The 2009 Fringe Lottery was held on December 3rd at the Brig Pub. Thank you to all those who came out to watch and congratulations to the following companies for their successful entries into this years Fringe. Waiting Lists are at the bottom.

Successful Local Theatre Companies

• Silent QUEMB Prodictions
  Bun’s Own Production Company
  More Theatre
  Guerilla Productions
  Major Paine Productions
  Blue Poodle Entertainment
  Ditto Productions
  Hand-Drawn Productions
  Allye Vice
  OSSD Pre-Professional Company
  The Organic Peoples Theatre
  Beverley Wolfe
  Redux Delux
  Make Your Own Productions
  100 Watt Productions
  People With Principles Productions
  FloatingButts Productions

Successful National Theatre Companies

• Zir.O
  Hard Times
  Theatre ABC
  Theatre X
  The Quickening Theatre
  Slow Poke Productions
  Destination Ink Productions
  Sansregret Productions
  Doctor Keir Co.
  Dutch Girl Productions
  Wog Productions
  Parker and Seville

Successful International Theatre Companies

• The List Operators
  Gray Ruby Productions
  Peanutfish Productions
  Awkward Moment Productions
  Overcoat Theater

CAFF Lottery Winners

• TheatrePublic Theatre Society
  Fancy Molasses
  Jonno Katz - Epicworlds.com
  Lana Schwarcz
  Big Word Performance Poetry

Youth Category

• Orleans Young Players Theatre School
  The OSSD Young Company

WAIT LISTS

LOCAL

1. Smashing Stereotypes Productions
2. mutadis mutandis
3. Punchbag Playhouse
4. These Lose Threads Theatre Troop
5. Garkin Production
6. Hightide theatre company
7. Black Sheep Theatre
8. Erudite Theatre
9. critical distance
10. Doreen Taylor-Claxton
11. Barbara Rager
12. Little Hole in the Wall
13. Lesser Men Productions
14. Where4
15. Stage Left Productions
16. Shadowplay Productions
17. Double-Cut Productions
18. Scheherazade Theatre
19. FIDA Theatre Company
20. Zopyra Theatre
21. Jer’s Vision
22. Vanguard Productions
23. Albatross Productions
24. Troupe de la lune
25. Stand-Up Girl!
26. The Meus
27. Hoop-La-La
28. Salamander Shakespeare Co.
29. Insensivity Training
30. Crush Improv
31. Pulse Theatre
32. Some Pig / 404 Productions

National

1. The Empty Space
2. Acky-Made
3. BOQ Productions
4. Emergency Architect
5. Footpath Productions and TheatreKairos
6. Crowning Monkey
7. By the Book Productions
8. Cocky
9. Big Empty Barn Productions
10. Closed Due to Rain
11. Cabbage Under Heavy Fire
12. Inertia Productions
13. Lazy Susan
14. Attunement Productions
15. Chipped Paint Productions
16. Phaedrus Folds
17. 2 Hot Blonde Divas
18. Up From The Roots

International

1. Tricklock Company
2. Too Much Free Time Productions
3. Infinity Live Productions
4. Cathryn Fairless
5. Gemma Wilcox productions
6. Heat and Hot Water Productions
7. SunsetGun Productions
8. Randy Rutherford Presents
9. Tim C. Murphy

Don’t Act Now and you receive this product automatically.

If you do not wish to receive Artsy Clean, get yourself to the rally Monday December 1st at 10am.
See http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56900768824&ref=ts for more details

“This is a very old story” played at the grounds outside of Tabaret hall, a bring your own venue space that the Ottawa Stilt Union took full advantage of for their play about the cyclical nature of war and death. I caught up with the show’s creator, Laura Astwood, who graciously sat down with me for an interview. I was then shocked to discover my recorder hadn’t recorded a single word. So she even more graciously agreed to answer the same questions by email. So without further ado…

Describe the origin of the Ottawa Stilt Union.
I taught a workshop at the U of O in the winter of 2005 and then the next winter when my friend Jennifer Brewin was directing the Snow Show at the NAC we thought it would be fun to include a stilt element – Jennifer and I worked together for a long time at the Caravan Farm Theatre where she was artistic director for eight years and we used in stilts in their outdoor snow shows. So I brought six of my stilt students to do the snow show with me and while we were rehearsing we decided to call ourselves the Ottawa Stilt Union: no pay, dangerous work conditions, membership is its own reward… Then we made BEOWULF for the Magnetic North Festival co-produced by the University of Ottawa theatre Department.

What inspired you to get into stilt walking and that area of performance?
A theatre company called PRIMUS based out of Winnipeg – I sat in on one of their rehearsals in 1991 and saw stilts used for the first time in a theatrical (as opposed to a circus or carnival) setting. It was such a surprise – an awesome surprise in the true sense of the word. Several years later I went back to Winnipeg to apprentice with that theatre company and they taught me stilts and since then it has become my favorite way to perform and my favorite theatrical tool.

Describe the development of the current show (This is a very old story).
This show developed over the course of several months of work – I would ask the performers to make an action based on, for example, death. Then I take their actions and combine them into scenes. Originally I had more ambitious plans for this show, but ultimately I didn’t have the time and resources, so I left it without text and without a linear story, just as a physical expression of my ideas about war and death and the cyclical nature of our relationship to these things. In its next incarnation it will have a text.

How has the audience responded to your show? Do they want to get up and try it?
Some do. When I talk to audience members after the show they tell me all sorts of things that they saw and thought while watching it that are wonderful to hear – the great thing about a show with no clear story and no text is that the audience are free to make up their own story. And some people ask how they can learn stilts and I tell them that I’ll keep them informed of upcoming workshops if they give me their contact information, so here is my email address and if you are interested in stilts, either learning or booking a stilt performance, you can contact me: lastwood@look.ca

What is next for the OSU?
Well we have a show in Wakefield on Monday June 30th at 5:00pm on the field across from the post office on Valley road. Then we’ll be in Wakefield on Canada Day, in the parade and then doing a public workshop for people who want to give stilting a try. We have a show on July 24th in St. Laurent Park at noon – it’s through the City of Ottawa and you can find out about it through their website. Then we’ll be at the Lumière Festival on August 9th.

I’d also like to mention that the Ottawa Stilt Union is grateful for the support of the U of Ottawa Alumni Association, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa Arts Funding Program.

Previous interviews:
Interview with Alex Eddington (Old Growth)
Interview with Gemma Wilcox (Shadows in Bloom)
Interview with August and Frieda Strindberg (Inferno Sonata)
Interview with Shelley Liebembuk and Dylan Ryan (Raven for a Lark)
Interview with Vision Theatre (4Play: One-Acts by David Ives)
Interview with Weeping Spoon productions (Greed)
Interview with Brigette DePape (She Rules With Iron Stix)
Amy Salloway (Circumference)
The Absinthe Collective (A Leave of Absinthe)
Peter Hayes (The Tricky Part) and Greg Landucci (Mr. Fox)
Penny Ashton (MC Hot Pink / Busty Rhymes)
Keir Cutler (Teaching the Fringe)
Celeste Sansregret (Wonderbar!)
Jem Rolls (How I learned to stop worrying and love the mall)

“The show is based on a true story on Grant Hadwin and the golden spruce,” says Alex Eddington as we chat about his show, Old Growth. I tell him I’d never heard of a golden spruce, or Grant Hadwin. “The golden spruce was a tree that used to stand on the Queen Charlotte Islands; it was a real freak of nature, it shouldn’t have grown. It didn’t have enough chlorophyll, but it lived to be at least 300 years old. The Haida people, the natives there considered it sacred; they had a legend about a little boy being turned into a tree.”

In 1997, Grant Hadwin, a former logger with previous schizophrenic episodes, cut down the tree in the middle of the night. He was charged and meant to be tried, but disappeared in a kayak accident. There were many threats on Hadwin’s life.

Alex and his co-star Aura Giles met four years ago - he was her T.A. when they were both taking music at the University of Alberta. “Old Growth is my artistic way of dealing with this story. I came up with two fictional characters who become obsessed with this story; they read the articles about this, it’s an epiphany for them, and they eventually decide to go to the site where the tree has been cut down. So the story takes place on the site of the golden spruce in this bit of old growth forest. We imagine the tree is lying across the front of the stage between us and the audience, we’re playing flute and drums, speaking to this tree. As the hour unfolds, you realize why we’re there and what we hope we’re going to accomplish.”

“There’s a lot of other stuff thrown into the mix; my character is an amateur magician, and has become really fixated on shamanism. He thinks that by visiting this tree he’s going to trade in the trick magic for a magical ability to speak to the world.”

I ask Eddington about the genesis of his show. “I started thinking that this show should be an opera - Grant Hadwin and the Golden Spruce. And I might write an opera about it someday. I originally was going to make it a one-man show, a monologue from my perspective. But I’m working with the same director/dramaturge I worked with last year on the Fugue Code, Alison Williams. She insisted that I have someone else on stage with me, and insisted that person be a woman, and that that person should be the quiet counterpart for all the stuff I wanted to say. All the way along she’s been pushing to make Aura a more important character, the centre that holds my character together. She’s very important to the play; she says a lot less than I do, but what she says speaks volumes. She kind of saves me from myself at the end. We hope.”

After their first three shows in Ottawa, the cast went back to the rehearsal hall and made some cuts, which emphasized the importance of Aura’s character. Response to the show has been very positive on the ottawafringe website, and CBC’s theatre reviewer, Alvina Ruprecht, gave the show a glowing review. Alex isn’t letting it go to his head. “It’s hard to say yet; we’ve just started. This is a show with some pretty extreme violence in it, with some potentially polarizing views, but the way I write about it and the way my character speaks about environmental stuff is meant to be very common sense. Anybody could develop this argument themselves, you’re meant to do it with him as the play goes on. That this is a controversy I personally think is ridiculous, but I know it is. And that is why I needed to write this play. These things should be part of our daily discussions. So potentially some people are off-put by some of that stuff, by the strength of the message, by the violence at the end, there’s nudity in the show as well. But on the whole, I’m talking to people and people are seeming to like it. I think we have tweaking to do, to keep the balance between these characters. My character can be a little overwhelming.”

When people ask Eddington if he’s a tree-hugger, he says “No, but I do hug trees. This show is about taking those things and twisting them, and seeing that there is absolutely no reason there should be scorn for someone who cares about maintaining our ability to eat, breath, reproduce and live in our own habitat. That’s why I say it’s a common-sense argument. If people are feeling that way, I will never be able to change them. If the show is labelled as the eco-show, then I think that’s okay. It is. I’ll take that label. Not in the same way that Crude Love is, it’s a show about eco-terrorism. I think my show is a little more ambiguous about what it’s trying to say.”

Old Growth has just one more performance, tonight at 11:00pm in the Academic Hall.

Previous interviews:
Interview with Gemma Wilcox (Shadows in Bloom)
Interview with August and Frieda Strindberg (Inferno Sonata)
Interview with Shelley Liebembuk and Dylan Ryan (Raven for a Lark)
Interview with Vision Theatre (4Play: One-Acts by David Ives)
Interview with Weeping Spoon productions (Greed)
Interview with Brigette DePape (She Rules With Iron Stix)
Amy Salloway (Circumference)
The Absinthe Collective (A Leave of Absinthe)
Peter Hayes (The Tricky Part) and Greg Landucci (Mr. Fox)
Penny Ashton (MC Hot Pink / Busty Rhymes)
Keir Cutler (Teaching the Fringe)
Celeste Sansregret (Wonderbar!)
Jem Rolls (How I learned to stop worrying and love the mall)

• Our attendance numbers have been better than ever, even with the rain
• The song “Straight Edge Girl” by Otto Rot
•  Jayson McDonald’s rendition of One
• The reviews, good and bad, on the site
• Our photos
• The boys from Greed dancing to Sir Mix a Lot
• Getting Jazz flute from Aura
• The dedication of the judges to see all the shows
• The poetry of Jem and Penny
• Joe’s Audition
• Flaming batons
• Catriona
• Getting reviews from Kevin’s parents
• The burgers in the tent
• Our friends from Down Under
• Our friends from across Canada
• DJ Blackout
• The tent
• Andrew Alexander’s interviews
• The dedication of the volunteers
• CBC
• Finding out that good theatre comes out of London Ontario
• The fact that there are still four days left

In most fringe festivals, comedies are usually the order of the day; it’s much easier to sell a comedy than a drama. But for those looking for shows that are meant to challenge and stir the soul, checking out a drama is the way to go. Raven for a Lark has picked up some buzz over the last few days, described as “deliciously creepy” and “a little sick but bold“. Either way, it can’t help but be interesting. I caught up with the two principals of the show, Dylan Ryan and Shelley Liebembuk, and their director Liz Truchanowicz, at the beer tent for a chat.

The show is set within another show, in this case Shakespeare’s bloody Titus Andronicus, and a center-piece to the action is a scene in which Dylan’s character Charlie is meant to rape Shelley’s character Nina. “It’s two actors, and they’re enticed by this experience,” said Ryan. “It’s the night after opening night and they’re talking about their deep, dark secrets, and the process, and their relationship with one another. Throughout the show, secrets are revealed that are creepy, and sexy, and all that good stuff.”

Ryan, a native of Ottawa studying at the University of Ottawa, is new to the production; Liebembuk reprises her role as Nina from the 2007 Summerworks production, directed by the author Elise Newman. “Last summer when we did it we were still workshopping it,” said Liebembuk. “This year, the script is slightly different, but she just handed the play over to Liz (Truchanowicz, the director), who directed us in it. It was more of a complete play that we got to play around with.”

The author is a good friend to the actors, and has been in attendance during the course of the performance. Liebembuk has had a challenging experience to leave behind the previous production and start over afresh. “I had to leave my baggage behind; it was really exciting and interesting. At first my fear was that I would bring the exact same thing and not take in the differences. But Liz had a very specific view and it happened to be quite different from the director’s take last summer. It really allowed me to say, right away, okay, this is a different character. And it is the same text, but the playwright has changed it over the course of the year. The biggest challenge was actually not remembering old lines. It’s really interesting to work on the same play but have it be a very different character.”

I asked the cast about their favourite moments in the show. For Ryan, “I would probably say, this will probably sound bad, there is a moment where we use a knife in the show. It’s my favourite moment because it scares the audience, and they get into it. It’s one of the most nerve-wracking moments, where the most emotions come out from the audience.” For Liebembuk, “At the very end we switched it up very close to the beginning of the fringe run. We actually changed it from the first night to the second night; we added a final element to the end. When we added it, we got a very surprised action from the audience. It was really cool. It’s great to have them with you, to the point that you’re leading them along all the way to the very final moment.”

Liebembuk and Ryan hope that the audience comes away slightly tormented by the situation presented. “Hopefully they’ll be attracted by the characters at first,” says Ryan, “but once secrets are revealed, they’ll feel screwed by them, and kind of angry towards them.” Liebembuk added that the script is very engaging. “I think also a surprising element for the audience is that the script has a lot of funny, quirky lines and cute turns of phrase. It also deals very much with Shakespeare.”

Ryan mentioned that the show is “very much an actor’s show,” with a lot of inside actors’ jokes. After a silence the director, Liz Truchanowicz was quick to add, “But you don’t have to be an actor to enjoy it.”

Raven for a Lark plays this Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, at the Arts Court Library.

Previous interviews:
Interview with Vision Theatre (4Play: One-Acts by David Ives)
Interview with Weeping Spoon productions (Greed)
Interview with Brigette DePape (She Rules With Iron Stix)
Amy Salloway (Circumference)
The Absinthe Collective (A Leave of Absinthe)
Peter Hayes (The Tricky Part) and Greg Landucci (Mr. Fox)
Penny Ashton (MC Hot Pink / Busty Rhymes)
Keir Cutler (Teaching the Fringe)
Celeste Sansregret (Wonderbar!)
Jem Rolls (How I learned to stop worrying and love the mall)

I was having a chat in the tent last night with a reporter who made a comment that stuck in my craw.  He mentioned that he’d seen a lot of shows so far this festival and that the quality had improved since Sunday.  I had mentioned that most of the acts who were in Montreal started showing up here on that day, to which he made a comment that these were the performers who took the festival seriously.

While at the time, I didn’t disagree with him, upon reflection I’ve changed my mind.  There are some amazing touring groups, but our local artists are garnering some of the best press.  Acts like This is a Play, Sorrow, Iron Sticks, Trashcan Duet, and 4 One Acts are getting both strong word of mouth and are being reviewed strongly by the press.  So where is the disconnect?  

I left Ottawa for eight years, then returned back to a scene that had not changed.  There ihas always been a lot of talent in this city but no one wants to talk about it.  Ottawa has become the worst kind of theatre town-we do theatre for theatre people.  There seems to be a fear to reach out to other communities in the city to hear our stories.  I expect this from the big theatres, but not from the Fringe.  The low price point and a schedule that puts us between the last day of school and Canada’s birthday should equal the biggest party in town.  People here should be clamoring to get down to the Fringe and supporting the local shows. 

The local shows are good.  The main thing their missing is the confidence.  The difference I see between the touring shows and our locals is the chops of having done a show in multiple cities. Anyone who has toured will tell you stories of frustration, flyering lines all day to get enough bums in seats to pay for your meals.  Desperation forces people to stand on their own two feet or get out of the game.   Sometimes it’s hard to get the hunger when you’re sleeping in your own bed.  I’m not recommending the locals to starve themselves;  I want them to walk around the festival with the swagger of people who are getting great reviews.  Don’t beg me to come to your show; offer me the opportunity to see something amazing.

On the subject of reviews, CBC RadioOne 91.5 has set up a review line for patrons to give your opinion.  Dial 613-288-6519 and use your 30 seconds to talk about the shows you love and hate.  Make sure to do it when you walk out of a show,  when it’s still fresh in your mind.  I think too many people are forgetting about the line, assuming that they’ll do it when they get home.  One tip; don’t break the machine when you’re done like an idiot.

It’s Singles Night in the tent tonight.  Watch previews of some of the best solo shows.  We’ll see you there at nine.

Brad

Sitting around the table with five of the six players of Vision Theatre’s “4Play: One-Acts by David Ives,” there’s that feeling of infectious excitement. It’s the eve of opening night, and in two hours the cast will be presenting their first performance of there show, as the title suggests, a collection of one-act plays written by playwright David Ives. Vision took away the Best Comedy award from the 2007 Ottawa Fringe Festival for their previous one-act collection, “Crazy Eights,” with plays written by David Lindsay-Abaire. Interviewd were Marsha Awwad (MA), Chantale Plante (CP), Jennifer Scrivens (JS), Sam Awwad (SA), and Riley Stewart (RS). Not present was Shaun Toohey, who was still on the road back from Montreal…

SA We were looking to do something similar to what we did last year, last year we did David Lindsay-Abaire, three one-acts by him, which fit within the hour. We went with a different playwright, David Ives, who has quite a few good, fun plays that we felt would entertain audiences again.

How do you sell the show?
SA “Do you want to enjoy foreplay with Vision Theatre?”
CP It’s pretty easy to sell, the shows last year did so well. Vision won best comedy. I wasn’t in them, but I wished I had been - they were so funny to watch. The formula works, so why break the formula? So it’s basically, “It’s back again, last year they did three, this year we’re doing four - more fun - come and see it.”
MA And there’s something for everyone, right? Four twelve-minute shows, there’s something for everyone in there.
CP Most of the shows bend time in some way, they bend reality.
MA The last show is a send-up to David Mamet; it’s basically a boiled-down version of four of his shows. It takes place in a ‘roast’ atmosphere, with an MC, and the rest of the characters onstage do four of his shows in seven minutes. And it makes fun of him, alot.
JS And the audience members don’t have to be familiar with David Mamet to get it, it’s pared down so well and keeps the humour really strong that everybody is going to enjoy it whether or not they know his work.

Who’s in which scenes with who?
JS Shaun and I start off the show, with Sam and Marsha joining us in ‘English Made Simple.’ Shaun and I just discovered this week once we’ve put the shows together, he and I never actually leave the stage. Other people come in; in the second show, ‘Philedelphia,’ Sam, Marsha and Shaun are the main players, and Chantale and I just sit around looking pretty. We’re in ‘The Chicken.’
SA It’ll make sense when they see the show.
JS In ‘Sure Thing’ Riley and Chantale are the two featured players, and Shaun and I are sitting as spies. And then the last piece is an ensemble piece we all come together. The entire night definitely has the atmosphere of just having fun, and playing with each other. We have become a strong group of people outside of rehearsals, and the fun that we have outside definitely is reflected in what we wind up putting onstage. Because if it looks like it’s a chore, then what’s the point.

How was the feeling during the development of this production?
RS We just have a really good chemistry; the whole bottom line is we just wanted to get together and try to have fun, and just forget about the formality of theatre, and all the seriousness that we have to deal with throughout the year. It’s the fringe, right? It’s time to have fun, to be with friends, and just have a good time and spread your wings a bit.
CP There’s always a moment in rehearsals where we just start giggling.
RS Sam is a champion paper airplane maker during high school. While we were rehearsing he was demonstrating his skill by making about eighteen different models, lining them up and then throwing them at us.
SA They didn’t need too much attention from me. Working with good actors, they got their thing going. Even at the end of the day, working nine to five and then going to rehearsal, these guys keep the energy up. I’m not as professional as that, so I have to keep my energy up somehow.
JS He’s really just testing us to see how well we can stay focused when cell phones go off or candy wrappers happen in the audience.
SA I giggle quite a bit. I get set off quite a bit, so we can’t have anything that will set me off onstage or I’ll be laughing.
JS When you get the six of us together to rehearse, you can’t not have funny moments.
RS Marsha did wear farting shoes to dress rehearsal yesterday. Shoes that made very convincing farting noises.
MA You know, when you have high-top Chuck Taylors, at the end of the day and your feet are sweating, so they move around in the Chucks. And it’s my first freaking entrance, and I have to go from backstage all the way downstage diagonally, and everytime it’s like *fart, fart, fart, fart, fart*. And this was supposed to be our one run before opening.

What do you want the audience to take away from your show?
RS A smile.
MA Come out happy, having had a good night at the theatre. What’s better than that?

4Play: One Acts by David Ives plays at the Arts Court theatre until June 29.

Previous interviews:
Interview with Weeping Spoon productions (Greed)
Interview with Brigette DePape (She Rules With Iron Stix)
Amy Salloway (Circumference)
The Absinthe Collective (A Leave of Absinthe)
Peter Hayes (The Tricky Part) and Greg Landucci (Mr. Fox)
Penny Ashton (MC Hot Pink / Busty Rhymes)
Keir Cutler (Teaching the Fringe)
Celeste Sansregret (Wonderbar!)
Jem Rolls (How I learned to stop worrying and love the mall)

I would be easy to write Greer off as the little sister of the Fringe Festival if she wasn’t three steps ahead of me at all times.  In a very short time she has managed to become a lynchpin of the festival and I feel obligated to say nice things about her, for fear that my career will be cut short if I don’t.  There are no stars in this festival, but she is definitely a character player.  Read her answers below.

administrator 

I am a big Catriona Leger fan. I’ve seen her in shows and I’ve seen her work as director. I’m excited to be working side by side with her on this year’s festival, professionally and socially. She is not shy with her opinions, which freed me up to ask her some tougher questions. Here’s her five.

1) You’ve been doing theatre in other cities, like Vancouver and Paris. What distinguishes Ottawa performers and crowds?

Well, Ottawa audiences are a tricky bunch really. They are very review based - be it in the media or by word of mouth - and rarely will you see them charging in droves to see a new piece just for their undying love of the theatre. If it has not yet been tested on a few of their friends or their favourite reviewer, audiences are slow to go to a show. Essentially, Ottawa audiences love to wait until the absolute last minute to see a production and then, when it’s sold out on the last night of the run, they love to wince up their face in an “I’m so sorry but it was out of my hands” way and go on about how they “tried” to go (even though there may have been only 12 people in the audience on Wednesday and Thursday of that week).

Ottawa is a town that has very limited performance space, audiences, media coverage and funding and this can often translate into an “us vs. them” situation for performers. The city is brimming with theatre artists who are screaming to be heard - to be identified and recognized for their individuality and to make a difference in the city they ultimately care deeply about. In an attempt to stand out from the crowd, performers often label themselves as “unconventional” or “innovative,” “daring” or “physical,” and no doubt they want very much to be those things. The tricky thing, and this is not the fault of these very driven and energetic performers in any way, is that Ottawa is a very intimate, conventional and conservative town when it comes to the theatre community (or almost anything else really) so theatre artists are often under the impression that anyone who isn’t working at or attracted the style of theatre one regularly sees at, say, the NAC or GCTC must be something out of the ordinary. However, the resources that are available to train artists who actually want to seriously develop unconventional theatre are sadly lacking. As a result, many actors either leave to seek their training, fame and fortune somewhere else or choose a different profession altogether leaving the brave and resilient few to take on what little work there is in this town - however conventional and unsatisfying. It’s very Darwinian.

2) As a publicist, it is your job to get the word out on the shows. Fringes are known for “Alternative” advertising, including giveaways and screaming actors. Have you employed any bizarre techniques to get us coverage this year?

I really believe in the “keep it simple” approach to marketing - word of mouth, establishing and maintaining great relationships and approaching every event or media opportunity while keeping the possibility of fun in mind. Gimmicky techniques are really not my style as “great ideas” usually come of as looking cheap in the end.

3) As a director, what advice would you give to Fringe performers looking to make a mark?

Be quality. Be thorough. Pay attention to detail. Don’t jiggle around and move sloppily. Don’t try to be “funny,” just be funny (if that’s what you’re going for). Choose every action and word. Be lovable. Don’t be annoying. Be yourself. Be original. Be actually original - not just a watered down idea of original. Be the quality coffee not the watered down, re-used, cheap corner store grounds on a toilet paper filter - the second one may catch someone’s eye for a split second but don’t ever fool yourself into believing anyone wants to pay to drink it.

4) In the theme of summer camp, what would you write home about when talking about the Ottawa Fringe?

Dear Mum and Dad,

Kamp Fringe has been really great so far. I’m learning so much, having fun and making loads of new friends. I knew from past marketing experience that I wouldn’t do a stinky job but wow! I never thought there could be so much more to learn about publicity and media relations. I’m getting along just fine with it though and have a great team to support me. The other counsellors are absolutely super - I wish I had time to write about every one of them but in short I’ll say they’re just awesome! Our Kamp director, “Old Man Waghorn,” has already given me one gold star for my work and I hope there will be more to come.

I have to go now. There’s a party in the tent and everyone is invited!

Wish you were here!

xox

Cat

p.s. The food is made by some people called A Culinary Conspiracy and it is delicious! Way better than your cooking. I don’t want to come home.

5) Who is your favourite member of the Fringe staff, and why?

Why, it’s you Brad. For obvious reasons.