Montreal Fringe 2022:
A resounding success

Frankie Awards honour the best of the Montreal St-Ambroise Fringe Festival

By Byron Toben

July 6, 2022

After a mostly virtual 2021 Montreal Fringe, what a pleasure to see the 2022 version all live in person. A few new venues, lots of new performers, both solo and groups, all went well as masked audiences enjoyed distanced entertainers. All ended with a rousing late night on June 19 as the annual Frankie awards were announced.

A full list of the winners and nominees, English language and French, can be found via a link at the end of this article.

For now, a few highlights of the English-language winners arranged by the theatre or company sponsoring that award. Whether that foretells a possible later re-mounting in Montreal, I know not.

Anyway, here ’tis:

Midsummer Night Bushwa

Outstanding English production – Segal Centre
Josephine – Dynamite Lunchbox

Patron’s pick (English company)
Josephine – Dynamite Lunchbox

MainLine Creativity Award – MainLine Theatre
Midsummer Night Bushwa – Mossy Fae

Outstanding English Comedy – Just For Laughs
Is This Yours? – Al Lafrance

Outstanding Choreography Award – Bouge d’ici
Seven – Naomi Gwynn

Freestanding Room Award for Making Big Things Happen in Small Places – L’Espace Freestanding Room
Alone in the Living Room – Nicole Jacobs

The Frankies, named after Frank Hopkins, an early supporter of the Montreal Fringe, are sort of a Fringe equivalent of the Hollywood Oscars.

Most Promising English Text – Playwrights Guild of Canada
Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate on Suicide if She Were Filipino? by evan Badingham III

Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate on Suicide if She Were Filipino?

Most Promising Emerging Artist – YES Employment & Entrepreneurship
Christine ML Lee – kalianore productions

Some special notes of my own on the above list

The Frankies, named after Frank Hopkins, an early supporter of the Montreal Fringe, are sort of a Fringe equivalent of the Hollywood Oscars.

Josephine appears to be the only show which won two Frankies.

Tango, to the Pointe is the only nominee that received special attention bordering on a tie in the dance category.

As mentioned above, here is the link to the full list of Frankie winners and nominees.

Images: courtesy of Montreal St-Ambroise Fringe Festival
Feature image: Outstanding English production – Josephine – Segal Centre

Read more articles from Byron Toben

Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.