The second Lethbridge Fringe festival is set to go, Sept. 15–18.
“We have seven really different shows happening at Casa, Theatre Outre and the Gate,” said organizer Michele Gallant.
She noted the shows were not curated. Shows were chosen through a random draw from over a dozen applicants including submissions from San Francisco and Brooklyn.
There are two local productions. Lethbridge stand -up comedian Mavic Adecer will be performing “Enlightened Swinger” and Theatre Outré will be performing “No Way Out.”
Several female oriented works are also on the bill including Wendy Froberg’s “ Archetype,” Judith Belle’s mime act “Belle Paris,” “ Commencing,” “No Allegiances,” and “Nothing is Enough.”
“Wendy Froberg is from Calgary and her piece is really comedic.
She noted the The Lethbridge Fringe Festival is part of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, which is part of a bigger organizations of Fringe festivals which is why they are getting applicants from the United States.
“There are 28 members from all over the U.S. like Orlando, San Diego and San Francisco. The producers get together every year and discuss what worked and what didn’t,” she said.
“ The festival isn’t curated. There are only two rules- be upfront about what their show is about so the audiences know what to expect and don’t break the law, other than that, anything goes,” she said.
“And 100 percent of the ticket sales go to the artists.”
Tickets for the Fringe just went on sale online and tickets for individual shows and $55 festival passes, which allows admission to all seven shows, will be available at Casa when the Fringe begins.
“The festival pass is new this year. It will be a business card which has all seven shows on it and you get them checked off when you attend,” she said.
“I’m excited for year two,” she said.
Theatre Outre is excited to be part of the Lethbridge Festival with “No Way Out”- an a hour long improvised show about siblings attending a family gathering.
“That was the one thing we could all agree on that there was no way out of,” said Club Didi/ Theatre Outre artistic director David Gabert, who will be joined on stage by Drama Nutz and Theatre Outre veterans Erica Barr, Greg Wilson, Connor Christmas, Camille Pavlenko and Brandon Eyck.
He said there will be four performers for each performance, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m., Sept. 16 at 6 p.m., Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.
“We have a group of siblings trapped at an obligatory family gathering, which is something there is no way out of. All we know is we are siblings. It is about the stories that enrich the characters which is what we’re putting on stage,” he said.
“It is a character study about what makes people tick,” he continued.
But don’t expect a lot of laughs in the improvised show.
“People may laugh because something is funny or they may laugh because it is uncomfortable,” said Gabert, describing the show as a character study.
“Theatre Outré is about pushing the boundaries of what is considered normal. So it takes you to a place people don’t necessarily think of as improv,” he said.
Tickets will be available for $10 at Casa when the Fringe begins, or online at http://calgaryfringe.carbonpop.com/tickets/events/537-no-way-out
You must have a Fringe badge to attend the shows.
Club Didi will also be hosting a dance for Fringe attendees, on Sept. 17 at 10 p.m.
But before the Fringe Festival you can get a taste of the new improv wing of Theatre Outré on Sept. 2, called Impromptu, with the first installment of their improvised soap opera Gammorah.
This season Gammorah goes back to high school.
“We did a high school episode in 2014 and it was such a blast that we decided to do a whole season.
So Gammorah, featuring a familiar cast of Gabert, Erica Barr, Jory Kohn, Jay Whitehead, Camille Pavlenko, Kathy Zaborsky, Brandon Eyck, Brett Hutchinson and Ali Price, will be featuring a variety of high school characters on the first Friday of every month until December. Each show will also feature special guests.
“Then we’ll re-evaluate it and see if we want to continue in high school. But we have at least four scheduled,” he said.
Tickets for the show will be $10 and you also need a $10 Club Didi membership to attend. They will be hosting dances, experimental theatrical production and a Halloween themed improv show on Oct. 28 among other activities.
