The Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton Fringe Festival has its best and biggest year

- THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR

The 2016 Hamilton Fringe Festival drew the highest attendance and biggest box office in its 13-year history.

More than 10,000 people attended the 11-day theatre festival, which closed Sunday, with a total of $83,742 in revenue paid out to the performing artists, an increase of more than $21,000 from last year, interim festival director Jessica Anderson said in a release.

The highest-grossing show and winner of the festival’s Best of Fringe Award was “The Tragedy of Othella Moore” by Perplexed Production­s. “#dirtygirl”, a techno-horror play written and directed by 23-year old local artist Michael Kras, won the Audience Choice Award.

The Bathtub Girls, a physical theatre piece created and performed by recent University of Windsor theatre graduates Natalia Bushnik and Robin Luckwaldt Ross, won The Hamilton Spectator Critics’ Choice Award.

Forty-seven theatre companies from across Canada participat­ed in this year’s festival.

Anderson also announced that the second annual Frost Bites would be held Feb. 9 to 12 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Frost Bites will feature artists presenting performanc­e ‘bites’ throughout the building. Participat­ing companies include Kairos, Make Art Theatre, Mooncalf Theatre, Sage for Stage, Sector N Collective, Teresa Seaton Studio and Gallery, Tough Love Company, and Open Heart.

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