Thank You - FringeMTL 2026
FringeMTL is coming to a close. This is a time of celebration, of exhaustion, of simultaneous joy and sadness, for the artists involved. They’ve given everything to their productions, and to being part of something bigger than just their show, and the crash is real. Thankfully, tonight is the Frankies, FringeMTL’s award ceremony and party, to close the festival. One last chance to Fringe, and Fringe hard. Just avoid St. Ambroise's new gluten-free beer. It’s garbage.
This year’s FringeMTL was monumental for Forget The Box(.ca). It’s our fourth year, and we reviewed a total of 52 productions. I mean, we’ve always had expansive coverage of the festival, but 52 productions… When I took over the Forget The Box name in 2023, I rebooted and created the arts magazine you’ve come to know and love. It was February, and Fringe was fast approaching. I told my team I wanted to provide reviews, and they thought I sounded reasonable. Then I told them I wanted to review 30 productions. I sounded less reasonable then, yes, but I had a plan. We held our lottery, with less entering than we’d hoped, but hell, we were new. That year, I assembled a great team, and we covered 24 shows. The next year we covered 33, and 30 last year. This year, with a team of 11 (10, and myself) and 52 reviews, I can proudly say that Forget The Box(.ca) has published 139 FringeMTL reviews in four years. Wild.
But why?
Honestly, I fucking love Fringe. I think the festival, the concept of the festival, is amazing. I’ve been in many Fringes in many cities, and it’s truly the pinnacle of indie theatre. And I think that Fringe Artists are a special type of people, who deserve a lot of respect and attention. So much more respect and attention than this city’s media landscape provided before Forget The Box(.ca). So our FringeMTL Review Lottery, our coverage, is really important to me, and I take pride in leading the project, because I fucking love Fringe, and I fucking love Fringe Artists.
A segue.
My first thank you is to Fringe Artists: thank you for sharing your creativity, thank you for your hard work, and thank you for your bravery. Thank you for the risks you take, and the thoughts you provoke. Thank you for the sacrifices you make professionally and personally in order to show us what matters to you, what you’ve made. Thank you for coming together to build another fantastic Fringe festival. And, of course, a special thank you to every production that trusted us, and submitted to our Review Lottery. Our team had a great time witnessing your work, it was an honor. Thank you.
Another segue.
The team. Our FringeMTL 2026 Review Team. This year, as I mentioned, we covered 52 productions. I assembled a larger team this year, with a beautiful variety of voice and experience. We had 11 people, a few well-accomplished writers and playwrights, a few of our FTB(.ca) contributors, and a couple of creators with no review experience. I mention this because our FringeMTL Review project is run with the same mandate as everything else at Forget The Box Media. The project is one of skill building and mentorship. Our writers attended a workshop, were given materials and tools, and were provided with support throughout the process. We aim to not only nurture the individual writers, but expand the number of writers capable of educated, honest theatre criticism, which only serves to benefit the scene.
I am so proud of the team this year. Too proud, honestly, it’s a fucking sin. They worked so hard, and they embraced the challenge with open arms. And they loved what they saw, they loved the experience, they loved the festival. It’s infectious, that Fringe spirit.
So my second thank you is to my team. I mean, without you obviously none of this would happen. But thank you, each of you, for not hesitating, for diving in head-first, for being so authentically you. Also, thank you for working so fucking quickly and efficiently. You were the best team to administrate, honestly.
I mean, I’ve already told them this, let’s just put it on the record.
(Our FringeMTL 2026 Review Team consisted of Candice Ann, Dawn McSweeney, Kristin Govers, Tara McGowan-Ross, Arismita Ghosh, Sophia Tanicha, Holly Rhiannon, Pamela Kat Johnson, Mona Maarabani, and Jason C. McLean.)
Okay. So, there it is. I haven’t got much else to say. For my own part, I had a great time this year. I saw 12 shows, reviewed seven of them, and made some new friends. I hope everyone else had a great time, too, and that they party really fucking hard tonight, then crash for a few, well-deserved days.
Thank you Fringe Artists.
Thank you Forget The Box(.ca) FringeMTL Review team.
And thank you readers. If you’ve already been reading faithfully, we appreciate you. If you’re new, please stick around. I promise you’ll love what we do.
