Halifax • 2026-09-02 • Staff
Fringe is an annual performing arts celebration featuring independent, experimental, and alternative shows that are outside, often well outside, traditional institutional curation, and topics and performance styles that are not otherwise seen on stage.
Halifax's festival has been an annual event since 1990 with a mix of local, national, and international artists.
Asking what parts of any fringe festival are queer is a little like asking which parts of the Atlantic Ocean are wet, but we asked anyway. Below are notes from the performers themselves, in no particular order.
The Halifax Fringe Festival runs September 3 - 13.
Loony Lundi
River and their mother can’t seem to understand each other. It’s too bad they couldn’t walk a mile in each other’s shoes. But thanks to an unconventional therapy — maybe they can.
“This is a play about two family members who love each other very much and are extremely bad at it,” said Roz Kennery, co-writer and local standup comedian. “It’s a must-see for queer folks, those who love them, and loon enthusiasts.”
This is a fast-paced comedy about queer adulthood, the sacrifices of parenting, and the fine line between trying and actually getting it. Directed by Emily Lux. Starring Mac Flint as River, Vanessa Allen as Alice, and Myles Bradley as Dr. Nool Loon.
Pay-what-you-can in exact cash, no change, at the door.
September 5, 6 & 11, tickets here.
Nova Scotia Business Inc: A Decolonial Satire
When two hikers somehow wander 75 years forward in time on their way home, they’re shocked to find a dystopian future Halifax where everything — and nothing — has changed. But when they stumble into a secret underground community of artists and land defenders, they find themselves on an epic adventure that will force them to confront their own cultural baggage... and bring them face to face with the economic tyranny now known solely as Nova Scotia Business Inc.!
Playwright Tamsin Moynihan-Robson says, "It's sort of about a c4t lesbian couple from the present who end up in a future where everybody who isn't a boring corporate bureaucrat is just casually non-binary. The queerness isn't the main story, but it's a very casually queer show."
This show is being presented as a work-in-progress. A short talkback session will follow each performance.
Pay-what-you-can in exact cash, no change, at the door.
September 10 & 12. Tickets here.
So… What ELSE About Love?
DaPoPo Theatre and I invite you to a new musical revue with and by Kristi Anderson, Amy Reitsma, and Garry Williams, running Sept 3rd-13th at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1728 Bedford Row, as part of the Halifax Fringe Festival.
The fun, candid, at times dark and risqué revue loosely follows three friends—Kelin, Carrie and Phil—hitting midlife and navigating the realities of 21st century living: inflation, a housing crisis, a looming climate crisis, incumbent fascism, grief, and aging. Where will they find love in times of chance, change, and challenge?
Written and performed by Kristi Anderson, Amy Reitsma and GaRRy Williams with collaborative accompanist David Reid, stage manager Gina Thornhill and designer Ryan Wilcox, this original one act musical revue insists there is dignity, wisdom, and pleasure in ageing, in friendship, and in making your way as an artist.
Content advisory: The show is probably best suited for 19+. It contains adult content, strong language, and content that might be considered explicit, triggering, or offensive to some.
September 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, tickets here.
Drag Me to the Opera
“Can I plausibly pursue this!?” Aida Cupcake is hitting operatic highlights and high notes in this autobiographical revue about a young man facing dreams and doubts. Told through opera arias intended for female characters (hence the drag), Aida embodies these various divas as we learn how trials, passion, and a little bit of luck help the young man find his true voice.
Pay-what-you-can in exact cash, no change, at the door.
Creator/Performer - Steven Morton; Music - Mozart, Gounod, Purcell, Bizet Puccini, Donizetti, and David & Arthurs
September 8, 10, 11, 12.13, tickets here.
The Trouble with My Hair: Coloring, Cutting, and Coming into Who I AM
A Canada and Halifax Fringe premiere, The Trouble with My Hair examines gender, sexual, and racial identity through Cheng’s evolving relationship with her hair—and the stylists who helped shape it. With humor, vulnerability, and sharp cultural insight, Cheng reveals how something as simple as hair can carry the weight of family expectations, beauty standards, queerness, and personal agency. Blending theatrical storytelling with narrative art, this performance invites audiences into a deeply personal yet universally resonant journey of self-discovery and self-love.
Playwright/Performer - Ada Cheng; Developed with and Directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson
September 4, 6 & 8, tickets here.
