Little Festival with Big Heart Wraps 3rd Season

Not many church parties offer a dress code of black leather, fishnets and bleach blonde wigs, but it was all part of the fun this month during the 3rd annual Calgary Fringe Festival.

The fledgling theatre festival closed on August 8 with a gala performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Brad Duffy, followed by a festival-wide wrap party in the basement of Inglewood’s Lantern Community Church. Wild style and provocative prose aside, the fringe is not just about “pushing the envelope” says festival director Michele Gallant. This year, thirty-six percent of patrons were over forty-five years of age, and over fifty percent had university degrees or some higher education.

“I was surprised by the audience during our first festival, in 2006,” says Gallant, “I thought they would be younger and more interested in cutting edge stuff. But I’ve learned since then that university professors - and that demographic more generally - really enjoy the fringe festival. They’ve seen these types of festivals before, and know what to expect. They tend to meet for drinks, see a show, go for dinner somewhere and see another show. It’s an evening for them, an outing, something unexpected. I think they also love to support the arts so directly, as one hundred percent of the profits go directly to the performers after each show.”

‘Making an evening’ out of the Fringe Festival is something Gallant and her team have worked hard to promote. For the second year in a row the festival was held in Inglewood, a historic, artsy neighbourhood bordering the downtown core. The five venues were all within walking distance and most performances ran about an hour long, encouraging patrons to ‘hop’ from one show to the next.

The festival also collaborated with local merchants to launch an outdoor component during the opening weekend. That helped to make a “visual impact” on passers-by, she says, and encouraged community-building. Eventually, Gallant hopes the festival will take place equally inside and outside, like it’s more established counter-part in Edmonton, but for now she is “over the moon” with the results of this year’s attendance.

Over eight thousand patrons showed up to see shows ranging from Inviting Desire, an erotic journey into female fantasy delivered by Oregon’s Eleanor O’Brien, Tonya Miller, Tori Padellford, Allison Tigard, Mary Rose, and Emily Wisteria, to the Calgary-based comedy Crystal Ball which follows the haunted mishaps of a struggling theatre troop.

The festival’s after-party was also the scene of recognition for outstanding performances and professionals. Tom Cutherbertson, a venue supervisor, was awarded the “longest commute” medal for his daily journey from Red Deer. Cuthbertson took time off work, dedicated long hours, and declined an honorarium in order to help the Calgary Fringe Festival succeed. Gallant says the support of so many volunteers is both heart-warming and not unusual.

“There’s a lot of sharing that goes on between festivals,” she says, “Edmonton Fringe Festival, which has been around for twenty-seven years and is the second largest in North America, has helped me so much with ideas, networks, and sharing their experience. We like to think having both festivals gives the artists a good ‘Alberta circuit’ to look forward to every year.”

The Edmonton Fringe Festival wraps up on August 23. Meanwhile, Calgary audiences can look forward to the Fringe Rewind in February, when audience favorites from past year’s Calgary Fringe Festivals will be re-launched at the Arrata Opera Centre.
Published in National Post on August 22, 2009