Vancouver International Fringe Festival 2010

I wouldn’t be me, and Hummingbird604.com wouldn’t be what it is, if I didn’t profile the indie theatre scene in Vancouver. After all, I do write quite a lot about theatre, and I am relentlessly promoting our local theatre scene. But I have to say that the Vancouver International Fringe Festival is MUCH more than just a bunch of local theatre productions.

As indicated by their About The Festival page,

The Vancouver International Fringe Festival, produced annually by the First Vancouver Theatrespace Society, is BC’s largest theatre festival and North America’s most international Fringe Fest. This year’s Fringe Festival will feature over 600 performances by more than 80 groups over 11 days, and is expected to attract nearly 30,000 attendees. The Vancouver International Fringe Festival was voted Vancouver’s Best Arts Festival for five years in a row by Georgia Straight readers.

I have already been contacted by several of the individual theatre companies and will be lucky to have a number of tickets to give away for my readers. There are a number of things I love about the Fringe festival. First of all, it’s very eclectic. By its very nature, the Fringe delivers un-juried, uncensored theatrical offerings. I love the fact that the live theatre presented by the Fringe is performed in an informal, accessible and inexpensive environment, thus striving to break down traditional boundaries between audiences and artists and encouraging open dialogue between theatre-goers and theatre-creators.

The Vancouver International Fringe Festival runs from September 9th through the 19th (and yes, the closing of the Fringe is on the day of my birthday). I will try my damnedest to attend several of the Fringe offerings (which might be difficult as it’s the beginning of the term for UBC, and I always end up working a lot preparing lectures and stuff). But regardless of whether I attend, you totally should. You can check the full program here.

And stay tuned for my individual theatre show profiles and giveaways!

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