Twenty years of Fringe

By Walter J. Lyng

There’s only one Montreal festival that incorporates experimental theatre, comedy, roller derby and strip spelling bees in one unique package: the Fringe Festival. Turning 20 this year, the Fringe Festival will be bidding adieu to it’s long time producer Jeremy Hechtman. Although he will remain involved in the future, he says it’s time he hands over the reigns.

“The festival has changed a lot in the last 20 years and I haven’t changed a lot in the last 20 years,” he says. “It’s a young crowd and I’m not as a young a man as I once was. The festival needs a younger person at the helm.”

Expanding its run to 20 days for its anniversary edition, the Fringe Fest will offer all of the classic oddities people have come to expect over the years plus a variety of new attractions.

“I’m looking forward to the roller derby,” says Hechtman of one of the newest events. “It’s not exactly theatre per se. I went to see the roller derby league last year with my wife and kids and we all just loved it. I called them up immediately and said we’ve got to do this as part of Fringe next year.”

Hechtman also expressed enthusiasm over the festival’s new take on the drive-in movie. “We’re doing a bike-in movie,” he says.

“You ride your bike along the Lachine bike path to the St. Ambroise Brewery where we’re going to have a barbecue and show a movie and have an all-star improv jam going on there.”

And let’s not forget that strip spelling bee. “It’s exactly what it sounds like,” he says.

Far from being the fledgling festival it once was, the Fringe Fest has come to carve out a proper identity amidst Montreal’s festival season. It may have grown over the years, but Hechtman says the festival has always stayed true to its purpose. “We pretty well established our little niche,” he says.

“It’s not to say that we’re rolling in money like the Jazz Festival or Just For Laughs or anything like that. But it’s not the point at all. We’re an artists first festival. The festival is produced by artists for artists. It’s a place where the audience can come and see artists really given the free range to experiment and do whatever they want.”

One way the festival has changed, he explains, is that it is no longer looked at by artists exclusively as a stepping stone towards bigger and better things. “Fringe was always talked about as being a bridge from people’s theatre education to their professional career,” he says.

“But we’re now more part of their professional career than ever.”

The Fringe Festival runs from June 1-20. For more information, visit www.montrealfringe.ca.