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37-649: Primarily held in venues in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District , it currently ranks as the second-largest independent fringe theatre festivals in North America. The festival is presented by Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre , the only regional theatre in Canada to produce a fringe festival . The festival has three key principles: Chuck McEwen, former director of the Toronto Fringe Festival ,

74-696: A daughter before he passed away. The first production of Brave Hearts was staged by Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto, where it was a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding New Play, Small Theatre Division in 1991. In 1992 Brave Hearts was included in Making Out , the first significant anthology of gay-themed Canadian plays, alongside works by David Demchuk , Sky Gilbert , Daniel MacIvor , Colin Thomas and Ken Garnhum ; in 2006, it appeared in

111-401: A different theme each year. Some previous themes have been "the F word" (meaning "fringe"), and James Bond . In 2010, the theme was The Big Top, referring to circuses , with a giant, helium-filled balloon floating above Old Market Square. In 2012, for the 25th anniversary edition of the festival, there was no theme as organizers just "wanted people to get their fringe on." In 2014, the theme

148-490: A public market building. Originally located on the site of what is now the Public Safety Building , it was the centre of Winnipeg's early commercial trade. In 1964 to 1965, the original building as well as several nearby structures were razed to make room for the current Civic Centre . In 1970, an "Old Market Square Association" was created to lobby for the preservation and improvement of the site. In 1976,

185-412: A revitalization program began that improved landscaping, drainage, sod and lighting. Developed by Scatliff+Miller+Murray, the new area features a performance space, a sunken event lawn, serpentine seating wall and seating planters encircling elm trees. The focal point of the renovation was "The Cube", a new $ 1.5 million stage, with a skin made up of 20,000 aluminum links. Designed by 5468796 Architecture,

222-507: A rural setting outside of the traditional gay urban meccas of Toronto , Vancouver or Montreal . Born in Canmore, Alberta , Rintoul moved to Winnipeg , Manitoba in childhood. As a young adult he moved to Regina , Saskatchewan for a time, during which he began writing Brave Hearts , but then moved back to Winnipeg and founded Theatre Projects Manitoba . He met the woman he'd marry in Winnipeg, and they moved to rural Manitoba and had

259-531: Is a 220,000-square-foot (20,000 m ) building that features the original façades along Princess Street, and incorporates modern green building technology. The Roblin Centre's construction merged five prominent heritage buildings on Princess Street as well as a 1905 warehouse on William Avenue. It is home to approximately 200 staff and 2,000 students. The Centre has a focus on modern media, information technology, and business. The Paterson GlobalFoods Institute

296-634: Is a new addition to RRC's Exchange District Campus as of 2013. The Institute is located at the Union Bank Building , an 11-storey structure that dates back to 1903, and is the home of the Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism Management and Professional Baking and Patisserie programs. Old Market Square hosts the annual Winnipeg International Jazz Festival , the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival , and

333-899: Is located on the east side of the Exchange District, home to the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre , and Centennial Concert Hall which houses the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra , the Royal Winnipeg Ballet , and the Manitoba Opera . The west side of the Exchange is home to Cinematheque , a small movie theatre located on the main floor of the Artspace building on Albert Street. Red River College 's Roblin Centre

370-441: Is no dominant age group of residents. The district has a lower proportion of visible minorities, with only 13.5%, as compared to 28% for the whole of Winnipeg. Over 30.6% of respondents in the district reported as "Never married (single)", as compared to 31.4% of Winnipeg. The district lends itself to pedestrian travel: over 44.3% of employed respondents stated walking as their primary mode of transportation, significantly higher than

407-603: Is the current executive producer, and has been in charge since 2008. Winnipeg Fringe is modelled on the Edmonton Fringe Festival , providing several venues for performing companies; however, some companies arrange their own venues, which is more akin to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Nonetheless, all venues have paid technicians and volunteer ticket sellers and ushers. The festival's venues are centred in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District with

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444-587: The Manitoba Electronic Music Exhibition . Its cobblestone streets and friendly pedestrian environment also contribute to The Exchange District's popularity as a period backdrop for the movie industry. Most notably the 2006 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Brad Pitt , and the 2006 film The Lookout starring Jeff Daniels . Old Market Square originated in 1889, initially as

481-607: The Manitoba Museum and Planetarium . Roads There are no high speed roads that pass through or near the Exchange District. Regular urban speed limits are observed on Portage Avenue , Main Street on the boundaries of the area. Cycling There is a painted cycling lane along McDermot Avenue between Main Street and the Health Sciences Centre campus. Transit Several transit routes travel through

518-559: The Old Market Square serving as the festival's outdoor hub. However, as the festival has grown, there have also been venues outside that district but still close to Winnipeg's downtown. The performing companies at the festival are both local and from across Canada and around the world. For example, the 2005 festival featured performers from France , Australia , New Zealand , the UK , and South Africa as well as across Canada and

555-722: The Planetarium and a Science Gallery. The Exchange District spans two distinct areas, the East Exchange and the West Exchange . The east Exchange area is located between the Disraeli Freeway, Waterfront Drive, William Stephenson Way, and Main Street , and the West Exchange is bounded by Adelaide Street, Ross Avenue, Notre Dame Avenue, and Main Street. The Exchange District’s name originates from

592-570: The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre cancelled that year's Winnipeg Fringe Festival as a safety precaution. The 2020 festival was scheduled to take place from July 15 to 26. RMTC considered rescheduling the event to late summer or fall but ultimately decided to cancel the physical event. Instead, the RMTC offered free online programming from July 14 to 17 beginning at 7PM nightly. The online festival featured local, national, and international programming including performances from Mike Delamont, Frances Koncan ,

629-593: The Toronto Fringe Festival , became executive producer of the festival. Paid attendance briefly set a record high for North America in 2009 with 81,565 tickets sold, surpassing the previous record of 77,700 set at the 2006 Edmonton Fringe . (However, the Edmonton Fringe festival currently holds the North American record with 104,142 tickets sold in 2011.) In light of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020,

666-584: The United States . The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival opened in 1988 by the Manitoba Theatre Centre , Canada's oldest regional theatre, with Larry Desrochers as the first Executive Producer. In its first year, ticket sales were 14,000 across nine days of performances. That figure rose to 26,000 in 1989—year two of the festival. It climbed to 44,709 in 1999 and was more than 60,000 in 2001. In 2008, Chuck McEwen, former director of

703-689: The Winnipeg Grain Exchange , the former centre of the grain industry in Canada, as well as other commodity exchanges that developed in Winnipeg between 1881–1918, some of which are still active today. (see Winnipeg Commodity Exchange .) Winnipeg was one of the fastest-growing cities in North America around the turn of the 20th century. The city became known as the Chicago of the North. Much of Winnipeg’s remaining architecture of

740-399: The downtown area of Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada . Just one block north of Portage and Main , the Exchange District comprises twenty city blocks and approximately 150 heritage buildings , and it is known for its intact early 20th century collection of warehouses, financial institutions, and early terracotta -clad skyscrapers. The Exchange is home to the Manitoba Museum as well as

777-513: The 4.9% reported for the entire city. The average employment income in the Exchange District is $ 79,831, as compared to $ 61,164 for Winnipeg as a whole. Harry Rintoul Harry Rintoul (December 9, 1956 - January 14, 2002) was a Canadian playwright and theatre director. He was best known for his 1990 play Brave Hearts , which was noted as one of the first significant gay -themed plays in Canadian theatre history to address gay themes in

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814-701: The Coldhearts, Outside Joke, and Anjali Sandhu. Online festival programming was streamed on YouTube and Facebook . The festival returned from a two-year hiatus from live performances in 2022. In 2023, the Fringe introduced a pay-what-you-can model for the five shows presented at the Kids Venue at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People in "an effort to make the festival more affordable for families." That model continued into 2024. The festival has

851-784: The Exchange District: 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 32, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. Boat At one time the Alexander Docks functioned as an urban dock in downtown Winnipeg which tourist riverboat the Paddlewheel Queen and others had used for decades. This has since been shut down and is in the process of being updated. A pedestrian mall was proposed for the area in August 2010 by local architect Brent Bellamy. The proposed pedestrian mall would be located along two blocks of Albert Street to

888-499: The Manitoba Association of Playwrights to recognize the best play written by a Manitoban and performed at the festival. The award was named in memory of Harry Rintoul , a noted playwright from Winnipeg who died in 2002. 49°53′49″N 97°08′13″W  /  49.897°N 97.137°W  / 49.897; -97.137 Exchange District The Exchange District is a National Historic Site of Canada in

925-557: The Old Market Square and closed to automobile traffic. The hope of the mall would be to accentuate the uniqueness of the neighbourhood, attract workers from Portage and Main , and be sustained over the long-term with residential development in the area. The city had issued an RFP in 2007 to redevelop the Alexander Docks site, which had been built by the federal government in 1929. Liberal Senator Rod Zimmer won

962-481: The anthology Perfectly Abnormal: Seven Gay Plays , alongside plays by Greg Kearney , Shawn Postoff , Christian Lloyd , Greg MacArthur , Ken Brand and Michael Achtman . Rintoul's other plays included Life and Times , Refugees , Montana , Jack of Hearts , Between Then and Now , The Convergence of Luke and Lake Nowhere . Following his death in 2002, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights established an annual Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award, presented to

999-597: The bidding process through his proposed $ 10-million development plan which would include a boutique hotel (restaurant, meeting space) and marina . A consortium comprising CentreVenture, the Manitoba Association of Architects, The Forks , the Exchange District BIZ , as well as several architectural firms held an international design competition, On the Docks , in 2018 for the redevelopment of Alexander Docks. Over 200 designs were entered. The winner of

1036-402: The design competition was Cornoiu Sabin of Romania for his "Alexander's Garden". According to the 2016 census , the Exchange District has approximately 0.10% of Winnipeg's population with 630 people (+41.6%), up from 445 at the time of the 2011 census. The Exchange District makes up 0.1% of the city's total land area. The district's population age is wide between early twenties and up; there

1073-649: The early 1980s the streetscaping in the area was improved with the creation of wider sidewalks, historically appropriate street furniture, lighting, and decorative paving patterns and materials. On September 27, 1997, the Winnipeg Exchange District was declared a National Historic Site by then-federal Minister of Canadian Heritage , Sheila Copps . The Exchange District is one of Winnipeg's commercial and cultural centers, with an array of specialty retailers, restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries, wholesalers, and condos. Winnipeg's theatre district

1110-591: The former Public Safety Building and Parkade (c. 1966). CentreVenture is in charge of choosing the design of Marketlands, featuring a farmers market and residential component. The Centennial Centre area is an arts and cultural district that covers a 34-acre area in the East Exchange District, linking several of Manitoba's important arts and cultural facilities, including the Centennial Concert Hall , Manitoba Theatre Centre , and

1147-455: The larger markets on the Eastern seaboard . As wholesale operations began to open in other Western Canadian cities, such as Edmonton, Moose Jaw, and Regina, Winnipeg's importance as a wholesale centre declined in the 1910s and 1920s. By the 1940s, many of the warehouses in the Exchange District had been converted into uses related to the garment trade. As Winnipeg began to experience growth in

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1184-592: The late 1800s and early 1900s is heavily influenced by the Chicago style. By 1911, Winnipeg had become the third largest city in Canada . At the time it had more than two dozen rail lines converging near the city centre, along with over 200 wholesale businesses. World War I and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 slowed Winnipeg's growth, as there was a new route for shipping goods from Eastern Canada and Europe to Western Canada and from East Asia to

1221-443: The national historic trust, Heritage Canada , announced a $ 500,000 grant to towards the purchase and restoration of significant buildings in the Old Market Square area, with a focus on Albert Street and what was then known as "Albert Street Park". The park became the venue for a farmer's market which brought momentum to the rejuvenation of the area. In 1990, a permanent stage was built in the park. Begun in 2008 and completed in 2012,

1258-415: The stage contains a built-in lighting system, green room and two performance levels, and was funded by The Winnipeg Foundation , CentreVenture, and several levels of government. The 28-foot (8.5 m) by 28-foot (8.5 m) cube is composed of a flexible curtain of diamond extrusions strung together. The curtain can be drawn back to reveal the stage within. The cube has not functioned properly since it

1295-486: The years following World War II , much of Winnipeg’s downtown development shifted to the area of downtown south of Portage Avenue , particularly along Broadway and on towards Osborne Village . The lack of new development, mixed with the existing demand for inexpensive wholesaling and manufacturing space, left the Exchange District largely intact. As a result, Winnipeg today has one of the most historically intact early 20th century commercial districts in North America. In

1332-532: Was "We like when you watch." The theme in 2015 was "We're all <blank> here," where the blank was filled in variously. On the program, it was "mad," but on the website for volunteers it was "friends." The theme in 2024 was "Gone Fringin': Venture into Our Neck of the Woods." The Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award for Best New Manitoba Play at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival was established by

1369-469: Was opened in 2010. In summer 2012, the Cube was closed due to concerns about supports for the metal curtain. Repairs for the structure are planned for the spring of 2013 and are expected to include fixes for faulty lights and cooling fans, additional railings and handrails, alterations to the rear of the stage and accessibility improvements. Plans are underway to redevelop the 2.4 acres (0.97 ha) site of

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