After a rocky post-pandemic recovery, Toronto's Fringe Fest finds stable ground

It's been a roller-coaster five years for the Toronto Fringe Festival.

In 2020, it was cancelled completely thanks to the pandemic. In 2021, it went digital.

The next three years were tough in different ways: the festival returned to in-person shows with disappointing audience numbers, temporarily lost a critical provincial grant, and cut down the number of shows it presented by a fifth. 

This year, says Toronto Fringe Festival executive director Rachel Kennedy, "I think we're in a really good spot." 

"Fringe has now placed things in a way that feels really good for us," she continued. "We're seeing the numbers corroborate that … it's definitely an upward trajectory." 

There are a couple of signs that the Fringe Festival, which began on July 2nd and runs through this weekend, may be getting its groove back. 

This year, the festival has expanded back to 100 shows, with steady audience numbers, says Kennedy.  And, as of Thursday, it's surpassed $500,000 at the box office, all of which goes back to the artists. 

"That's half a million dollars going directly into artist pockets through the Fringe," all of whom are chosen by lottery, she said. 

"It's more than last year." 

The 'Avengers' of Toronto theatre 

Kennedy spoke to CBC Toronto on the patio next to Soulpepper Theatre, in the Distillery District — a new venue for Fringe, and, says Kennedy, a key part of this year's success. 

Late last year, Fringe signed on to a three year agreement with four other theatre companies, including Soulpepper, to "try to share knowledge and resources," said Kennedy. 

Called the Creative Collaboration Initiative, the agreement also includes Obsidian Theatre, The Musical Stage Company, and Bad Hats Theatre. 

"We actually had someone comment online and say, 'this is the Avengers of Toronto theatre,'" laughed Kennedy. 

The festival also expanded its offerings this year when it comes to genre, with a slate of musicals running at Theatre Passe Muraille as a Fringe satellite program. 

21:08Britta Johnson turned her teenage grief into an acclaimed musical

Britta Johnson is a Canadian composer and playwright whose award-winning musical “Life After” follows a 16-year-old girl grappling with the death of her father. Loosely inspired by her own experiences, the show originally debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2016, but later this month, it will return to Toronto at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre. Britta sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the massive success of “Life After” and what it means to bring the show back to the city where it all began. If you enjoy this conversation, check out Tom Power’s chat with playwright Katori Hall on “The Tina Turner Musical.”

A festival that feels 'robust' 

All of the rebuilt momentum means artists like Vancouver's Naomi Steinberg, appearing at the Toronto Fringe for the first time, can find new audiences.

Steinberg's show, designed for children and called 'Goosefeather Kamishibai,' builds on a traditional style of Japanese storytelling that uses a wooden frame with pictures inside to weave a performance. 

"I was the very last person pulled in the kids' fringe section [artist lottery]. And I cannot tell you how exciting it was," she said backstage at Soulpepper after one of her performances. 

Patricia Allison, a former Fringe performer herself who mentors independent theatre-makers and artists at a Toronto organization called Generator, says she can feel a change in the wind this year. 

"This year's festival has felt really robust. The shows I've gone to have been really well-attended," she said — a relief after the "precarity" she watched them navigate after the pandemic. 

"A lot of artists and a lot work comes out of there," continued Allison. "We need to make sure that it's around for years to come."