Fringe notebook: Festival impact, PTE venues, Plan V

After the first night of his one-man show Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjoes Saved My Life (Venue 17), Virginia-based writer/performer Keith Alessi told the sold-out crowd it was the Free Press’s five-star review of his 2019 Winnipeg fringe debut, when he had only ever done around 20 shows, that changed the trajectory of his career.

Storyteller Alessia’s Winnipeg biographical show only goes until Sunday this year, and then he’s off to another run at the famed Edinburgh Festival Fringe in early August, where he sold out his run in both 2023 and 2024.

Alessi donates all his artist fees to cancer and arts charities; those donations have now surpassed $1 million.

Fringers heading to shows at venues 16 and 17 should be aware that there is only one entrance to Portage Place open after 6 p.m., with no signage on any of the other doors, building or street.

The doors between Edmonton and Kennedy streets are the only way to access the Prairie Theatre Exchange venues for evening shows, but there is no information posted letting people know what doors to use, resulting in a lot of frustrated patrons and volunteers trying to open locked doors and walking around the entire mall looking for a way in.

The shopping centre is undergoing renovations, so there is fencing around part of the building; parts of the mall and skywalk aren’t accessible at all.

At the end of her one-woman show Plan V: The Rise of Reverence, Eleanor O’Brien told the audience she hopes to host an actual Plan V meeting in Winnipeg.

The Portland, Ore., writer/actor’s show — at Venue 10 until July 27 — focuses on a gathering billed as “a revolutionary act of resistance where intimate stories of joy and grief are shared in sacred defiance.”

The performer wants to get together with attendees to make “pussy art” and offer a feminist forum. People can indicate their interest by messaging O’Brien via her website.

arts@freepress.mb.ca