Fringe latest festival forced to exit stage left

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This article was published 16/04/2020 (2375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s summer entertainment cupboard is looking pretty bare.

Ten more days of fun were wiped from the calendar Thursday when the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, scheduled for July 15-26, was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social-distancing guidelines being followed to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, which has run the fringe festival since its inception in 1988, made the decision that was becoming more likely with each passing day, said Chuck McEwen, the fringe’s executive producer.

“With no certainty as to when social-distancing practices, physical-isolation measures and restrictions on public gatherings will be lifted, artists are unable to rehearse, performance venues are closed indefinitely, and we simply cannot plan a successful and safe fringe festival,” McEwen said in a statement.

Festival organizers will contact fringe passholders and performers to make arrangements for refunds, the statement said.

Other Canadian fringe festivals, including those in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton, had already cancelled. The festival waited until Thursday to decide, McEwen said, because it was getting close to the time when people would be hired, venues would need to be booked and equipment would need to be ordered.

Virtually all productions that use the Canadian fringe festival circuit as a summer-long tour had already cancelled plans to perform at fringe festivals in 2020, said Lucy Eveleigh, president of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, an umbrella group that unites fringe fests in Canada and the United States.

In the meantime, the Winnipeg fringe considered other options to keep the festival going, but they didn’t work out, McEwen said later in a telephone interview.

“We extended the deadline to (fringe performers) to the end of April, and we considered moving to August or September like the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and Pride Winnipeg,” McEwen said. “We considered a local event only. We had various plans.

“But we had to make sure everyone attending could be safe, and also whether they’ll feel safe getting together again.”

The Winnipeg fringe sold about 98,000 tickets to about 170 different productions in 2019, and McEwen says ticket sales are usually around the 100,000 mark.

“It’ll be tight for the festival and for RMTC, but (the fringe cancellation) won’t significantly affect us,” he said, adding it will be the performers who will be hit the hardest, because they receive all the ticket revenue.

Members of Hunks, a local improv group that sells out most of its Winnipeg fringe shows each year, earn a large portion of their money from the fringe shows, Tim Gray, a member of the troupe, told the Free Press earlier this week. Hunks has recently taken to performing on YouTube to reach its regular audience and find new fans, he said.

Also cancelled Thursday was the annual Real Love Festival, which was scheduled for July 24-26 near Teulon.

Organizers of the Red River Ex, which is scheduled for June 14-23, have yet to decide whether to postpone or cancel the annual midway and carnival. Garth Rogerson, its chief executive officer, said the Ex would not go ahead if there is any risk to the public due to COVID-19.

Winnipeg fringe organizers are now looking to next year, and have set July 14-25, 2021, for the the next festival. In the meantime, McEwen, who has been with the organization since 1989, is having difficulty imagining a July where Old Market Square is silent and fringe fans are fretting about isolation instead of sold-out fringe shows.

Nor can he imagine life without the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, both of which have cancelled for 2020, or Rainbow Stage and Folklorama, which have yet to decide.

“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get through this health crisis and still get the chance later to come together as a community,” he said. “If we’re not able to get together, it’ll be a real sad summer.”

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall