| The fourth annual Calgary International Fringe Festival will not happen this summer, according to a local organizer associated with the event.
Dennis Cahill, artistic director of the Loose Moose Theatre Company, says that the company’s move out of the Garry Theatre in Inglewood this year has not only affected Loose Moose, but also the future of the offbeat theatre festival.
"The Calgary International Fringe Festival is a separate organization from Loose Moose," says Cahill. "However, the Loose Moose offered a lot of support for the festival, including office space and a primary venue that also acted as a hub for activities. Since we don’t have that venue any longer, and barely enough office space to operate Loose Moose activities, the Calgary fringe is on hiatus for this year.
"Once we are up and running again, we will review what kind of support we can offer (the festival)," he adds.
Loose Moose vacated the Garry and the community of Inglewood in January after the company and the Garry’s owner, John Kerr, failed to come to terms on a new lease agreement. Current plans for the historic building include converting it into a furniture store.
News that the Calgary fringe is off doesn’t appear to have reached artists or the other Inglewood and Ramsay venues in which the festival has previously been staged during August.
Crump Manor, which has been used as a fringe venue since the event began in 2000, is still awaiting word. Isabel Lehmann, who is responsible for bookings at Crump, says she has not heard from anyone associated with the fringe fest about plans to cancel this year’s event, but then in 2002 she didn’t hear anything until closer to the time.
"Last year they didn’t phone me until two weeks before the event," Lehmann says. "They haven’t called me yet."
Theatre groups from as far away as England have also been left in the dark by Calgary’s fringe organizers. Quick Change Theatre of Manchester, England, currently on its seventh annual tour of the Canadian fringe festival circuit, has been given no indication about the Calgary event’s status.
"No idea about this year’s Calgary fringe, I’m afraid!" says Sarah Quick, founder of Quick Change. "Most of the applications for the Canadian fringe tour happen at the beginning of the year, but Calgary’s is always notoriously last minute. However, having heard nothing about it so far leads me to believe that there is not one this year."
At least one local group, Theatre Utopia, is concerned that a one-year hiatus could spell the end of a fringe festival in Calgary. To prevent future disappointment, the company is already making plans to mount a "fringe-type" theatre festival of its own in Inglewood in the summer of 2004.
Dawn L. Ford, artistic director of the group, says that there is a demand for such a festival in Calgary and if the Calgary fringe is not resurrected then her group is ready to step in and fill the void.
"We are currently trying to conceptualize an Inglewood festival to propose to the community," says Ford. "We have so many students and young adults creating new theatre that we need an outlet for them to be able to perform, and without a fringe it is very difficult. If there’s no fringe, we need to look to provide other opportunities."
After years as the only major Canadian city without a fringe theatre festival, Calgary finally got its own fringe three years ago. The event started small but had been growing in the last few years. Unless there is a last-minute rescue of the 2003 festival, fans of fringe theatre will be forced to head to Edmonton next month, where Canada’s oldest and largest fringe celebrates its 22nd year from August 14 to 24. |
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