If this is September, Plank Magazine at the Vancouver Fringe Festival

Andrew Templeton
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The 24th annual Vancouver International Fringe Festival kicks off today with its opening gala and party and so does Plank Magazine’s extensive coverage of this Vancouver theatrical institution. I say theatrical but of course Fringe Festivals have long diversified their content to include sketch comedy, one-person shows, dance, puppets and lots of shows with the word sex or its many variants in the title. As unjuried events, this naturally reflects the interests (or obsessions) of the performing arts communities themselves rather than those who manage our Fringe Festivals. What it says about our performing arts communities, I’m not sure but I imagine someone at some academic institution is making a study of it.

This year’s edition of the Festival, which runs until September 14, will feature more than 500 performances by nearly 70 groups at various venues around Granville Island, nearby Studio 16 and a handful of "bring-your-own venues" around the city. And Plank Magazine will be there every step of the way. We are employing a team of 12 reviewers who will flood the Festival and review every show. Yes, every single show. Our goal is to have taken in and reviewed all the productions by the end of the first weekend. This is a massive undertaking for a little online publication with no resources but we’re confident we’re up to the challenge. Given the turn around time, reviews should start appearing on Friday and will continue appearing over the first week of the Festival.

But wait, there’s more! We will also be hosting online reviews from Fringe-goers themselves. So if you’ve found a show that you loved and want the world to know or have seen a show that has inspired ire and sarcasm, Plank Magazine and its handy Fringe review forum is for you. We will be launching this feature in time for the start of the Festival program which begins properly on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to David Jordan and his Fringe team in helping to set this up.

This just keeps getting more fun.