Winnipeg Fringe Festival back in live action after pandemic pause

The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is finally back in person again after moving online for two years because of the pandemic, bringing with it everything fringers have been missing — plus a few changes.

That means along with over 100 shows, there are buskers and bands on the Old Market Square free stage and a free kids' activities area — moved this year away from the Old Market Square area to Stephen Juba Park on Waterfront Drive — said Fringe Fest executive producer Chuck McEwen.

Other changes this year include a few new venues organizers had to scramble to find after some of the regular sites from past years were unavailable — either because they were undergoing renovations or not yet open to the public when the festival, which opened Wednesday, was in the planning stages months ago, McEwen said.

So if you find yourself at Portage Place Shopping Centre, for example, you'll see two vacant storefronts that have been temporarily converted into theatre spaces.

"We're not a stranger to building theatres in unusual locations. We've done it before: art galleries, storefronts, retail locations," McEwen said.

Portage Place was already home to two longstanding Fringe venues on its third floor — the Prairie Theatre Exchange mainstage space and its smaller Colin Jackson Studio.

But with finding new spaces, "there's challenges regarding, you know, is there enough power for all the lighting equipment and is there access to washrooms and is it wheelchair accessible? So all those factors go into whether we can decide to make a space a main Fringe venue," said McEwen.

"The mall ticked off all those boxes and they were willing to let us rent them from them."

It took about two-and-a-half weeks to set up those spaces, he said, which were ready just in time for the opening of shows like Ingrid Garner's.

The Los Angeles-based performer is returning with her show Eleanor's Story: An American Girl In Hitler's Germany, which previously ran at both the 2015 and 2016 Winnipeg festivals.

The one-woman show, based on her grandmother's memoir detailing her youth as an American caught in Germany during the Second World War, is running in a new space on the second floor of Portage Place, near the mall's fountain.

She opened her latest run there on Thursday night.

"The show went really well. It was a very generous audience. There was, I think it was about 30 people in, and I got a standing ovation," Garner said Friday.

"We're all a little bit cautious coming out of the pandemic — a little bit less energy. But I think things are starting to ramp up and [we're] just so happy to see each other after years."