Fringe Festival

SPOILERS: Coming this weekend, my long-awaited photo series "Pictures of People Taking Pictures: Part One"!

The good thing abotu living in Toronto is they have something on every 5 minutes and I'm quite busy as a result but why is it always in the summer??? Why can't we have the Fringe festival in February when I'm dying to get out of the house?

The Fringe Festival this year has about 100 plays showing in the space of a week. It took me about 3 hours just to narrow down my list, I still have to wait and see what friends are doing before I commit.

July 6 - 4pm At The End: A Good Book Musical

It's the end of the world as we know it! But does any apocalypse ever go as planned? The Horsemen are out and the Devil heads to earth to inform the Pope of mankind's imminent demise. But when complications arise, will it be possible to stop the other worldly ball from rolling? Director Larry Westlake comes with a long list of shows to his credit both on and off the stage - too many to put into 30 words. But feel free to ask him. Composer Kevin Nelson is an international award-winning songwriter who won the 2002 SIR TIM RICE AWARD. THE DIVINE HERETIC won Patron's Pick at the 2004 Toronto Fringe and he directed JASSY'S SASSY CABARET in 2006. Writer Marsha Mason is also an actor/singer/mover-shaker who recently appeared in Stories From Our Black Books in Toronto . She thinks she's funny on occasion.

July 7 - 9:15 pm Domestic

Jim loves Betty! Betty loves Jim! The Smith household should be perfect except… why does God keep calling with talk about Hell? And why is there a pool of blood forming under Jim's body? Whoops! Looks like Betty might have to go shopping again!

July 4 - 7pm Travel or Entertain?

Writer/performer Thomas Corless explores the world of gay online hook-ups and dating in this mix of chats, monologues and stand-up. Playing realistic and relatable characters, Corless details the ups and downs of online life: the joys of a hot sexual encounter, the pain of a one-sided attraction, the egos of the unattainable and the desperation of the lonely. Corless presents a world of impossible standards and a world where “masculine” and “straight-acting” rule, and where sex is “ raw” or “wrapped”. This mix of comedy and drama is provocative, funny, sexy and moving.

July 2 - 8pm Baggage

Five playwrights drawing from their distinct backgrounds in film, dance, poetry and music form the Pulang Maleta Collective and share their stories in their debut piece, BAGGAGE. “Maria”- A woman's struggle between filial obligation and the desire for a new life through a mailorder-bride arrangement. “not my exotic”- Sunshine encounters a guy who is interested in a lot more than a one-night stand. “The Edge of Family”- Crime, dinner and an envious mother exacerbate the decision of a young girl and her two men. “Touch” - A young woman tries to navigate the world as a new lesbian. Her mentor, a Filipino drag queen, helps her try and find love and more importantly learn how to breathe. “Claim Your Baggage” A humorous look at cultural shame and a reminder that if you don't look back at where you came from, you'll never get to where you're going.

Warning: mature language, mature content, food may fall on you

July 10 - 8pm Casa De Los Fantasmas by The Canadian Space Opera Company

During the 1920s and 30s, radio airwaves crackled with the spooky creakings and moanings of horror and suspense radio shows like “Lights Out” and “The Inner Sanctum”. The Canadian Space Opera Company, creators of “Peril From Beyond Space!”, has uncovered long-lost episodes of the spookiest show of them all - “Out Of The Closet”. Join your host, The Closet Case, as we present a live recreation of a typical radio broadcast of this hilariously eerie program. In this episode, “Casa De Los Fantasmas” (House of Ghosts), newlyweds Duke and Emily Dane are honeymooning at the luxurious Hacienda De La Hoya in remote Argentina . Their wedded bliss is rudely interrupted when the hotel guests start dying off one by one...

July 3 - 5:30 pm Babies In Danger!

From the creators of Science Fair! (***** - EYE; NNNN - Now) and DOGS! The Musical!! (“The best dog-gone musical at the fringe!” - Toronto Star) comes a comedy spectacular with live music, video and babies: BABIES IN DANGER! This is Players Players' fifth fringe show and the culmination of two years of monthly sketch shows in Hamilton and Toronto . They have been described as “talented and beautiful bright lights of the Hamilton indie theatre scene” (VIEW Magazine). Come to the Supermarket to see the funniest show ever created about infants in mortal peril.

July 9 - 8 pm Big Shot

A twelve-year-old boy wishes his mundane life had something more entertaining. His wish comes true, and on a train ride home, he witnesses the most grotesque and exciting tragedy of his time. And he's here to tell it for your benefit, the audience. The boy slides in and out of all the inward, spiteful characters involved: the shut-in mother, a not-so-recovered heroin addict named Killiger, a seventy-year-old Japanese pickpocket named Odosung, and a gravelly police officer by the name of Byron. Each of these people know of the tragedy, but none want to carry the blame. Jump on for the ride as the reality of this one event emerges from the fog of uncertainty, and witness the filmmaker who was inspired by the murder

July 13 - 2:30 pm David

"David" is a one-man show about sex. But not just sex in terms of who's having it and with whom. But sex as in: what is sex? What does it mean? Why do we have sex? Sex as lust. Sex as love. Sex as power. Sex as self-worth. Sex as self-destruction. Sex as status. Sex as failure. Nick, the one man of this one-man-show, doesn't know it, but on this Friday night he's working his way through all these positions. His past and future are coming together in the present: David, a random shag in a back-alley in Montreal 's Gay Village . Winner: Most notable promotion campaign; Most notable direction of a production. Nominated: Most notable original script; Most notable solo performance; Most notable production of the season, Harvest Festival, 2006

July 8 - 5 pm The Exploding Breakfast

by Ingle Knight presented by Perth Theatre Co. from Perth , Australia Welcome to Africa 's Big Apple - The poets, artists, live chicken sellers and small arms dealers are all brought to life on stage by Anglo-Australian writer and actor Ingle Knight in his South African survival tale... When he agreed to go to Johannesburg to write his next play… Ingle hadn't a clue what he was in for. The Exploding Breakfast tells the hilarious and occasionally terrifying story of how he survived his three months in Johannesburg . As he tries to write his next play some of his distractions include an assassination, William Burroughs, a Zimbabwean drug scam, a beautiful woman called Crystal Cleer and a washing machine called Aretha. Applying his unique prize-winning skills as both writer and performer Ingle takes his audience with him on this fascinating and sometimes excruciating journey of survival and discovery. “…a kaleidoscope of disturbing and fascinating characters. …very funny…” (The West Australian)

July 8 - 8:15 pm The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde presented by The Absolute Truth from Toronto An adaptation of the classic Oscar Wilde novel. It's the story of a young society gentleman who wishes for beauty and youth. What follows is a horrifying and surprisingly witty descent into debauchery. "There's only one way to get rid of temptation, and that's to yield to it."