Showcasing only the newest works by local artists, Fresh Meat is a rare opportunity for audiences and theatre creators alike. It’s a feast of short plays, and ideas for plays, and this year the festival is opening over Thanksgiving weekend at Arts Court.
What started in 2012 as a small event at Pressed Café evolved into a back-to-back two-weekend festival which sells out regularly. Fresh Meat has been a steady stream of exciting new work ever since. Shows which premiered at the DIY theatre festival have grown into full-length productions performed at festivals and venues across the country including the National Arts Centre, The Gladstone Theatre, Undercurrents, Winnipeg’s FemFest and Victoria’s Intrepid Theatre.
Others live their three nights at Fresh Meat and are never seen or heard from again. “Both are equally valuable outcomes when creation from a place of pure experimentation and play,” says co-founder Madeleine Hall. It’s a low risk, high reward artistic playground.
The Fresh Meat 8 lineup is made up of ten performance works premiering on stage at the Arts Court Studio; and one immersive installation in the Little Black Box venue—a storage closet which is repurposed for the performance.
This year’s offering includes a mixture of newcomers, local theatre legends, and performers crossing over from other artistic practises. On any given night, you could see stand-up comedy, storytelling, aerial acrobats, and drag performances. See the complete lineup below.
Weekend 1
October 10–12, 2019
- Freda and Me by Wardie Leppan
- Little Orphan Annie by Kyle Cameron
- No More Mr. Rice Guy by Caterina Fiorindi, Alli Harris & Franco Pang
- Stripped by Caitlin Oleson, Kevin Reid, Letycia Henrique & Elspeth
- The Wounded Joker by Janna Klostermann
Weekend 2
October 17–19, 2019
- Call Me By Your Ndn Name: The Unsolicited Special by Randy Schmucker
- cinciP (/kin-kip/) by Robin Star Breiche & Connor Price-Kelleher
- Clurmate Churnge by AL Connors & Richard Gélinas
- MILK by Brit Johnson & Amanda Logan
- Permissable by Brooke Trealout
Visit freshmeatfest.com for the full lineup and schedule. Fresh Meat 8 runs for two weekends from October 10–19 at Arts Court Studio (2 Daly Ave). Doors open at 7pm and shows start at 7:30pm. Tickets cost $20 online and at the door. Thursday nights are pay-what-you-can.
