18 Montreal Fringe Festival shows with a Concordia connection

The local summer festival season really starts this week with the launch of the Montreal Fringe Festival. Concordia students, faculty and alumni have always had a strong presence in the Fringe, which runs from May 30 to June 19, and this year is no exception.

Here are Fringe shows with a Concordia connection — go and catch some great dance and theatre productions!

1. A Little Bit Pregnant

The pitch: “A Little Bit Pregnant, the new dramedy written by Kate Lavut and directed by Rana Liu, explores the emotional roller coaster of getting pregnant.”

Concordia connection:

Playwright: Kat Lavut, BA (creative writing) 22; actors: Alexander Cruz, BA (English literature) 20; Sanjeev Mannan (acting for the theatre student)

2. A Paisley Mind

The pitch: “After a birthday phone call with her son, 85-year-old Marie-Claire takes us through her fading past and her rapidly changing present.”

Concordia connection:

Playwright: Gabrielle Banville, BFA (acting for the theatre) 20; director: Brooklyn Melnyk, BFA (performance creation) 21; designer: Elizabeth Nyveen, BFA (design for the theatre) 19; collaborator: Tiernan Cornford, BFA (acting for the theatre) 20; communications manager: Cat Preston BFA (acting for the theatre) 19; stage manager: Kennedy Huffman-Baillargeon, BFA (acting for the theatre) 19

3. Can We Dance Without Music?

The pitch: “An evocation of loss using music as an example of the fleetingness of reality, time and memory. Theatre, dance, storytelling and text all mashed into a solo performance.”

Concordia connection:

Playwright,  director, choreographer and designer: Kevin Segal, BFA 86, BFA 89

4. Cosmic Origin

The pitch: “They thought incognito deployment to Planet Earth would be fun, yet they had no idea preparation for this multidimensional mission would take them on such a psychedelic journey.”

Concordia connection:

Dramaturge: Sue Proctor, MFA 13

5. flying on the G

The pitch: “flying on the G is a multidisciplinary performance that brings together contemporary dance and theatre.”

Concordia connection:

Co-playwright, -director, -choreographer and -designer: Eylul Bozok, BFA (contemporary dance) 21

6. Le chant de l’infirmière

The pitch: « Dans une maison de retraite, Antonia, ancienne actrice, vit ses derniers instants sous le regard de l’infirmière. Elle rejoue avant de mourir les grands moments de sa vie. »

Concordia connection:

Collaborator : Anne-Marie St-Louis, BFA (theatre and development) 17

7. Midsummer Bushwa

The pitch: “A prohibition-era performance that is sexy, silly and poignant. There will be vaudeville, circus, contemporary dance, historical fiction, social commentary and sketch theatre all merged into one uproariously fun performance loosely inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Concordia connection:

Co-writers: Adalia Pemberton-Smith (contemporary dance student) and Sari Hoke (contemporary dance student); director: Pemberton-Smith; choreographers/dancers: Heather Anderson, Helen-Olivia Brake, Hoke, Marianne Mercier-Dulac, Pemberton-Smith, Rafa Tremblay Van Zuiden (contemporary dance student); actor: Cindy Bastien (acting for the theatre student); performance artist: Sara Guitérrez (contemporary dance student)

8. No Justice No Peace

The pitch: “Robyn doesn’t believe in coincidences. So, when she finds herself being saved by a mysterious vigilante whom everybody says murdered the city’s most revered superhero, her investigative mind takes over.”

Concordia connection:

Collaborator: Mel Pickering (acting for the theatre student)

9. Pig-Nosed Child: Exclusion & Inclusion

The pitch: “This dance piece explores the difference between exclusion and inclusion. It speaks of people who have either intellectual, mental, visual, auditory and/or physical differences and their experiences.”

Concordia connection:

Program officer dance department for the Canada Council, the Program Explore and Create: Lys Stevens, BFA (contemporary dance) 99; dancer/choreographers: Maureen Shea, Tiera Joly Pavelich (contemporary dance students)

10. Seven

The pitch: “Seven is a physical interpretation of the album Music Inspired by the Group of Seven by Canadian indie-rock band the Rheostatics.”

Concordia connection:

Choreographer: Brittney Canda, BFA (contemporary dance) 17

11. SIRE: a father-daughter vampire story

The pitch: “A vampire aged by heartbreak and hard knocks has raised a human woman from her infancy. Now in his sunset years, as his undead immortality stretches on and on, it is she who cares for him.”

Concordia connection:

Playwright: Darragh Mondoux, BA (Western society and culture, Irish studies) 20; director: Calder Levine, BEd (TESL) 18

12. Strangers

The pitch: “Just as Rhu and her partner are starting to plan their future together, Rhu’s life is turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of her estranged sister. A poignant look at what it means to have — and choose — a family.”

Concordia connection:

Playwright: Masha Bashmakova, BFA (performance creation) 20; director: J.R. Weisser, BFA (performance creation) 21; assistant director: Camille Fecteau (performance creation student); stage manager: Camille Lapointe, BFA (performance creation) 20; actors: Elly Pond (acting for the theatre student), Noah Singer (acting for the theatre student)

13. The Adoption

The pitch: “The Adoption is the story of a young person who chooses to become a solo parent to an adopted child — a decision that ripples through their chosen family circle.”

Concordia connection:

Actor: Amanda McQueen, BFA (theatre performance) 11

14. The Mentorship

The pitch: “Laurie, an indie director, and her partner, Lana, have been requested to meet with Charlie Jones, a famous Hollywood director, about a potential mentorship.”

Concordia connection:

Collaborator: Elizabeth Nyveen, BFA (design for the theatre) 19

15. The Murder Next Door

The pitch: “Based on transcripts from real interviews that took place in three Canadian towns experiencing familicide, The Murder Next Door explores how communities respond to traumatic acts of violence. This participatory research event invites audiences to contribute to a trauma preparedness plan and discuss possible ways to heal a fractured community.”

Concordia connection:

Director: Murdoch Schon, BFA (theatre and development) 16; testimonials in the piece are drawn from the work of Rosemary Reilly, professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences

16. Tiny Stories & Strange Prayers from the Great Unknown

The pitch: “A multidisciplinary poem-like story time spun from good conversations between rocks, queer legend-ballads of an emotionally secure cowboy, a dancing hunter monk, weeping oceans, holy chickens and sexy puppet cactus dreamscapes.”

Concordia connection:

Performer: Xdzunúm Trejo, BFA (contemporary dance) 20

17. We’re Not the Horrible Ones

The pitch: “Saving the city, vanquishing supervillains, fighting evil... All in a day’s work for a superhero. But what happens when the hero gets a little too caught up in being a hero?”

Concordia connection:

Playwright: Lucas Amato, BFA (playwriting) 18

18. Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate on Suicide if She Were Filipino?

The pitch: “Lemar is a dark-skinned working-class Filipino immigrant. Warren is the light-skinned son of rich immigrant parents. After matching on Manhunter, they meet for a night of sex, drugs and mental health. Everything should work out fine: after all, they’re both Filipino; they should have a lot in common — right?”

Concordia connection:

Intimacy coach: Burcu Emeç, BFA (theatre performance) 17

Find out more about Concordia’s departments of Theatre and Contemporary Dance.

The Montreal Fringe Festival runs from May 30 to June 19, 2022.