Fringe fest fans should lay plans Repairs, renovations and program errors could throw guests for a loop By: Randall King Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2018 Last Modified: 8:29 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2018 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/07/2018 (2367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you go down to the fringe, prepare for a big surprise.

Seriously. Whole blocks are under repair or renovation in the Exchange District, including chunks of McDermot and Bannatyne Avenues, as well as Princess Street. Coupled with an overall trending transition to more bicycle lanes, your chances of scoring a convenient parking spot in the epicentre of the fringe are more unlikely than ever.

That brings us to the top priority for fringe-goers attending the 31st edition of the venerable downtown theatre festival.

“No matter what you’re doing, plan ahead,” asserts festival executive director Chuck McEwen. “It’s not just finding parking, even getting down here at rush hour could be tough with all the restricted lane access and all the construction.

“Remember: latecomers aren’t admitted to fringe shows, so we’re encouraging everyone to plan extra time this year,” he says. “Even if a street is open today, it might be closed tomorrow.”

McEwen is enjoying his 11th year as the executive director of the fringe, and in that position has helped sustain the Winnipeg iteration as the second most well-attended fringe festival in Canada (after Edmonton) and one of the top fringes in North America. (Last year’s attendance totalled 104,908, just shy of the 2015 record-breaker of 105,000.)

Assuming you’ve made it to the festival with the $5 program (available at all Winnipeg Liquor Marts) in hand, here’s a few more tips from McEwen’s survival guide for 2018.

It’s the best year ever to ride your bike to the fringe.

“We’ve always had a space blocked off for bike parking over by Artspace in Old Market Square,” McEwen says.

“We’re putting up a second bike-parking location accomodating between 100 to 150 bikes and it will be a supervised location, every day from 10 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., every day of the festival.

“People still have to lock up the bikes but there will be somebody there to keep an eye on the area while people are out fringing,” McEwen says. “Bikes are one of the most popular ways for fringers to get around.”

The program’s not always right

You have to go online (winnipegfringe.com) to check for program updates and ensure proper planning. For example, Venue 29, the Centennial Concert Hall Sound Bites Lounge, is no longer accurate.

“Unfortunately, there was construction going on that changed the plan, so they moved it to the rehearsal hall, which is an even better location,” McEwen says.

The rehearsal hall can be accessed via the backstage entrance on east side of the concert hall. The change actually accomodates an uptick in seating capacity, from 100 to 120.

Also, the website offers more up-to-the-minute information in its “program updates” section, including cancellation notices.

(For example, all performances of Unsettled: A Theatrical Seance Experience have been cancelled at Venue 5.)

“On the show listings page this year, we’ve got a drop-down menu with includes a few new things like a daily schedule and a two-for-12 performance list, which is very handy for people trying to save some money.

“Also, this is the second year of our ‘accessible shows’ page, which lists four ASL (American Sign Language) performances this year and there’s plays there suited for people with vision or hearing concerns, or who don’t speak English that well,” McEwen says.

“Performers can say our show doesn’t have a lot of dialogue or it’s movement-based, so it’s good for people who don’t speak English that well.”

Also on the website is listings for “a new event in the beer tent during the day called Face to Face, with discussions hosted by performers just to chat about a variety of topics,” McEwen says.

For example, on Friday, July 27 at 3 p.m., Frances Koncan and Josh Languedoc take on the subject of “Indigenizing Theatrical Spaces.”

Before the Free Press reviews are posted, you can still research the shows.

“A lot of fringers are following the social media feeds for other festivals like Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, London and Orlando because the touring artists are doing new shows there,” McEwen says.

“You can find out what people thought, what the media thought and what fringers thought about those shows from their previous festival experience.”

Not everything at the fringe is in the Exchange District.

A few fringe venues satellite out from the Exchange epicentre, including The Forks, the Prairie Theatre Exchange, the University of Winnipeg and the West End Cultural Centre.

“It makes a kind of a second hub there and you’ve got several venues to choose from,” McEwen says, pointing to Venue 15, Gendis Studio, Venue 16, the PTE Mainstage and Venue 17, the PTE’s Colin Jackson Studio in Portage Place’s Prairie Theatre Exchange complex,

“If you can maximize your time doing one or two or three shows in a single location, it can maximize your overall fringe time.”

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

Randall King
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In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.

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