ever Fringe Festival, showcasing emerging works in theatre, film, spoken word and movement, runs from August 29 to September 2 in the Confederation Centre’s Studio Theatre.
“The Fringe is an opportunity for artists to bring the works that they have been nurturing to other arts professionals and the public for input,” says coordinator Alix MacLean. “I was impressed by the diversity of the submissions we received. There is something for everyone at the Fringe!”
The festival opens on Wednesday, August 29, with a performance by the well-known Island group Sketch-22, featuring Rob MacDonald, Graham Putnam, Andrew Sprague, Harmony Wagner and Dennis Trainor. This performance is followed by a spoken-word and music performance by Tanya Davis and Trip, a one-act play written by Alix MacLean and featuring Randi Doyle and Fraser MacCallum.
On Thursday, August 30, the Breakout Dance Company takes to the stage, with Ashley Donaldson, Bethany Chaisson, Christina Yammine, Ellen Christie, Jenny Cudmore, Keely Turner, Megan Alford and Savannah Belsher. Other performances include TrypTychDanz, featuring Alford, Belsher and Kelli Hanrahan; The Devil is in the Kitchen, a one-act play written by Melissa Heald and starring Jeremy Larter, Mille Clarks, Elise Roberts and Jillian Stewart; and an excerpt from Demography – The Musical: A Story in Song written and performed by Annabel Cohen.
On Friday, August 31, the festival includes Flint, Fire and Feather, a new work created by the newly formed Aboriginal Spoken Word and Drum Group of P.E.I.; and dramatic readings of Circle of Stone by Marjorie Hooper-Dalziel that features Rowena Stinson, Doug Gallant and Jillian Stewart, and The Benches by Jeff Bursey, with Hank Stinson, Richard Haines and Nick Graveline as performers.
Short films are the focus of the Fringe on Saturday, September 1, with presentations by filmmakers Jeremy Larter, Rachael Hicken, Richie Mitchell, Mille Clarks, Fraser MacCallum, Bob Stanley, Jenna MacMillan, Louise Lalonde and more.
The Charlottetown Festival cast dominates on Sunday, September 2. Dance captain Robin Calvert performs a piece called Home, written by Calvert and Thomas Morgan Jones. Josh Epstein, who performs in Anne of Green Gables-The Musical™ and The British Invasion: A Musical Revue, performs his play, Wow, I Didn’t Know She Was Jewish. And Catherine O’Brien, who is Lucilla in Anne™ and also performs in The British Invasion, mounts her comedic monologue, My First Bra or a Tale of Two Titties.
Among the adjudicators are Dr. Greg Doran, coordinator of theatre studies at UPEI; Anne Allan, artistic director of The Charlottetown Festival; playwright and actress Margaret Martinello; filmmaker Dave Stewart; actor Hank Stinson; and playwright and performer Nancy Beck.
All presentations begin at 8 p.m. Five-day festival passes are $30 and can be purchased at the Confederation Centre box office, 1-800-565-0278 or online at www.confederationcentre.com. Tickets for individual nights are $8 per person and are available at the Studio Theatre door only.
The presenting sponsor for the Fringe Festival is Sporting Intentions. The Charlottetown Festival is sponsored by APM group. Media sponsors for The Festival are The Guardian, CBC-TV and CBC Radio. Aliant is the sponsor of the Centre’s toll-free number.
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Media contacts: Anna MacDonald, Publicist, (902) 628-6135, confederationcentre.com
www.confederationcentre.com