Quirk the Magician

Quirk The Magician has been bringing laughs to stages across Canada for over 25 years! His quick pace, off-beat comedy, and jaw-dropping magic has been making memories for family audiences at fairs, company events, birthdays, and more! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Glen Foster Band

Glen Foster is the leader of Glen Foster Group. Currently the group consists of Glen and Maggy. Playing guitar and percussion instruments the duo gives stirring renditions of classic harmony popular songs and Glen's own compositions. YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Patrick Aleck

Winner of the 2020 City of Nanaimo Emerging Cultural leadership award, Patrick Aleck is an Indigenous drummer, singer/song composer & music artist who inspires people through his resilient story living with cerebral palsy! Check out his album, "Life is a Journey." Bring a drum if you have one or just come and listen! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Lavender & Lefty

YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Annie Konstantinov and Nicholas Guerreiro

Chat with the actor/writer/designer/directors of Consider the Dongfish, Annie Konstantinov and Nicholas Guerreiro, and learn about how the show--and their creative partnership--came to be. Hosted by improv legend Ryan Kniel, the conversation is sure to be a cosmic hoot! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Smiley Quartet

Nanaimo is a city with a rich jazz history, so what better way to mark the Nanaimo Fringe than with an upbeat set of classic standards? Join Cash Hanratty, Richie Salvosa, Anton Watson, and Josh Smiley for some great tunes and to support local music! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Sylvia Humble

When did we decide singing was just for talented performers? Let's reclaim our human birthright of singing together for pure joy and connection. Join community songleader Sylvia Humble for easy-to-learn songs about peace, hope and justice, taught by call and response. Together we'll co-create imperfect harmony and belonging. YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Margaret Murphy

Storytelling is about connecting. Storytelling is about remembering the wonder and awe in everything.This 60-minute workshop is an introduction to finding stories, shaping spoken word stories and practical tips on presenting stories to various audiences. For beginning storytellers and all listeners who want to gain greater appreciation of the Magic of storytelling. Come share the Wonder! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Dan Puglas, Aimee Chalifoux, Lisa Webster

YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Don Randall

Fringe Fans who aspire to become Fringe Artists! Don Randall would LOVE to answer your questions, dispel your doubts, and to offer practical advice and encouragement based on his own process and experience. Don knows you can do it! YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Lisa Webster

Whaddya get a Mohawk woman for her 60th birthday? A stage and a Mic! Turning 60 is about speaking up... after 6 decades of racism, awkward questions, well-intentioned blunders, and the relentless drip of microaggressions, she's decided to let it all out by telling the stories herself. Come celebrate a milestone birthday where the gifts are truth, resilience, and laughter. You may be uncomfortable. You will almost certainly laugh. And you might leave seeing the world a little differently. YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Ed Peekeekoot

Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and story-teller, Ed Peekeekoot is a skilled and seasoned performer. He goes from blazing guitar work to foot stomping fiddle and haunting Native flute — all sprinkled with his Cree humour. YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Woman's Move

" In 2020, I made my solo show 'The Sensemaker' temporarily available online. The video quickly became highly sought-after in certain corners of the internet – all because of the five minutes of nudity it contains. Years later, I'm still having to take it down from various adult forums where it keeps resurfacing without my consent. 'Embarrassed Naked Female' is a lecture-performance built like a forensic thriller: a deep dive into the rabbit hole of internet communities and my bizarre encounters with the men in them. " YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Ellie Fier

YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Ellie Fier

YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Lavender & Lefty

Tips and tricks on songwriting for writers. Bring your pens and notebook for an acitve participation session and be ready to share your creations. YOU ARE INVITED to this fabulous $5 Fringe Button Event! Great news: once you have a Fringe Button, you can go to ALL 16 Fringe Button Events & Workshops (all included for the low, low price of your $5 Fringe Button) Buttons can be purchased on site at the FRINGE OUTDOOR HUB STAGE

Braided Words

PTS Tea is a haunting tale of memory, spirit, and silence. In a home where bannock crackles and tea is poured like tears- Moniqa—a child’s ghost shaped by loss—steps forward to speak what the living could not. A family lingers in fragments: their quiet pain and healing through music, storytelling and laughter, the weight of what echoes through intergenerational violence. Between and humor, the past rises again, unwilling to settle. This is a ritual of witnessing, where grief is carried like tea—bitter, warm, and shared. PTS Tea invites you into a space where silence begins to speak, and something begins to heal.

Woman's Move

In 2020, I made my solo show "The Sensemaker" temporarily available online. The video quickly became highly sought-after in certain corners of the internet – all because of the five minutes of nudity it contains. Years later, I'm still having to take it down from various adult forums where it keeps resurfacing without my consent. "Embarrassed Naked Female (this show contains nudity)" is a lecture-performance built like a forensic thriller: a deep dive into the rabbit hole of internet communities and my bizarre encounters with the men in them.

HACH Productions

May grapples with a monster that lives under her bed, as it comes out to feed on her shame. May struggles with binge drinking, binge eating, and severe loneliness, despite the love around her. She attempts to keep this monster at bay, but cannot hide her inner truth. It unearths itself for its nightly feed, and the attacks begin to take over May’s life as she loses track of time, responsibilities and eventually her relationships. She is forced to reckon with The Beastly Thing out, as a friend reaches out in concern, and unveils a truth of her own.

Ants on a Leash Productions

“It was about the hunt…” The Dogs is a new horror play about ambition, desperation, and the lengths one may go for their art. Emerging journalist Noa’s hopes for capturing the attention of her domineering boss rest on covering an evasive pack of stray dogs stalking her neighbourhood. Locking herself in her basement office, Noa is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery… but the pack has its claws in her yet, sending Noa spiraling until the truth behind the dogs finally spatters itself on the concrete floor.

Documentary Sisters

In 1993, the matriarch of a depreciating Canadian logging dynasty finally passed away. Her funeral was not heavily attended, but when estranged twins Clarke and Claudia, grandchildren of the deceased, arrived wildly behind schedule, they were surprised to find only their sulky grandfather Thomas, and their bubbly cousin, Sarah, to share the extremely subdued grief with. What was supposed to be an evening of mourning instead became the perfect venue to resurrect old arguments. You are invited to attend that funeral. See what happened, and hear what went down. Tensions will be high, people will shout, and grievances will be aired.

Bragi Theatre

Sex-changing fish! Awkward scientists! Aliens that want to destroy Planet Earth! Don’t miss CONSIDER THE DONGFISH, a set of hilarious nested love stories that spans the universe. The winner of the Best Production award in the 2024 Victoria One-Act Play Festival, this comedy concoction by Bragi Theatre (Bedsprings, The Hawk Lover) uses the magic and science of theatre to explore love in all of its many, many, MANY forms. “Gives you permission to laugh and have fun […] Guerrerio and Konstantinov play the physical gags perfectly” – Haska’s Haunt Bragi Theate is based on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples.

Dan Productions

Sometimes all it takes is a sandwich between friends to really make you think about the deeper meanings of life...sometimes accidentally!

Frolic&Fiasco

Being Old Rocks!! ... Well no, Ageing isn't much fun. The best you can do is have a laugh about it. So, this one-person show of comical storytelling invites you to laugh along with (or laugh at) Donnie's tales of unwelcome agedness. Delightful topics include Aged Frailty, Dewlaps, Memory failures (short and long term), Absent-Mindedness, "Senior Moments"---and there's even some Shakespeare to lend some dignity to the mix. If You are old, or have old persons in your life, this show's for You! (Trust me.)

StoryShare Productions

Rise up Beloved Crones, Women of the Wild! And a warm welcome to all Wise - Hearted Companions! Join StoryWoman Margaret Murphy in a 60 - minute Celebration of Magical Mischief. We'll shake, rattle and awaken our old Crone Bones. Come! Listen to traditional and personal Stories and Re ~ memberings of our Ancient Heart and Bone Wisdom. It is our time Dear Ones! We are the Conspiracy of Crones. Cric! Crac!

Alick Mac

After finishing runner-up as the “Pick of the Fringe” in 2025, award-winning rapper Alick Mac returns to Nanaimo Fringe with his one man show “Boys’ Club”. In this 60 minute performance, Alick mixes personal anecdotes with original songs to offer reflections on misogyny, mental health and masculinity. In a show described by Yvette Dudley Neumann - the Nanaimo Fringe Artistic Producer - as “timely, powerful and socially resonant”, Alick offers musing on everything from the manosphere to male friendships. Delivering an urgent and timely message, “Boys’ Club” takes stock of a bleak present while offering an aspirational vision of the future.

The Spontaneous Shakespeare Company

The award winning Spontaneous Shakespeare Company come to Nanaimo for the very first time! Inspired by a story from the audience, they will create a new, completely improvised Shakespearean epic, transforming the mundane into the dramatic, a head on collision of high art and hilarious comedy. It's Shakespeare and you've never seen before- He didn't write it, and neither did we! (Audience participation is not required, so come on out and enjoy the show!) "...a delightful celebration of what improv — and Shakespeare — can be." 5/5 Stars - Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Thomas Bates Productions

If you missed part one, all will be explained!.. Don't miss the thrilling conclusion of The Gospel of Mark. The oldest of the biblical gospels, told in modern day language. This two thousand year old testimony takes us on, perhaps, some unexpected directions. Where the rulers were challenged and the old ways were exposed. An epic journey indeed. Eloquent. Ancient. Heart-warming.

Ask For Improv

Ask For Improv presents: SuperLiminal: The Game Show! This is the improv game show you’ve been waiting for! Fueled by your suggestions, our fearless performers will dive into fast-paced, short-form scenes packed with surprises, silliness, and plenty of laughs. No script, no safety net—just pure improv magic created right before your eyes!

The Comedy Misfits

Three comedians. One self-booked tour across Canada. This is the behind the scenes — not just the drives, the load-ins, and the unglamorous prep. But where the jokes actually come from. Because each of these three misfits has a story, and that story is the material. Get a rare look inside the lives, the experiences, and the moments that put each of them on stage — and somehow, on the road together.

Five Handz

A show of wonder and pain, hope and depression. Glazed by the magical solitude of both the light and dark, cold and numb- hibernation and reawakening of winter.

Expect Exceptional Theatre Company

This one woman show brings Marc, a disgraced celebrity writer’s therapist, in crisis, together with the dangerously charismatic and stunningly exotic Dominatrix of Soviet covert intelligence, the Woman in White. Marc who has accepted her loss of status as maestra suprema of the Canadian literary scene is swept up into a dangerous tangle of espionage and intrigue when the Woman in White dogged by the relentless KGB puppet master Lovecraft arrives in her community centre writing class one damp Saturday morning looking for someone who can help free her from years coerced service to the state.

Through the Wormhole Theatre

Paper Trails is a shared exploration of grief through collected materials. In this show, audience members become performers as they read and enact texts and gestures drawn from real people's real losses. The language consists of letters written to loved ones, childhood stories, scripted dialogue, instructions, and gestures developed from these sources. Audience members will create the story and performance as they move through the materials. Paper Trails was created to ask audiences two questions: How do we grieve, remember, and let go? Will you sit with discomfort to face grief?

Schindel Says

A unique storytelling experience! A Shakespeare-ience! Together, artist and audience join to create a collective telling of the star-crossed lovers, all the way up to that balcony scene (the lovers will live!). No preparation, no pressure, no dying, you’ll read a few easy lines from the play as a group from your seat. “Fun!” – 101.5 UMFM, “Playful” – Winnipeg Free Press, “Joyous” – Mariam Tirani, “I don’t even like Shakespeare but I liked this!” – Audience Member Review, “Delightfully Creative” – Kingston Theatre Alliance

Nanaimo Fringe

The Nanaimo Fringe Festival Lottery process is designed to ensure fairness while advancing our mandate to foster creativity and support artists within our local community. Lottery Categories The Nanaimo Fringe Festival Lottery is divided into four distinct categories: Outdoor Stage Canada & International Indoor Stage British Columbia Indoor Stage Local Indoor Stage This category is reserved for artists from our immediate region, reflecting our commitment to nurturing and showcasing local talent.