My Name is SUMIKO
New(to)Town Collective
Vancouver, Canada
Playwright: June Fukumura
newtotowncollective.com/sumiko

June Fukumura is a Japanese-Canadian theatre maker based in Vancouver. By day she is a polite, well-mannered theatre artist and by night she is her dark humoured, hyper kawaii, raunchy clown alter-ego, Sumiko. Sumiko dices, slices, and blends up Japanese stereotypes and serves up a zany, East-meets-West comedy about life, death, and love.

Funny / Weird / Naughty / Multicultural / 18+ / Coarse Language / Violent Content / Sexual Content / 60 minutes
Deaf friendly

This show is created by an underrepresented Artist.

Created and performed by second generation Nikkei (Japanese-Canadian) clown

Mx
Lili Robinson
Vancouver, Canada
Playwright: Lili Robinson

What of culture and ancestry lives within us, and how much is determined by our upbringing? Does blood equal belonging? Pulling on elements of clown, bouffon, and mythology from the African Diaspora, Mx cracks open notions of mixed-race, Black, and Queer identity through the lens of a character stuck in the in-between.

The Sunday, September 15 performance will be interperted into ASL for patrons who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Funny / Intense / In Your Face / LGBTQ+ / Multicultural / 14+ / Coarse Language / Violent Content / 75 minutes


This show is created by an underrepresented Artist.

The cast and core creative team of Mx is made up entirely of queer and/or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) Artists. The show is based around navigating queer, Black, mixed-race identity, based on the experiences of creator Lili Robinson.

In assembling the Mx creative team, centreing the vision and artistry of Black women and femmes was given top priority.

Conduit
The Body Orchestra
Vancouver, Canada
Choreographer: Jenn Edwards
jennedwardsdances.com/the-body-orchestra.html

This triple bill of contemporary dance is a feast for the senses, with choreography by Jenn Edwards, music by award-winning composer Mary Jane Paquette, and a powerhouse ensemble of seven dancers. Gathering inspiration from cinema, psychology, orchestral conductors, and Broadway musicals, Conduit weaves a visceral dreamscape you won't soon forget.

**** “This youthful company clearly has something to say, and has become its own conduit to say it.” —Winnipeg Free Press 
“Visually stunning and aurally captivating.” —The Jenny Revue 
“Bristling with street punk energy.” —Dance International

Weird / Intense / Poetic / All Ages / 65 minutes
Deaf friendly

Alice in Glitterland
Geekenders Theatricals
Vancouver, Canada
Playwright: Fairlith Harvey, based on the works of Lewis Carroll

Alice in Glitterland is a new immersive dance-theatre experience created inside the historic WISE Hall. 

Audience members explore retro-glamourous Glitterland, a golden era cabaret palace where every open door dives deeper down the rabbit hole alongside 12 fantastical and familiar characters on an intimate and interactive electro-swing journey.
 
Intimate / LGBTQ+/ 18+ / Smoke/Fog / 75 minutes
Deaf friendly

Please not the WISE Hall is a 19+ venue in the evening only.  Patrons attending evening performances must be 19 or older and present ID at the door.

Elemental: A Hyper-Natural Variety Revue
The Crystalline Cabaret
Vancouver, Canada
Playwrights: The Crystalline Cabaret
facebook.com/thecrystallinecabaret

Inspired by the world around us, The Crystalline Cabaret brings to the stage a sensuous and ethereal dreamland based on the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Each element interpreted through variety acts, this show is a feast of dazzling burlesque, dance, drag, singing, and magic!

 On The Crystalline Cabaret's House Nocturnae: 
“The performers are playful and entertaining providing a smorgasbord of burlesque performances to suit almost any palate, from latex to lace to feather boas.” —Theatre Addicts, Vancouver

Naughty / LGBTQ+ / 18+ / Nudity / 60 minutes Deaf friendly

This show is created by an underrepresented Artist.

The cast and crew are composed of femme-identifying individuals.

in several times
O Albatross
Vancouver, Canada
Playwright: Linnea Gwiazda
linneagwiazda.com

How does the body remember? How does space hold memory? An enchanting choreography of space, memory, and the body, in several times weaves movements, sounds and scents from the stories held within us. An ever-evolving concert, enveloped in wafts of fresh dill and lemon, takes us on a hypnotic journey through times both past and present.

Created by the Director of Awkward Hug: BC Touring Council Award winner at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, 2018. 

***** “Engaging from start to finish.” —Vue Weekly 
***** “Spectacular.” —GigCity 
“Beautiful.” —CBC Manitoba 
“Poignant.” —NOW Magazine Toronto

Poetic / Intimate / All Ages / 50 minutes
Deaf friendly

Destiny, USA
Convection Productions
Syracuse, USA
Playwright: Laura Anne Harris
lauraanneharris.com

When Laura moves from Toronto to Syracuse, New York, she wasn’t expecting to be residing in Trump’s America. Gaining her first job as a Relay operator for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing causes her to question whether she can discover the hidden humanity of the American people. 

Featuring performances by three Deaf actors via video projection.

Creator of hit shows Pitch Blonde, and The Homemaker. 

“Deeply touched by the vulnerability and authenticity … If you are searching for a relief from modern cynicism and despair, look no further than Destiny U.S.A.” —The Ubyssey 

Funny / Warm and Fuzzy / Intimate / 14+ / Coarse Language / 60 minutes
Deaf friendly

This show includes surtitle captions, making it d/Deaf Accessible. It also involves d/Deaf-artists.

The Woman Who Borrowed Memories
Roan Shankaruk
Vancouver, Canada
Playwright: Roan Shankaruk
girl-in-boots.com

Stella, an artist, left her city and traveled abroad to become famous. After a 15-year absence she returns to her old apartment, and her landlady informs her that her room is currently inhabited by an old acquaintance, Wanda. During her visit, Stella realizes that her old room is not enough for Wanda. She wants Stella’s very memories for her own.

The show includes English surtitle captions, making it d/Deaf Accessible.  It is also low vision friendly.

Intense / Musical / Poetic / 14+ / 55 minutes
Deaf and low vision

Are We There Yet? 
Next Steps in Arts; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

• Are you a non-artist, artist, organizer, administrator, creator, and/or audience member?
• Are you interested in what’s been done recently in service to new models of brave space, intercultural and transcultural creative practices (or just want to know what that even means)?
• Does your identity intersect with gender, culture, race, visible/invisible- physical/mental/neurodiverse ability?
• Does the word “diversity” sometimes feel like you’re chewing aluminum foil?
• Do these options capture you completely or fail to capture the “you-ness of you” but inspire you to want to ask questions, listen to others, share ideas/experiences, and get moving (i.e. some movement activities included)?

Well then this “lunch-chat” is for you. 

Join Siobhan Barker, the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s new EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Director, as they facilitate a “Brave Spaces” circle-chat with: 

Davey S. Calderon: queer Filipino-Canadian, Theatre Artist, Director, Writer, rEvolver Festival Guest Curator, and Co-Founder New(to)Town Collective

Jillian Christmas: Grand Poetry-Slam Champion, Mentor, Activist, Past Artistic Director of Versəs Festival of Words, and Capturing Fire Queer Summit Award recipient

Marion Landers: Vancouver-born mixed-heritage Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher, SFU Speaker; EDI* series, Culture Ambassador- for Visceral Visions’ CultureBrew 

Renae Morrisseau: Award-winning Saulteaux and Cree Singer, Actor, Producer, Director, Culture Ambassador, and Lead Writer of Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way

Tom Pickett: Award-winning African-American veteran Actor, Singer, Mentor, and Fringe alumnus (The Fighting Season, winner of the Georgia Straight Critics' Choice and Cultchivating the Fringe Awards)

Lunch is included. Please RSVP by September 7 (and include any dietary restrictions). 

Thursday, September 12, Noon-3:00pm 
The Nest
Sliding scale $0-$20. No one is turned away for lack of funds.
Ages is 14+