Picks of the Fringe

Vote for Picks of the Fringe in Person

Are you a Patron, Volunteer, or Critic? Visit the ATB Community patio to vote! Chat with our Volunteers to get your
ballot. Write down your name and the name of your favourite show on that ballot. Put your vote in the ballot box. It’s as simple as that!

1. Visit the ATB Community Patio.
2. Find the Ballot Box that best represents your fringing experience.
3. Grab a blank ballot and write down the Name of the Show you’d like to vote for.
4. Drop your ballot into the ballot box!

There are multiple ways to show your fav Fringe show some love. Spread the word to your friends, see the show more than once, or vote! Make your top show a Picks of the Fringe award winner! These awards mean a lot to our artists, so give them a chance to win the Patrons’ Pick award.

Past Picks of the Fringe Winners

2024 Picks of the Fringe:

Patron’s Pick: 27 Pictures

Media Pick: Rob and Chris (Bonny + Tina) – A Musical

Staff Pick: The S.P.O.T.T.

Artists’ Pick: WINNING: Winning

Volunteer’s Pick: Local Diva: The Danielle Smith Diaries

2023 Picks of the Fringe

Patron’s Pick:  Krampus: A New Musical– Straight Edge Theatre (Edmonton, CA)

Media Pick: The Clover Report – A World War II Story About Heroic Girl Guides – The Musicalmania! Production Co. (St. Alberta, CA)

Staff Pick: Rat Academy – Batrabbit Productions (Edmonton, CA)

Artists’ Pick: Forest of Truth – Theatre Gumbo (Osaka, JP)

Volunteers’ Pick: Titanical the Musical -Mermaid Theatre Entertainment (Edmonton, CA)

2022 Picks of the Fringe

Patron’s Pick: The House that F*cks – 50% Fruit Productions (Calgary, CA)

Media Pick: Generic Male: Just What We Need Another Show About Men – PUSH Physical Theatre (Rochester, US)

Staff Pick: Re:Construct -Donkey Dog Theatre (Edmonton, CA)

Artists’ Pick: 1-MAN NO-SHOW – ZeekTech Productions (Hollywood North, CA)

Volunteers’ Pick (3-Way TIE):

•  Josie and Grace – Dynamite Lunchbox (Orlando, Florida, US)
• Josephine, in Concert – Dynamite Lunchbox (Orlando, Florida, US)
• The House that F*cks – 50% Fruit Productions (Calgary, CA)

2020 “Picks” of the “Fringe”

In 2020 for the first time in our history, we cancelled the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival due to the pandemic. In its place, we hosted Fringe that Never Was: an 11-day digital celebration connecting artists and audiences. In support of the devastating cancellation, we asked fringers to donate a $10 ticket to a show they’d never see, and then vote for their favourite made-up shows. The 2020 “Picks” of the “Fringe” absolutely, 100% did not happen but these completely unbelievable show descriptions captured the joy and spirit of Fringe. We are so grateful to all the
generous artists who shared their creativity through wildly imaginative (and often impossible) made-up show descriptions in support of our unprecedented Tears, Beers, and Tickets You’ll Never Use fundraising campaign.

Best Alternative to a Zoom Call: This is a Real Show – Real Theatre Theatre Company (imagined by Makram Ayache)

In this very real and not at all fake show, real people take to a real stage and perform for real. They address real things. It gets real. But it’s really funny too. Until the end, then it’s so real you’re crying. It’s the most 2020 things you could really watch.

Most Likely to Make the Technician Cry: McCrackin 4: Dead on Arrival – Accidental Humour Co. (imagined by Accidental Humour Co.)

From the creators of Happy Whackin Jim McCrackin, and the other ones, comes another installment of their beloved action franchise. Join a cast of dozens of returning characters from across Accidental Humour Co.’s 10-year history as they work together to help the definitely-still-dead McCrackin complete one last job. Featuring smoke and laser effects, 50 cinema-resolution projectors, a fully destructible set, a decommissioned army helicopter, and a 20-piece orchestra featuring the Edmonton Youth and Children’s Choir.

So Good I wish I’d Thought It Up: (a TIE!)

Gopher Hole, The Musical – Small Matters Productions (imagined by Small Matters Productions)

Fur flies at breakneck speed in this 47 diorama, all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza featuring a cast of 179 humans dressed as gophers, dressed as humans. “Gopher Hole Museum – The Musical” is based on Clem T. GoFur’s 1996 unauthorized autobiography, “Murder in the Burrow.”

Six Feet Over – Ai-Site Productions (imagined by Ai-Site Productions)

The gravity of her situation had been a constant. But overnight it changed. “It” being the physics of her body. But only her body. No one else. And she could suddenly rise above. This was the freedom she had always wanted. The freedom of living on her own personal plane. Six feet above! Six feet above every earthly surface. Six feet above every earthly being. Six feet above every earthly object. Including her bed, her desk, her car, the door to the grocery store, the toilet…a life of walking on air… be careful what you wish for….

Best Show I’ve Never Seen: Slapshot Kids – Northern Sabbatical Productions (imagined by Linda Wood Edwards)

Join us for the long-awaited theatrical production of the 1977 cult classic Slapshot (screenplay by Nancy Dowd) – performed by baby goats in hockey pajamas! Directed by John Huston, with fight choreography by Dave Semeko and costumes by Dame Edith Head. Forget treading the boards this Fringe – Slapshot Kids will slam you into the boards with laughter, heart, and old-time hockey. So, drop your (kid) gloves, head to our arena, and join us in the battle of the bleats. Language warning: Goats have potty mouths.

2019 Picks of the Fringe

Patron’s Pick: Minerva, Queen of the Handcuffs – Ghostwriter Theatre (Edmonton, CA)

Critics’ Choice Media Pick: Are You Lovin’ it? – Theatre Group GUMBO (Osaka, JP)

Staff Pick: Queen Lear is Dead – Fox Den (Edmonton, CA)

Artists’ Pick: LARRY – Candy Bones (Vancouver, CA)

Volunteers’ Pick: The Jayne Mansfield Holiday Special – 50% Fruit Productions (Edmonton, CA)

Outdoor Artist Award: Street Circus – The Street Circus (Winnipeg, CA)

2018 Picks of the Fringe

Patrons’ Pick: An Anthology of Ghastly Tales – Fiddle Dee Dee Productions

Media Pick: Macbeth Muet – Theatre Surreal SoReal

Staff Pick: Josephine – Dynamite Lunchbox Entertainment

Artists’ Pick: Fool Munn Komming! – The Invisible Theatre of Minneapolis

Volunteers’ Pick: yegDnD – Sorry, Not Sorry Productions

Outdoor Artist Award: The Plaid Lads – Tony Steinbach & Sam Malcolm

2017 Picks of the Fringe

Patrons’ Pick: 6 Quick Dick Tricks: A Dirk Darrow Investigation – Tim Motley (Elwood, AUS)

Media Pick: The Exquisite Hour – Teatro La Quindicina (Edmonton, CA)

Staff Pick: My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice – Dead Rabbits Theatre Company (London, UK)

Artists’ Pick: You Fucking Earned It – Bouffonatrix (San Francisco, USA)

Volunteers’ Pick: My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice – Dead Rabbits Theatre Company (London, UK)

Outdoor Artist Award: Sharon from Canada – Sharon Mahoney

2016 Picks of Fringe

Patrons’ Pick: Bella Culpa – A Little Bit Off

Media Pick & Staff Pick: The Dragon – Dead Rabbits Theatre Company

Artists’ Pick: Falling Awake – RAGMOP

Volunteers’ Pick: Icarus – Rob Gee