Click on a play title to see reviews by the Hamilton Fringe Community Reviewers.
Your comments are welcome.
Attics
Unicorn Productions, Burlington, ON
Written and directed by Sondra Learn
Cast: Kyla McCall, Aliix Whyte, Valeri Kay
Genre: Original Drama with music
General Audience
Warnings: Language
A drama about three women, each in their own attic, who discover long-forgotten memories of grief, despair and dreams long-lost.
Canada’s Heroic Farces
Creative Green Projects, Hamilton, ON
www.eco5.ca
Written and Directed by Peter Ormond and Dea Cappelli Clark
General Audience
Canada’s history is loaded with thoughtful heroes and heroines who unselfishly advanced the fields of Communications, Energy, Transportation, Sports, Medicine, Food and more. Their contributions were meant to benefit the world. But did they?
Christmas Eve at the Julibee Motel
Bandler Corporation, Dundas, ON
www.bander.com/motel
Written by John Bandler
Directed by Micheal Anania
Cast: Monica Cairney and Duncan Thompson
General Audience
Genre: Psychological Drama
Warnings: Language, Mature Content and prop weapons
Christmas Eve finds Cassie about to lock up her remote, bare-bones Julibee Motel when an icy rainstorm sweeps the well-heeled Mick into her lobby.
Dianne and Me
Jade Sky Productions, Hamilton, ON
Written by Ron Fromstein
Directed by Jaclyn Scobie Scoger
Cast: Taryn Jorgenson
Comedy/Drama
General Audience
Warnings: Some Mature Content
What makes a mother? For Emma, a growingly independent young teenager, her mother, Dianne, is someone she just does not understand.
Emotional Baggage
MetaPhysical Theatre, Toronto, ON
www.metaphysicaltheatre.com
Written and Performed by David Langlois
Originally directed by Miles Cohen; Hamilton Fringe directed by: Ms. Renée Baillargeon
Genre: Clown/Physical Comedy
General Audience
Warnings: None
Seated in the small town bus station sits Julius Manly, dressed in his three-piece suit with his bags packed, eagerly awaiting the bus that will take him to New York City.
Everything You’ve Ever Needed to Know About Women For Dummies
The Dream Chasers, Toronto, ON
Written, Directed and Performed by Tomy Bewick, Leviathan Grant, Dwayne Morgan
Comedy, Poetry, Drama
Mature Audiences
Warnings: Language and Mature Subject Matter
In Everything You’ve Ever Needed to Know About Women for Dummies, three absolutely clueless men try to give insight on the inner workings on the World’s most complicated creation, women!
Fishbowl
Mark Shyzer, Toronto, ON
www.shyzer.ca/fishbowl
Director: Evalyn Parry
Written and Performed by Mark Shyzer
Genre: One Man Comedy
General Audience
Warnings: Language and Mature Subject Matter
Shockingly funny and equally moving, Fishbowl slyly reveals the connections between five wildly different (and outrageously hilarious) characters all played by writer/performer Mark Shyzer.
Grouch on a Couch
Mister Froggy Theatre, Toronto, ON
www.JeffCottrill.com
Director: Jason Morneau
Written and Performed by Jeff Cottrill
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Mature Audience
Warnings: Language and Mature Content. Not recommended for children.
What can a certain famous TV grouch (no names mentioned) do when he’s ordered to undergo psychiatric counselling?
I’ll Be Seeing You
Quarter to Nine Productions, Grimsby, ON
www.quarter2nineproductions.com
Written by Peter Gruner and Shari Vandermolen
Genre: Musical Comedy
General Audience
Warnings: some strong language
Two friends reunite after a three-year absence with the purpose of creating a musical revue to open the new Arts Centre.
In Between Places
Make.Art.Theatre, Hamilton, ON
Directed by Aaron Joel Craig. Written by Aaron Joel Craig & Ryan M. Sero
Genre: Madcap Comedy
General Audience
Warnings: Use of balloons. Pretension.
An office-worker who has given up on his dream of writing is visited one night by four strange beings who claim that they want to help him recapture his childhood aspirations.
Joe’s Cafe
Rupert Wates and Friends, New York City, New York, USA
www.sonicbids.com/joescafe
Directed by Rupert Wates
Genre: Musical Revue
Mature Audience
Warnings: Mature Content
JOE’S CAFE is a musical revue comprising songs based on true stories.
Kipling’s Just So Stories
Deodar Productions, Toronto, ON
Playwright: Rudyard Kipling
Director: Jillian Rees-Brown
Cast Heather Hilliard – Storyteller, Ed Hanley – Musician
Genre: Fun Family Show
Family Audience
Warnings: None
Kipling’s Just So Stories features three of Kipling’s children’s stories: The Elephant’s Child, The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo, and The Beginning of the Armadillos.
Lambs in Winter
Riverslea Productions, Hamilton, ON
www.lambsinwinter.com
Playwright: Ray Rivers
Director: Julian Nicholson
Cast: Barbara Worthy and Ray Rivers
Genre: Dramatic Comedy
Mature Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content, Partial Nudity, Possible Gunshots
If you’ve seen the ‘Graduate’ and the ‘Big Chill’ then you need to see ‘Lambs In Winter’.
Married to a Jackass Blues
Jackass Blues, Ottawa, ON
www.SerenaWilliamson.com
Written, Directed and Performed by Serena Williamson
Genre: Comedy, Looking for Love
Mature Audience
Warnings: Some Mature Content
Married to a Jackass Blues is a one-woman musical comedy that pokes gentle fun at the trials and tribulations of single life in the 21st century.
New Talent
Theatre Erebus Inc., Hamilton, ON
www.theatre-erebus.ca
Written and directed by Brian Morton
Cast: Anna Ross, Gregory Cruikshank
Genre: Alternative drama
Mature Audience (18 and over)
Warnings: Sexually explicit, Worst environmental disaster in Canadian history
Not suitable for Children.
On the first day of Hamilton’s Plastimet Recycling Plant fire in July 1997, a young woman makes a choice that will haunt her for the rest of her life…
Nicholas Wallace: Ten Million to One
Nick Wallace, Vineland, ON
www.nickwallace.com
Playwright: Nick Wallace/Tony Wallace
Director: Tony Wallace
Cast: Nick Wallace
Genre: Interactive one-man illusion/mind reading show
General Audience
Warnings: Scenes of simulated danger. May not be suitable for very young children.
Expect quite a bit of the unexpected, and a whole lot more of the unexplainable.
Purple
Goodstock Inc., Hamilton, ON
http://www.purplefringe.110mb.com
Playwright: Grant Winestock & Max Rose Begg Goodis
Director: Grant Winestock & Max Rose Begg Goodis
Cast: Brett Winestock, Samantha Curtin, Nicole Harper, Tyler Brent, Kristi Boulton, Farhang Ghajar, Kathleen Quinn, Matt Bandura, Dave Disher, Liam Caldwell, Sierra Tischler, Melissa Bell, Beekaa Abraham, Jimmy Skembaris.
Genre: Dark Comedy
Mature Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content, Strobe Light, Gun Shots
Matilda’s new pet pig, “Pigsteen,” is purple, three headed and causing quite a stir in Allemangia.
Saucy Jack
Tethersend Productions, Toronto, ON
Playwright: Doug McLauchlan
Cast: Doug McLauchlan as Jack the Ripper
Genre: A tragicomedy about a serial killer
Mature Audience
Warnings: Language and Mature Content
Jack the Ripper is coming to Hamilton. Will the streets be safe? Is he evil or just misunderstood?
Soul Song
Soul Song Productions, Burlington, ON
www.colleenaynn.com
Playwright: a collective creation including poems by Maya Angelou, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Melissa M. Bowers
Directors: Colleen Aynn, Ellen Wilkes Irmisch
Cast: Colleen Aynn, Kaiti Dayman, Dorothy Fairbairn, Reanne Ghadban, Dr. Valerie-Dawn Girhiny, Ellen Wilkes Irmisch, Ian Irmisch, Chris Kerba, Alexa Missios, Carrie Thomas
Genre: Music, Comedy, Dance
General Audience
Warnings: N/A
Breath. Life. In certain cultures when a woman knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they stay until they hear the song of the unborn child.
The Boat People
Red Pocket Collective, Toronto, ON
http://rpcboatpeople.blogspot.com
Playwright: Sylvia Vuong
Director: Jeff Yung
Genre: Tragedy, Drama, Love Story
General Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content, Gun Shots
The story of a daughter, Amy, on her journey in uncovering her family’s history in order to understand her father, Tuan.
The End
Clip Clop Productions, Hamilton, ON
Playwright: Sara Weber
Director: A.J. Haygarth
Cast: Sara Weber, Ryan Trepanier
Genre: Original Drama
General Audience
Warnings: None
A young couple, Charlie and Kate are about to embark on the biggest adventure of their married life.
The Hefner Monologues
John Hefner, Cabin John, Maryland, USA
www.thehefner.com
Directed by Lydia Ballard. Written and Performed by John Hefner
Genre: One-person comedy/romance
General Audience
Warnings: Language and Mature Content
First love. First heartbreak. First visit to the Playboy Mansion.
The Mixed Tape
Sean Hauk and Friends, Brantford, ON
www.triplethreat.ca
Playwright / Director: Sean Hauk
Cast: Sean Hauk and special guests at each show!
Genre: Song, dance, comedy, audience participation, fun
Family Audience
Warnings: None
A variety show that includes a generous helping of musical theatre smothered in Pop, Rock n’ Roll, with just a Dash of Opera. The show includes song, dance, comedy and audience participation.
The State of New York v Peter Pan
Yet Another Law & Order Production Toronto, ON
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115873045117152
Playwright: Paul Koster
Director: Herbie Barnes
Genre: Fractured Fairytale
General Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content, Clap if you believe in fairies
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.
The Whores
FishStick Productions, Toronto, ON
www.fishstick.ca
Playwright: Charles Crosby
Director: Tanisha Taitt
Cast: Sarah Illiatovitch – Goldman, Hayley Fisher, Jennifer Kenneally, Clare Blackwood, Joanne Williams
Genre: Alternative Drama
Mature Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content, Strobes and Nudity
As a journalism student in 1994, Charles Crosby wrote an expose on prostitution in Halifax, His interviews with the various sex workers eventually became the basis for this play.
Turne Around
The Shooting Eye, Hamilton, ON
www.shootingeye.com
Playwright: Aaron Lam
Director: Aaron Lam
Cast: Matt Szpirglas, Matthew David Lupal, Vivienne Mathers, Doug Massey, Jeremy Major, Christena Hampson-Covello.
Genre: Adventure/Romance/Humour
General Audience
Warnings: N/A
1940s New York. An alternate reality. After years of fighting overseas, the war is over and superheroes are returning to American soil.
Visa Called This Morning
Jen Gallant Productions, Toronto, ON
http://visacalledthismorning.weebly.com
Written and Performed by Jen Gallant
Director: Anne Marie Scheffler
Genre: Comedy
General Audience
Warnings: Language
Her creditors are calling. Her bank accounts are freezing. There’s no more borrowed credit to use. Jen finds herself feeling more like a criminal than a valued customer.
