Drumroll, please! Tickets on sale now for the first of Fringe Theatre’s 2025/26 Season: 🎭 Tough Guy by Hayley Moorhouse 🎭 Persistent Myth Productions October 28 – November 8, 2025 Backstage Theatre Tough Guy follows a group of friends as they navigate the aftermath of a shooting at Aria, a queer nightclub. They’re all nursing wounds, visible and invisible, and are thrown into further turmoil when their friend Emerson, a rising star in the independent film scene, comes back home to film a documentary about the shooting. How do we go on when the unthinkable happens? What does it mean to point a camera at a catastrophe? How does queerness endure, time and time again? Winner of the 2025 Westbury Family Fringe Theatre Award and the 2025 Alberta Playwriting Competition, Tough Guy is at once an excavation of a tragedy and a celebration of the tenacity of queer joy. It’s gripping, visceral, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, always unapologetic. CAST 🌟Mel Bahniuk 🌟Michelle Diaz 🌟Jasmine Hopfe 🌟Marguerite Lawler 🌟Autumn Strom CREATIVE TEAM ✨Playwright/Producer - Hayley Moorhouse ✨Director - Brett Dahl ✨Stage Manager - Jess Haight ✨Production Manager - Liv Bunge ✨Set/Lighting Designer - Lieke den Bakker ✨Sound Designer - Kena León ✨Projection Designer - Ian Jackson Don’t miss the Fringe season’s first standing ovation. $26 Tickets are on sale now at https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/event/601:6806/ Offer What You Will (OWYW) tickets are available for every performance of Tough Guy and our Fringe Theatre Season. Advance OWYW tickets can be purchased online anytime. You may offer any dollar amount you’re able to contribute. Photo by: Brianne Jang Artist pictured: Jasmine Hopfe Image Description: The word "Tough" is projected on a black background 3 times. The words are stacked one on top of the other, in all caps and a bright red neon font. In front of the words there is a distorted image of a person screaming. They have shoulder length black hair and are wearing black clothes. Their hands are in fists at their sides. #YEGFringe #FringeTheatre #SustainFringe #YEGEvents #YEGTheatre #YEGArts #QueerArt (fb)

Did you know the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival returned $1.49 Million to Artists in August 2025? A new record! We’re celebrating 140,000+ tickets sold, 221 productions in 40 venues, 515 sold-out shows, 16 completely sold-out runs, and 800,000 visits to Festival Grounds! Drumroll, please! We’re thrilled to announce our 2025 Picks of the Fringe! These shows are selected by public vote, and we’re delighted to honour them alongside every single extraordinary show performed on our Festival stages. : 🎭 PATRON PICK - PRIMADONNA | Little Sis Co | @littlesisco_ 🎭 ARTIST PICK– Colonial Circus: History, Clown-Style | Culture Opus Inc. | @two.2.mango 🎭 STAFF PICK – THE BIRDS | AM Choreography | @thebirdscawcaw 🎭 VOLUNTEER PICK – Final Girl: A New Musical | Straight Edge Theatre | @straightedgetheatre 🎭 OUTDOOR ARTIST PICK – Kimberly’s Pocket Circus | Kimberly Craig | @kimmy.craig 🎭 CRITIC PICK – Victor & Victoria’s Terrifying Tale of Terrible Things | Thought Train Theatre | @thoughttraintheatre Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who voted! What was your favourite Fringe Festival show? Shout them out in the comment below! Photos by: Marc J Chalifoux IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS Picks of the Fringe Winners gather on stage to accept their award and accolades. #YEGFringe #EdmontonFringe #SustainFringe (fb)