Toronto Fringe Festival

About Fringe

The 35th Toronto Fringe Festival will be July 5 to 16, 2023!  

To view the results of the 2023 Main Venue Lottery, CLICK HERE. 

Congratulations to the 2023 Contest Winners. The Adams Prize for Musical Theatre winner is Dancer by Jim Betts & Marek Norman, and The 2023 New Play Contest Winner is Maggie Chun's First Love and Last Wedding by Helen Ho. Special thanks to The Pat and Tony Adams Freedom Fund, and The Aubrey and Marla Dan Charitable Foundation for supporting these contests and artists. 

The New Play Contest Selection Committee was comprised of: Yousef Kadoura, Gloria Mok, and Elena Reyes. The Adams Prize for Musical Theatre Selection Committee was comprised of: Kieran MacMillan, Justin Miller, and Victoria Wang. Thank you to all these artists for taking great time and consideration with all the applications. 

The 34th Toronto Fringe Festival took place July 6 to July 17, 2022, at 11 venues across the city, plus our POSTSCRIPT Patio at the Tranzac Club and POSTSCRIPT Lounge at Daniels Spectrum. Since 1989, the whole festival has been unjuried, meaning the shows have been chosen by lottery rather than a curator, opening the stage to all who have a story to share. 

The 2022 Toronto Fringe Festival welcomed over 80 companies from around Canada and the world to our 10+ theatre venues in downtown Toronto. Over the course of 12 days, over 1,200 artists participated in performances across the city that included comedy, drama, musicals, improvisation, storytelling, children’s theatre, dance, and much more.

Toronto Fringe was able to distribute 1500 prepaid tickets to artists and community groups to see Fringe shows thanks to the Toronto Arts Foundation, supported by the Hal Jackman Foundation and Slaight Foundation. Toronto Fringe was also happy to partner with Canoo, an app that provides newcomers to Canada with free tickets to exciting cultural experiences.

The 2022 Award recipients were: 9428 for The Tosho Cutting Edge Award; John Who, and The Chels Stands Alone for The North (519) Best of the Fringe Awards; and Gay For Pay with Blake and Clay, and The Chels Stands Alone for The Comedy Bar and Second City Award For Outstanding Comedy Awards. The David Seguin Memorial Award for Accessibility in the Arts, bursaries were awarded to Flowers For Alex, Don Valley Girls, Back and Forth: The Musical, An Evening With Devon and Jackie, Neverwonder: The Musical, Bruno & Hogginfritiz, and Birdseed Confidential.

The 2022 Patrons’ Picks were The Questing Beast; Sex T Rex presents Sketch T-Rex; Lesbihonest; The Sorauren Book Club; Don Valley Girls; Six Chick Flicks or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches while writing a Notebook on the Titanic; Gay for Pay with Blake & Clay; Alia Ceniza Rasul: Moro Girl; A Perfect Bowl of Pho; X and da spirit; and The Crack of Doom! (Or: How I Learned To Love The Meteor).

We are so grateful to the team that helped us make 2022 Festival possible, see the Credits page here.

RUN BY TORONTO FRINGE

The Toronto Fringe Festival is run by the Toronto Fringe - a grassroots, charitable organization that also runs the Next Stage Theatre Festival coming October 2023, and various year-round programs that benefit youth, emerging artists, BIPOC artists, artists with disabilities, and the performing arts community at large. Embedded in Fringe’s operations are the values of Access, Accountability, Creativity, Exploration, and Support.

Toronto Fringe is a creative match-maker, connecting artists with audiences, and empowering everyone to unleash their artist within. Toronto Fringe creates vital opportunities for both emerging and established artists to produce their work with complete artistic freedom, while making productions as affordable and accessible as possible.

WHAT IS THE FRINGE LOTTERY?

The Toronto Fringe is a non-juried festival, and holds a lottery to program the festival by selecting shows at random in a draw. This draw typically takes place in the late autumn. In line with all other Fringe Festivals in Canada, The Toronto Fringe does not evaluate the artistic merit of applicants, or the viability of the work – all applicants have the same chance of earning a show slot as the rest of their category.

WHY DO WE PROGRAM THE FESTIVAL VIA LOTTERY?

Because we, along with all other Canadian Fringe Festivals, believe that every voice has an equal right to be heard. It's not about who you know or how much you know. Your project holds just as much weight in the Fringe Lottery as anyone else's. The power of the Fringe Movement is that there are no gatekeepers. It's a platform for everyone to learn about and experiment with the arts.

OUR VALUES

ACCESS - in every sense of the word
ACCOUNTABILITY - we work with integrity and respect
CREATIVITY - freedom of expression permeates everything we do
EXPLORATION - we let curiosity be our guide
SUPPORT – empowering you to take a chance

Why is Fringe different?

In line with all other Fringe Festivals in Canada, the Toronto Fringe Festival believes:

1. Performing artists in Canada should be supported - that’s why we return 100% of the net box office revenue to Fringe artists.
2. Every voice has a right to be heard - that’s why we program the festival not by a jury of professionals, but by drawing names from a lottery each fall.
3. Theatre should be surprising, risky, unconventional, fun and never boring - that’s why we don't interfere in the art on our stages.