AT A SNAPSHOT
WHO: The Toronto Fringe Festival; Toronto's version of the iconic arts festival that originated in Edinburgh. The “Toronto Fringe was founded by a cluster of local indie artists in 1989 to offer the ‘fringes’ of the performing arts community a platform to create art at a grassroots level”. Learn more about the World Fringe Festivals here.
WHAT: The 34th annual Toronto Fringe Festival is back with in-person programming after two years of online programming. Live theatre is back!
WHEN: July 6th-17th, 2022. There are over 600 performances across the 12-day festival.
WHERE: 10+ venues across Toronto [St. Vladimir Theatre; Tarragon Theatre - Mainspace, Extraspace and Solo Room; Al Green Theatre; Robert Gill Theatre; Factory Theatre - Mainspace and Studio; Streetcar Crowsnest Guloien Theatre; Native Earth's Aki Studio; Ada Slaight Hall], including two POSTSCRIPT locations: Daniels Spectrum (lounge: 585 Dundas St. E) & Tranzac Club (patio: 292 Brunswick Ave). Find the venue map here.
WHY: Not only is the Toronto Fringe Festival the largest theatre festival in Ontario, but it provides a fantastic way to engage in Toronto's arts scene in an affordable and accessible way. On top of this, Fringe's ticket sales go directly to the artists themselves.
HOW: Tickets can be purchased for $14 each* - $12 of the ticket price goes directly to the artist and $2 goes to the Fringe operational costs. It is also highly recommended to tip the Fringe when visiting to support their year-round efforts. MORE ON HOW TO FRINGE below.
MORE ON HOW TO FRINGE
Tickets can be purchased online (subject to $3 order fee) at fringetoronto.com, over telephone at 416-966-1062 (subject to $3 order fee), at the POSTSCRIPT locations, or at the door 1 hour before the show begins.
*Along with regular tickets, the Toronto Fringe Festival also offers the following:
Kidsfest tickets, for patrons 12 and under, are $6 each.
Preview performance and daily discount tickets are $10 each ($8 for the artist + $2 for Fringe's operational budget).
5- ($55), 10- ($100), 20-($180), or 30-show ($264) passes. Youth passes for patrons 13-19 are also available for 3-shows for $24. Passes can be redeemed at the door, or if you want to ensure you get a ticket to the performance, you can pre-select tickets for a $2 per ticket service charge. NOTE: a 5-show pass can be redeemed for 1 ticket per show; all other show passes can be redeemed for 2 tickets per show.
Other things to know:
1) Masks are required across all venues.
2) In the past, the Toronto Fringe had a strict latecomers policy, but this year they are more flexible; however, some shows will still abide by the zero late entry rule so aim to arrive early!
3) The Toronto Fringe has fantastic accessibility initiatives. Learn more about them here.
There are over 85 shows at this year’s Toronto Fringe that are divided into the following categories: comedy, drama, musical, dance, storytelling, and Kidsfest. You can find the descriptions of each show here.
RECOMMENDATIONS
COMEDY: Anesti Daniels: This Show Will Change Your Life; PRUDE; Don Valley Girls: A Sketch Comedy Revue; Sex T-Rex Presents Sketch T-Rex; Meatball Séance; Gay for Pay with Blake & Clay
DRAMA: Adam&Eve; Dead Broke; Once You’ve Found It; Flowers For Alex
MUSICAL: The Crack of Doom! (Or: How I Learned to Love the Meteor)
(I watched this musical on their opening night and it was FANTASTIC!)
DANCE: Femmillennial; The Occasion
STORYTELLING: Alia Ceniza Rasul: Moro Girl; A Small Part of the Whole Story; 9428
KIDSFEST: The Big Sad