Toronto Fringe Festival For Kids

I was ten or eleven years old the first time I saw a real play. It was a university production of Our Town and it was like nothing I’d ever seen. The set was minimal — a few props moved around on a black stage — and the acting was different from anything on tv or in the movies. The characters — their words, their movements, their emotions — were projected into the audience and part of you was carried up onto that stage. I loved it.

A few years later I happened upon an extraordinary drama program in an ordinary high school. My teacher, Kathleen Gallagher, went on to earn her PhD in theatre education and is now a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University (OISIE, as we like to call it). I studied drama under her in Grades 10 through 13 and learned everything from Stanislavski to set design. Perhaps most important was the introduction to a real local theatre scene such as we have in Toronto. Every year we would see one or two productions as a class, but also had to go to see plays on our own and submit critical reviews. (That’s how I learned about Pay What You Can Sundays at the theatre. Really, check it out.) It wasn’t just about acting, as so many high school drama programs are, but about all aspects of creating, critiquing and enjoying theatre. I thrived in those classes — we all did.

Live theatre is so easy to forget about in our age of the omnipresent, glowing, back-lit screen. So when a cheap and easy opportunity to introduce your children to live local theatre presents itself, make sure to take it. And wouldn’t you know it? The Toronto Fringe festival has just kicked off and will be running until Sunday, July 12. Alongside all the standard Fringe fare are children’s plays at the Palmerston Library. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids and are for sale at the door or online. Kids’ shows fill up on weekends, though, so get there early for tickets and good seats.

And, hey, maybe you’re not sure which show to see? Lucky for you, I’m reviewing them all for Eye Weekly. (All the children’s shows, that is. I’m not superwoman.) All and every Fringe play will be reviewed online at eyeweekly.com and be printed in the paper next Thursday. So please bring your kids, and then sneak out later for more without them.

Also. Many, many cities have fringe festivals, so not living in Toronto is no excuse. Find out when and where your nearest festival is and get ready.