By Mike Levin

In most performance on stage there’s a moment, usually early, when the audience knows exactly the domain they’ve entered. It is tradition, the satisfaction delivered for the $20 or $120 ticket, and this endorsement molds people to the back of their seats.  No performance event in Ottawa obscures those domains like the Fringe Festival, and this implausibility draws viewers to the edges of their seats.

It creates a lively bit of dissonance because even avant-garde playwrights and actors are creatures of habit. There are things that are known to work, like song and dance, drama and farce; and then there are the experiments, which risk not working. Running through all is the potency of creativity’s one irresolvable addiction: deep introspection.

The Fringe’s 11 days and 370 performances, starting June 17, have lots and lots of introspection, perhaps because we’re a government town, and looking inside is the only way to break bureaucracy’s hold on us. Of 60 shows, 28 bend toward introspection. Drama and farce tied at 22 each, eight focus on music and three on dance. The numbers don’t add up because comedy and drama occasionally have inward forays.

This provocation is one of two treats the Fringe offers (the other being $10 tickets). With no rules of engagement in its instruction manual, producers can drag or seduce you in any direction they want. One company will take the audience on a two-hour walk through Byward Market, but most of the manipulation will be aimed at the mind. How well this sneakiness works, and doesn’t, has defined the local event for 13 years.

As always, most shows are grown in Ottawa (a full list of local productions appears at the end of this preview) and in Canada, with a handful from the United States and the occasional international visitor. It can be difficult to choose among them, although this year www.fullyfringed.ca will post reviews on each one. There are also a few previews on the festival’s Facebook page, and Community Manager Patrick Gauthier is using just about every social-networking tool available to keep promotional news current.

But there’s nothing like the nervous excitement inside an acting company to make an event come alive. This year Ottawa’s Sterling Lynch wrote one play – Prisoner’s Dilemma, produced by Current Productions –  and will act in two others – G-Men Defectives, by Garkin Productions, and Deliver’d From Nowhere, by Broken Heroes Theatre. He says he’s most worried about not getting enough time in the beer tent because of his schedule, but admits the questions Prisoner’s Dilemma asks of the audience aren’t easy to answer.

“Fringe audiences are ready for anything, and when they love something, they engage with it and support it like mad. I’m looking forward to the response. (Prisoner’s Dilemma) was produced in Calgary a few years ago, but I wasn’t able to attend. I’m hoping people will accost me in the beer tent to talk about it,” he says.

Changes to the festival by first-year executive producer Natalie Joy Quesnel aren’t aimed at helping audiences decide which shows are best; they’re geared to creating wider acceptance. One – a Fringe gossip sheet – Quesnel admits she’d like to keep at arm’s length, but “it’s all part of creating an underground scene, isn’t it? There’s always a fine line, but that’s the whole purpose, something for everyone.”

On both Saturdays (June 19 and 26), parents can enrol their children (age 4-13) in a drama camp run by the OYP Theatre School. Drop-off is 1:30 pm, pick-up is 4:30 pm, at which time parents can watch the play their kids have created during the three hours. From June 21 – 25, a lunch-time series of interviews and discussions with performance members take place in the Fringe Courtyard, on a pay-as-you-can basis. There will be food for sale for those who forget their lunches.

For the first time, the Fringe is a registered charity, which brings large economic benefits but also responsibilities. Quesnel instituted Fringe it Forward , a community-outreach collaboration with JersVision, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Ottawa and Hopewell to attract donations and raise awareness.

A few fun things have also been added. The Twitter play contest is stunningly elegant in its simplicity, and should be viewed by all those who think Twitter is simply for narcissists. There will also be contests, give-aways and other events.

Ottawa performance companies will supply 24 of the shows:

Capital Poetry Rocks the Fringe – Capital Poetry Collective

Classics Cabaret – Ottawa Theatre School

CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation – Insensitivity Training

Death of Tybalt – Salamander Shakespeare Co.

Deliver’d from Nowhere – Broken Heroes Theatre

Dentity Crisis – Erudite Theatre

Divinity – The Meus Productions

G-Men Defectives – Garkin Productions

Heroes Past and Present – Artellephant Productions

Impassioned Embraces – Ottawa Theatre School

It’s Just A Stage – Modern Geek Theatre

Love and Hate in the Post-Modern Age – Bio-Punk Productions

Love in the Time of Harlequin – Troupe de la Lune

Kelly’s Instant Mashed Potatoes brings you The Initial Reaction – JAT Productions

multinational gRape corporations – Negative Theatre

Romeo & Juliet – Salamander Shakespeare Co.

Shadows – Mab Productions

Six: At Home – Zopyra Theatre

The Beer Tent: Reflux – mutatis mutandis

The Heights – Ottawa School of Speech and Drama

The Last Goddamned Performance Piece – Blacksheep Theatre

The Roof Top Guy – Tale Wagging Theatre

Who You Callin’ Sweetheart – Lead Pencil Productions

Wild Abandon – The Lonely Egg