The Toronto Fringe returns with more than 65 shows to see online

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A sign that things are returning to pre-COVID normal in Toronto: the Fringe is back.

The venerable summertime theatre festival returns July 21 to 31 with more than 65 shows, all delivered online in four different series.

The three productions that will be livestreamed in the Fringe Primetime series are winners of the festival’s contests for the best new play, best new musical and the Digital 24 Hour Playwriting Contest. There are 56 shows in the Fringe On-Demand series, all pre-recorded and available for viewing at any time during the festival. The six pre-recorded shows in KidsFest On-Demand are accompanied by free activities for various ages. And the beloved Fringe Patio is back, virtually speaking, in the form of the POSTSCRIPT Live(Stream) series of parties, cabarets and comedy nights.

The Star spoke to artists behind five 2021 Digital Fringe shows to get a taste of what’s to come.

My Korean Canadian Friend

Who: By Lunar Way Studio, winner of the Fringe’s Digital New Play Contest.

When: Livestreamed July 22, 24, 28 and 31 as part of Fringe Primetime

Please pitch your show in two sentences.

“My Korean Canadian Friend” is fun, relatable and relevant as it borrows the styles of South Korean variety, game and talk shows where competitors are placed in difficult, uncomfortable situations and face outrageous challenges in order to learn how to survive the dangerous territories of high school. While the play is entertaining, it also starts a dialogue on serious and meaningful topics, such as the prevalence and extremities of xenophobia, exclusion, societal barriers and pressures faced by individuals from marginalized communities.

Who is your ideal audience member?

Individuals from the Asian community or marginalized communities who can closely relate to the story and its themes of culture, race and bullying. We also welcome individuals who don’t relate to the story because, through our performance, we hope we can shed light on issues that individuals from marginalized communities face and create an open dialogue.

Why is Fringe important even when it’s online?

Because it brings people together as a community. Not only that, but through their contests like the Digital New Play Contest, it gives emerging artists like the “My Korean Canadian Friend” team a chance to share their talent.

Dance of Torn Papers

Who: By NOWADAYS THEATRE

When: Viewable any time as part of Fringe On-Demand

Please pitch your show in two sentences.

“Dance of Torn Papers” highlights the beautiful diversity of universal experiences in immersive 360-degree video, viewable on any device. It is made up of two short plays on vastly different yet equally poignant subjects, each performed in English and Farsi, with closed captioning in both languages. “Birthday Present” is about sex work; ‌Mohammad Yaghoubi enjoyed the freedom to write the piece only after he moved to Canada far from his home country (Iran) where writing about this taboo content would make it not only a political act but illegal, putting the writer, actors and even audience in danger of being arrested. He wrote “Mother” for his wife, Aida Keykhaii, as a means of catharsis; the episode was inspired by watching her suffer this past year as she battled with cancer.

Who is your ideal audience member?

Everyone among English-speaking audiences with colourful cultural backgrounds, and our loyal audience members among the Farsi-speaking community of Toronto and our Farsi-speaking audiences around the world.

Why is Fringe important even when it’s online?

While we are blessed to have loyal audience members among the Farsi-speaking community of Toronto, we believe the Toronto Fringe is an excellent opportunity for our new stories to connect with English-speaking audience members of this wonderful platform.

Orange Chicken: A Sketch Show

Who: By Send Noods Productions, part of Fringe On-Demand

Please pitch your show in two sentences.

“Orange Chicken” is a part-live action, part-animated sketch comedy show created by a Pan-Asian collective of theatre and musical artists who don’t know how to not name a show after food. This year, we’re embracing the absurdity of online video to bring you bite-sized sketches of everyday happenings taken to their extreme!

Who is your ideal audience member?

Young people who spend their free time mindlessly following their YouTube recommendations.

Why is Fringe important even when it’s online?

The Fringe has always been about providing artists from all walks of life with a platform to experiment with, develop and showcase even their most non-traditional works. Despite the online constraints this year, participating in the festival allowed us — and hopefully many of our peers — to continue to flex our creative muscles, and find new and exciting ways to share the stories and experiences we’ve been missing since the pandemic began.

The Incredible Adventures of that Nice Canajun Gurl

Who: By EclecticEncounters, Fringe On-Demand

Please pitch your show in two sentences.

For nearly seven decades, singer-actor-dancer-writer dTaborah Johnson has been navigating her way around this pretty and tumultuous globe, through adversities, inconveniences and irritations of various shapes and sizes, with immense passion, creativity, curiosity and joy. Now, in her fabulous 60s, having found and embraced the “goddess within,” she revels in her relevance through an enchanting journey of musical storytelling.

Who is your ideal audience member?

An encounter with storytelling that greets you where you are and your levels of understanding. How deep you dive, well that’s up to you.

Why is Fringe important even when it’s online?

In utilizing a lottery system to decide which shows make it into the festival, and by acknowledging systemic racism, Fringe opened the doors to a wealth of new storytellers not bound by outdated and ill-formed convention or governance.

Captain Condom & the COVID-19 Conundrum!

Who: SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, Fringe On-Demand

Please pitch your show in two sentences.

Dating is back and so is Captain Condom, Toronto’s most impermeable superhero! As summer 2021 brings improved COVID caseloads and Zoom flirtations give way to actual real-life touching, Captain Condom tackles their biggest challenge yet: showing a couple who’s spent all of lockdown burning for each other the importance of wearing your mask … erm, your other mask.

Who is your ideal audience member?

Our virtual play is best enjoyed by anyone and everyone (14 plus) with an open mind and a funny bone — the show’s protagonist is a talking condom, after all. SExT: Sex Education by Theatre celebrates culture as enriching the sexual health conversation and features an eccentric cast of characters including Shah Rukh Chlamydia, King of Bollywood; and Donald Trump as the “hugely incredible virus” (better known as HIV).

Why is Fringe important even when it’s online?

Because it allows voices and experiences from across Toronto to be heard! The 2016 Toronto Fringe acted as a launching pad for the cast of SExT when a group of teens from Toronto’s Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods, led by Shira Taylor, brought their play to the public for the first time in the wake of highly publicized (adult-led) anti-sex ed protests. This latest show, “Captain Condom & The COVID-19 Conundrum!” was completely self-filmed in each cast member’s home in isolation, with all direction via Zoom. Since the cast hails from areas of Toronto hardest hit by COVID-19, creating the show was another test of our resilience as a group and a much needed creative outlet.

See fringetoronto.com for information about all the shows, and how to buy tickets and digital memberships.





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