HAMILTON 12 DAYS | 30+ SHOWS TICKETED & FREE FRINGE SHOWS FOR ALL AGES PAY-WHAT-YOU - FESTIVAL CAN-AFFORD TICKETS FOR ONLINE SHOWS $5 Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’ required to access ticketed events. 2021 $5/$12/$20 +fees J U LY 14 -25 HAMILTONFRINGE.CA CALL: 289-698-2234 i MEDIA SPONSORS VENUE SPONSOR FOUNDATION SPONSORS PHOTOGRAPHY SPONSOR GOLD SPONSORS SILVER SPONSORS ELIZABETH PARKER Sales Representative BRONZE SPONSORS GOVERNMENT PARTNERS The services of the Box Office Managers, Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator, Venue Technicians, and Social Media Coordinator were made possible through the generous support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Summer Jobs Program and Young Canada Works. CONTENTS Welcome 2 Hamilton Fringe Equity Initiative Lottery 23 Digital Exclusives 5 Digital Fringe Club | Bring Your Own Virtual Venue (BYOV2) 11 Kids Club Camp 24 Family Fringe On Demand 12 Fringe All-Access | Community Curators Circle 26 Full Festival Schedule & Listings 13 Festival Kick Off | Fringe Club Patio 27 Theatre On Demand 17 Hamilton Fringe Staff & Board 28 Skip The Glitches 20 Our Donors 29 WHAT IS THE FRINGE? The Hamilton Fringe Festival is an action-packed performance event that takes place over 12 days each July throughout Hamilton. This summer, the Hamilton Fringe Festival • The audience must have the option to pay a ticket will share the biggest offering of unabashed price, 100% of which goes directly to the artists. and unjuried theatre produced right here in • Fringe Festival producers have no control Hamilton. Offered online or live-at-a-distance, over the artistic content of each performance. there’s something for everyone, at any age! Cast The artistic freedom of the participants is to your TV, tune in to your laptop, tablet, or unrestrained. smartphone, or order to your door an experience that is sure to reflect the human condition in all • Festivals must provide an easily accessible its moving, hilarious, and fringy forms. opportunity for all audiences and all artists to participate in Fringe Festivals. The Five Guiding Principles of the Canadian • Festivals will promote and model inclusivity, Alliance of Fringe Festivals: diversity and multiculturalism, and will • Participants will be selected on a non-juried basis, endeavor to incorporate them into all aspects through a first-come, first served process, a lottery, of our organizations. or other method approved by the Association. TICKETS, PASSES & BUTTONS Tickets can be purchased in advance only (no door sales), either online at boxoffice.hamiltonfringe.ca or at our On-site Festival Box Office located just outside Bridgeworks Event Space (125 Barton Street W.) from July 14-25, 2021. Check hamiltonfringe.ca for hours of operation. TICKETS PASSES Tickets for paid online programming use a tiered All passes include the one-time purchase of a Pay-What-You-Can-Afford pricing model: $5 Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’ and the Accessible: $5 (fees waived) Per-Ticket Fee is waived (savings of at least Regular: $12 + handling fees $10.50). Please note that multishow passes may Support The Artist: $20 + handling fees not be used for Skip The Glitches performances. Prices for Skip The Glitches shows Fringe Binge Pass (includes 6 performance are as follows: tickets + Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’): $80 per show (minimum) for the first 8 people. $59.00 + handling fees $12 per additional person (+ handling fees). Fringe Frenzy Pass (includes 10 performance tickets + Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’): DIGITAL FRINGE BACKER ‘BUTTONS’ $85.00 + handling fees Fringe patrons must make a one-time purchase Fringe Extreme Pass (includes 20 performance of a Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’ for $5 to tickets + Digital Fringe Backer ‘Button’): access paid ticketed events. $145.00 + handling fees 1 WELCOME TO THE 17TH HAMILTON FRINGE FESTIVAL! A Message from the Canadian Our venue partners at Bridgeworks Event Space Association of Fringe Festivals have given us a new home for filming, streaming, I am so happy to write a welcome letter to the and (fingers crossed) our outdoor licensed Fringe Hamilton Fringe community, who are launch- Club Patio. We’ve also got a new virtual home— ing their hybrid festival with digital and in Hamilton Fringe Online (watch.hamilton person distanced programming, delivered right fringe.ca)—offering viewers a one-stop shop for to your door. Despite the ongoing circumstanc- all digital Fringe content. es, the Hamilton team and artists have come As we continue to grow, sharing artistic leadership together to make this all possible. with two visionary directors and a team of superb It has been such a difficult year for Fringe Fes- emerging arts managers, I couldn’t feel more ex- tivals around the world and the Hamilton Fringe cited about our trajectory. Thank you to the staff, team has worked tirelessly to stay connected volunteers, board, sponsors, and importantly our to its artists and patrons over that time. Their community who continue to prove that the arts ability to safely produce the Festival this year is are so significant to the vitality of our city through definitely something to be celebrated. their donations, attendance, and viewership. The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals Enjoy the festival, buy a pass, go digital, socialize (CAFF) has over 30 member festivals across at a distance, or just order the Fringe to your door. Canada and the USA and we exist as an organi- But whatever you do, make performance part of zation to unite, support, empower, and strength- your summer! en our member festivals in order to cultivate Festive summer wishes, and foster independent artistic exploration for Heather Kanabe artists and audiences across North America. Executive Director, Hamilton Fringe CAFF has been taking the time over this last year to reflect upon what our organization is And the Fringe Fringes on... doing and can do for the theatre artists of the When I started as Festival Director on March 1, world and we want to thank you, the audience, 2020, I was looking forward to getting acquainted who come out every year to support Fringe with the nuts and bolts of how a typical Hamilton Festivals. Your support is integral to these Fringe Festival ran, and to take the city-wide en- artists. In these ever-changing times of a global ergy and record-breaking numbers of the previous pandemic, precarious funding, expensive living year into 2020. The global pandemic, however, costs, and the day-to-day struggles many artists meant that things played out very differently. face, especially now, having people see their In the months since, this theatre community has work is more crucial than ever before. proven time and again that nothing will keep us So please take the time to get involved however down. The strength, resilience, and capacity for you can, and especially safely. You are ambas- innovation shown by this year’s cohort of Fringe sadors for these artists, and your support has a artists (many of whom call Hamilton home) meaningful effect on their careers. Thank you for cannot be overstated—and the program you’re joining us in this global movement of the FRINGE! reading is proof. We’re thrilled to welcome over 30 Happy Fringing, shows in online or at-a-distance formats—break- Lucy Eveleigh CAFF President ing rules, forms, and boundaries in the way that only a Fringe show can do. And there’s program- Hamilton Fringe revs up the city in ming for the whole family to enjoy. We can’t wait all its abundant and unjuried glory. to share it all with YOU! Drawing on the experiences of last year’s online Making theatre is an act of community. And to- festival, Frost Bites’ intimate digital experiences, gether, as a community, we will continue to create, and a host of public workshops offered through to grow, and to find new and innovative ways to our ALERT training program, Hamilton Fringe gather for the shared experience of theatre. and these 2021 Fringe artists are ready to show Forward! off an innovative slate of performances bound to Christopher Stanton brighten up this final COVID-19 summer! Festival Director, Hamilton Fringe 2 Dear friends, Hamilton Fringe has a This festival would not be possible without the special place in my heart. Having hosted generous support of local sponsors, government the event, performed a Shakespearian mono- grants, volunteers, organizers and of course, the logue, and even rapped a remix of Hamilton, it’s artists themselves. Their hard work and dedi- been my honour to attend the Festival’s opening cation to the arts in Hamilton is truly inspiring. night every year since 2014. That event will be Please enjoy all the Hamilton Fringe Festival has one of the things I miss most due to COVID. to offer. However, there is still so much to celebrate about Yours truly, Fringe. I’m especially glad that this year’s festival Andrea Horwath MPP Hamilton Centre is more inclusive, prioritizing stories told by BIPOC members of our community as well as those living with a disability. ASL and closed Welcome to Hamilton’s Fringe Festival captioning are other welcome new features. And, It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to with pay-what-you-can tickets, everyone can the City of Hamilton to both performers and share in this essential cultural tradition. attendees at this year’s Hamilton Fringe Fes- tival. From July 15th through July 25th of this Known as “accessible, playful, inviting, and year performers will be presenting everything engaging,” descriptions of the Hamilton Fringe from musicals, dance, comedies, to magic shows, Festival could also apply to our great city. Of dramas and family entertainment. course, Hamilton is also known for its ambition. With over 30 local companies participating, Since Hamilton’s first festival in 2003 the there is no shortage of ambition (or talent) in the troupes and performers from across the country festival either! Amidst the tedium of lockdown, and outside of it, from Hamilton and elsewhere I can’t think of a better time to sit down and have provided an exciting platform for creativity appreciate that talent.