Sing it with me folks, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” It’s FRINGE! Well, almost. With less than two weeks to go until the Toronto Fringe Festival, I wanted to let you all in on what I’m going to be up to, and how I’m preparing for the most intense two weeks of theatre in the city. Fringe is an exciting time and I’m sure you’re all looking forward to it as much as I am!

Fringe Five

This year, I’m going to be doing some interviews in these weeks leading up to the Fringe Festival. With so many artists to contact, I thought it’d be fun to ask as many of them as I can the same five questions about who they are, what they’re show’s about, and what it’s like being a part of Fringe. I’m going to make a Stage Door Dialogues post, where you’ll be able to find all of the answers to my Fringe Five questions, as well as links to their show pages! I think it’ll be a great way for you all to get to know some new artists and help to plan what you’d like to see at Fringe this year!

PLANNING

Right now, I’m in my beginning phases of planning, which for me means combing through my inbox as well as the Fringe Program Guide to help me select which shows I’ll be reviewing this year.

This year, there are 77 plays on offer, and while that’s quite a bit less than last year, it’s still PLENTY to see. Not to mention there’s lots of activities to do at the Fringe Patio and their new Speakeasy this year.

The nest way to plan is definitely by getting yourself a copy of the Fringe Program Guide. Everything is so well laid out and I find that it really helps me wrap my head around it all. Here’s the link to the list of locations where you can grab a physical guide: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/plan-your-festival/program-guide

Personally, I use the indices in the back to help me do the majority of my planning. Being able to see which plays are on at which venue helps a great deal. Then I can find the play on it’s corresponding page to learn more about it and see the show times available.

Venue Neighbourhoods

When you take a look at the Map in the Fringe Guide or on the website, you’ll notice that the venue numbers are colour coded. They basically help you find which venues are close to one another, that way you can plan your Fringe experience around the venues themselves.

This is how I am planning on organizing my Fringe Festival this year. I had so many issues getting from place to place last year and sometimes didn’t leave myself enough time to actually get to the different venues. NOT AGAIN! If you try to keep within the little neighbourhoods, or you’re able to spend a whole day at Tarragon or Theatre Passe Muraille which each have multiple venues in the same location, you won’t have to rely on the traffic or TTC in between shows.

Instagram and TikTok Videos

Like last year, I’m going to try and keep you updated not only through written reviews but also with my Instagram and TikTok videos as well. While they won’t be able to be as in depth as my usual Weekly Roundup videos, I want to keep you up to date with what I’m seeing! I’ll also try to update my stories as much as I can, so you can experience Fringe along with me! You can find the links to my social media in my linktree here: https://linktr.ee/AViewfromtheBox

And I think that’s about it for now! Once I get my great-big-bag-of-everything packed and ready for Fringe, I’ll do another post about what I’m packing and how we can all prep for a Fun Fringe! See you at the Theatre!

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