Fundy FRINGE Festival to welcome performers from Canada and the United States for 5th annual event.
If theatre, spoken word and comedic performances are your thing, you probably already have plans to be in Uptown Saint John this summer between August 21-26. But on the odd chance you’ve somehow managed to miss out on experiencing any of these inspiring artistic disciplines live and in person, you best mark your calendars and plan to attend the 2017 edition of the Fundy Fringe Festival. With 20 different acts from across Canada and the United States including an impressive list of local performers, this year’s event will surely animate the city’s social core like never before.
“The neat thing about the local acts is that so many of them are now considered to be established artists,” said organizer Sarah Rankin, commenting on the wealth of local performers on this year’s playbill. “Many of them started on the Fringe five years ago with the first festival and have grown with us over the years to become professionals in their art forms.
“I think this speaks to the importance of the fringe movement, providing these opportunities to artists who otherwise would not have been given chances to produce work because it doesn’t fit a traditional mold. Even more, some of our national acts are artists from Saint John, but have moved on for work in other provinces and are now able to come home and still produce their art and create work for themselves. It’s a really special thing to see.”
The art scene in Saint John has exploded over the past few years with musicians, visual artists, performers and festival organizers of all disciplines are finding and creating unique partnerships within the local business community. Events like the recent East Coast Music Week and the newly established Quality Block Party have helped showcase the city’s one of a kind urban landscape and unique business community as an ideal festival location.
“Uptown SJ is the perfect festival location,” said Rankin. “The uptown core has a small area but a dense population. Because of this, we’re able to draw in a large local audience, but keep it green by having venues that are within walking distance from each other. There’s also a growing and vibrant culture of restaurants and businesses that add to the festival atmosphere without feeling crowded and overwhelming.”
The 2017 Fundy FRINGE Festival line-upincludes:
Local Acts:
Maritime Tribal – “A Century of Danse Orientale” – Saint John, NB
Reimroc Productions – “Escape the Ordinary” – Saint John, NB
Jon Forward – “Honey Garlic” – Saint John, NB
Fort Heart Productions – “I Want to Come Home” – Saint John, NB
Dwarf Productions – “Strays” – Saint John, NB
Lords of Clarendon – “Band With No Name” – Saint John, NB
Improvisation Corporation – “The Unfriendly Dragon” – Saint John, NB
Humour Sapien – “Faking It” – Saint John, NB
Tabraze and Robin – “Two Minds Into One” – Saint John, NB
National Acts:
Power Productions – “Crippled” – St. John’s, NL
Nostos Collective – “GroupThink” – Halifax, NS
Michael James – “Smoke and Mirrors” – Halifax, NS
Jean-François Plante-Tan – “The Lost Gentleman/Le Gentleman Perdu” – Montréal, PQ
Kimmy Zee – “MIDDLEhood” – Winnipeg, MN
FMB Productions – “Smashes” – Oakville, ON
Tales To Boot Productions – “Fractals” – Toronto, ON
Tom & Erica – “Tom & Erica: The Tour!” – Toronto, ON
International Acts:
Central Standard Theatre – “The Event” – Kansas City, Missouri
EXIT Theatre – “Denial Is A Wonderful Thing” – San Francisco, California
Rankin encourages everyone to come out and experience what this year’s festival (and the city’s Uptown) have to offer.
“Choose your own adventure; bring your friends, and make an event of it all,” she said. “Get a festival pass ($60 for 8 shows, and it’s shareable!), pick a few shows that look interesting or perhaps in a genre that you’re unfamiliar with or never seen before. Talk to other patrons about what they’ve seen. Talk to artists about their work. Don’t try to over plan, because you never know where you’ll end up at a Fringe.”
Three reasons to visit Uptown Saint John in August:
Quality Block Party (August 10-13, 2017) | WEB | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
Third Shift (August 18, 2017) | WEB | FACEBOOK
Fundy FRINGE Festival (August 21-26, 2017) | WEB | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
