Vancouver Fringe Festival To Forge Ahead With Staggered Dates

The Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society is excited to announce its plans to move forward with staggered dates for the 2020 Vancouver Fringe Festival. Limited live performances and events will take place from September 10 to 20 and extend to select dates in the subsequent months: October 1-10, October 29-November 8, and tentatively November 26-December 6.

Tickets go on sale September 1st and are available online at www.vancouverfringe.com. Single ticket prices start at $15 and the Fringe membership fee, which is required to purchase Festival tickets, starts at $7.

The Fringe will look different this year. With the very timely and apropos theme of "A Shift in Perspective", the 2020 Vancouver Fringe Festival will focus on small capacity live performances from local artists along with virtual workshops and gatherings. In order to meet the guidelines laid out in the BC Restart Plan, the in-person, concentrated Festival events will be held at fewer venues and with social distancing in place (maximum capacity of 50). A safety plan will be in place and available to patrons, volunteers, and artists in advance. Updates will be available at https://www.vancouverfringe.com/covid-19-updates/.

"At the heart of our organizational and Festival planning is our passionate mission to cultivate and create an open and vibrant independent theatre community," says the Festival's Executive Director, Rohit Chokhani. "Our ability to serve this mission has been considerably challenged and compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its significant financial and emotional impact on all of us, we believe in the resilience of our arts industry, performing arts community, and the underlying hope and faith that exists within the human spirit. We are excited to move forward with a modified Festival, which will be different, unique, and intimate in its own way. We are truly overwhelmed with the love and support we have received from our Fringe community members, and look forward to welcoming them and engaging with their collaborative spirit - from six feet away - very soon."

Although Festival programming will be announced early September, highlights include Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women, 2020 (in partnership with Ruby Slippers Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Playwrights Guild of Canada, and Savage Society), which will be curated by Tai Amy Grauman (Métis, Cree, and Haudenosaunee) and showcase dramatic readings of plays written by Indigenous women; the Fringe New Play Prize 2020 Winner (in partnership with PTC), Catalina La O Presenta: Ahora Conmigo - a solo theatre performance inspired by the life of musician and performer khattieQ and the lives of Puerto Rican singers Myrta Silva and Ruth Fernandez - which will feature original music composed by khattieQ and Anton Berríos; and Hard 2 Kill, a solo performance about surviving COVID-19 by comedian, slam poet, musician and mall Santa, Richard Lett.

As always, community safety remains a top priority, and the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society will continue to monitor COVID-19 developments and look for guidance and recommendations from the Public Health Agency of Canada, HealthLink BC, BC Centre for Disease Control, and WorkSafeBC.