The Vancouver Fringe Festival happens September 7 to 17, 2017 at various venues around the City. Havana Theatre tucked away in the back of Havana Restaurant on Commercial Drive is again hosting a sneak preview of some of the upcoming shows. These will be full versions of the performances coming during the festival. This is your chance to catch them before they sell out. We’ve run down which shows they will be featuring during the preview. Tickets for all shows are $10 and available at the door.
Tightrope Talking – August 29, 2017 – 7:00 pm
Time spent in a Berkeley slammer – lane-dancing with a dealer — cars and sex through the ages – obituaries – bus drivers — Marylee Stephenson is upping the story ante by outsourcing the topic to the audience! You name it, she tells it, in a dynamic, suspenseful combination of instantly well-crafted stories. No two shows can ever be the same!
Blue River Blues – August 29, 2017 – 9:00 pm
What do you do when you’re surrounded by gorbies and the glacier you’rr standing on is slowing melting into the sea? This one-person storytelling is about the summer Jim spend as a Snowmobile Tour Guide at the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park. There he fended off gorbies (slang for pesky tourists) and had a summer of adventures that resonated through the rest of his life. The story is told against the backdrop of the magnificent Athabasca Glacier which has been flowing and receding for over 250,000 years but which is expected to disappear within the next 150 years.
Almost A Stepmom – August 31, 2017 – 7:00 pm
Based on a true story. Keara moved to Ireland. She fell in love. Then she became a stepmom well almost. This is a darkly comic tale about the ups and downs of becoming a stepmother. The show includes multiple characters and a murder attempt round off this tumultuous and touching solo show. In case you hadn’t heard, Almost a Stepmom played to critical acclaim at multiple festivals throughout Western Canada, most recently winning the Emerging Artist Award at the 2016 Calgary Fringe Festival.
Shades of Dave – August 31, 2017- 9:00 pm
A loving tribute and erotic parody of The Vinyl Cafe. Fifty Shades of Dave thrusts Dave and Morley into situations you’ve never heard on the CBC. All the warmth and wit of Stuart McLean’s beloved stories with a sexy twist.
The Euphio Question – September 1, 2017 – 7:00 pm
Stage adaptation of Vonnegut’s 1951 short story about a young physicist who discovers radio waves from outer space that, when amplified and broadcast, make anyone within earshot completely and utterly euphoric. The Euphio Question asks audiences what the true cost of happiness is when it comes at the mere the flick of a switch?
No Big Deal – September 1, 2017- 9:00 pm
A young woman, her boyfriend, and the man who assaulted her on a bus each tells their story. Each is telling the truth, but each is trying to make us believe something. In the end, what makes a sexual assault no big deal?
Katherine Ferns Is In Stitches – September 2, 2017 – 9:00 pm
Brutally funny storytelling show from Manchester-based comedian Katharine Ferns is a comedic journey about learning to laugh at the visible and invisible scars of surviving mental illness, domestic violence, drug addiction plus some feminism for comic relief. Obviously, the story begins on April 21st, 2016 the day Prince passed away and Katharine ends up in stitches (literally). Come to the show and you’ll end up in stitches too (figuratively).
Draining the Swamp – September 3, 2017 – 2:00 pm
The play tells the story of a business leader who travels to a dangerous foreign location intending to enrich the country by building a new luxury resort on unusable swampland. He runs into trouble when he’s forced to shoot a trusted employee and is taken to court.
The Italian Cultural Centre invites you to an evening of beer and pizza in their outdoor space adjacent to Beaconsfield Park. Outside of having some great beer and authentic Italian pizza, you will learn about BC grains, the bakers and brewers and at the same time meeting some of the bakers, brewers and growers. The event is about is as local as you can get. Pizza will be made from Fraser Valley grown wheat, beer is from 
foodstuffs you probably wouldnʼt find in Quesnel. Killarney Market also gained some publicity by being in the Michael Buble video for “
Liberty Merchant Company
ay, October 5
ccording to Robert Stone – I recommend the Netflix doc “ Get Me Robert Stone “- the past is prologue. Now if you donʼt subscribe to that theory then you most likely werenʼt inspired by my suggestions to stop in at what was once Commercial Village. But if you do, you may want to check out another curiosity. Right in the middle of Commercial Street, at 3532, is a restaurant. Itʼs called 
ILiveInEastVan.com 