Mostly they are converted warehouses or factories, basements or rooms in public houses. Fringe theatres are less formal, less expensive, and draw younger and perhaps more anti-establishment audiences. Fringe festivals are theatre festivals where many performance groups present their work in venues in one area of a city. The performers produce their own work and earn whatever they take in at the door. Many Canadian cities have Fringe festivals in the summer.
Performers usually travel from festival to festival.
Discuss as a class what the benefits and disadvantages are of creating performances for alternative theatre settings. Consider the playwright, the actors, the theatre owners, the audience. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre Research Option Research the birth and growth of Canadian Fringe festivals, such as the festivals in Edmonton and Saskatoon. If there are enough students interested, they could host their own Fringe festival in the school. Small groups of students could present their festival entries to the rest of the school or to the community.