brownstein: no matter the obstacles, the montreal fringe festival continues to roll

in a past life — high school, actually — amy blackmore was a trained contemporary dancer. that experience was to come in very handy over the ensuing years.blackmore has been the executive and artistic director of the montreal fringe festival for the last 16 years, and her hoofing past has certainly sensitized her to the cultural needs of the community she serves. on the other hand, for almost all of her time on the fringe front, blackmore has been doing plenty of dancing in dealing with the incessant challenges that come with the turf.it has been no different this year with the fest's 36th edition, which runs until sunday.for starters, the fringe has no permanent home. blackmore is still looking for an affordable one. so she is renting its old home, the mainline theatre on the main, for just a month. the same theatre, the fringe’s former indoor home base, that had been deluged by a flood and suffered a caved-in roof two years ago.at present, blackmore and some volunteers are taking down the fest’s outdoor base, the fringe tent — located in parc des amériques at the corner of rachel st. and st-laurent blvd. — before the fest ends. in addition to being the libation centre, the tent has been the nerve centre of the fringe, where artists and patrons congregate to swap tales. but because of scheduling issues involving other events in the area, blackmore agreed to shut down the tent earlier this year.and the weather — rains and wild temperatures — hasn't helped.“we’ve had just the worst weather imaginable, but we’ve managed to survive ... as always,” says blackmore, flashing her trademark smile.blackmore is an indomitable force. since 5 a.m. on this morning, the diminutive boss, heavy tools in hand, has been bringing down the tent with volunteers.regardless of the obstacles, the festival has been operating full tilt: 110 companies — from across the country and beyond — will have presented more than 600 performances in over 20 venues when it wraps sunday with the presentation of the frankie awards and closing-night party at café campus on prince-arthur st.blackmore contends the fringe is more a “movement” than a festival.“despite all the madness that comes with the job, i truly love fringe-ing,” says blackmore, who started out as a volunteer here 25 years ago. “the best part of my work is that it’s different every day. i couldn’t describe what it is that i actually do, because it doesn’t make sense half the time.“what keeps me going is the love the community has for this festival. they want us to exist. when times have gotten tough, the community has helped bail us out. this festival is propelled by people power.”and on the bright side, blackmore points out that those who wish to imbibe a brew or two — with the fringe tent now out of operation — can head over to the mainline theatre, where she just got her liquor licence approved for the fest last week.blackmore is also buoyed by attendance this year.“we definitely have had record sales for our passes and our pass-holders. we have our loyal fringers who continue to show up in force. ticket sales are also really moving. it feels good. the energy level has been as high as ever.“the chat has been great, particularly among those artists doing the fringe for the very first time. we’re getting new audiences showing up, which makes me feel so good for the future of the fringe. now i’ve become one of the older fringers at 42.”not hard to figure out why audiences love the fringe: tickets cost $15 or less. and not hard to figure out why artists also love it: they are free to perform whatever they choose and they get to keep 100 per cent of their ticket sales.“what has really stood out for me this year is how current all the work has been. it has been so cutting edge, from an electronic musical about being amish to a queer tango show, puppets to clowns, dramas to magic. this may well be the most diverse and inclusive programming we’ve ever had.”about 80 per cent of the performers hail from this province, mostly from montreal, with 10 per cent from the rest of canada and another 10 per cent is international. the french content of the shows is about 42 per cent, an increase from past years.this year’s fest is operating on a $500,000 budget.“i’m not unknown to skip a paycheque every now and then. this is a shoestring budget no matter how you look at it. but there’s no stopping us. now we’re planning next year — and hopefully from a new home base,” blackmore says.

two shows to watch

here’s the lowdown on two of the multitude of fringe offerings generating big buzz:

on the subject of cutting edge, fred azeredo’s powerful new play daumas: devil’s advocate is a courtroom drama unlike anything theatregoers have ever seen in these parts: the audience gets to act as the jury, making the ultimate decision to convict or acquit.depending on which verdict the audience decides upon, it will determine which of the show’s two endings the actors will play out.the play is based on the real-life story of french-vietnamese lawyer and activist jacques vergès, who represents himself against the french state on charges of sedition. what’s fictional here is that there was actually no trial. that was azeredo’s fertile imagination at work, not only in wishing to recount vergès’s life but also in getting audiences fully involved in participating.“i had wanted to tell this particular story for a while,” says azeredo, 24, a brazilian native who moved to montreal four years ago. “vergès was a fascinating character. he defended a lot of revolutionaries, but then he defended some more questionable people — serbian president slobodan milošević and khmer rouge members. i was just intrigued by his moral slippage.“the facts of this story are true — all the people and witnesses we meet are real. but i created this trial to explore his life, because i felt the way to tell a lawyer’s life is a court case.”

there is nothing fictional about painting moments: the portrait of an artist as a young gay man. this is the tragic yet most compelling story of nick palazzo, the once-acclaimed and prolific montreal artist who created more than 2,000 paintings before dying of aids in 1991. he was just 29.based on the 1998 mary melfi book, the one-man play has been adapted by melfi and sharon malone, directed by anton may and stars nick fontaine as palazzo.“nick was such a brilliant artist, a rising star,” melfi says. “he had two much-praised exhibitions. then his partner died, and he got ill and everything went downhill. i felt it was time to reintroduce audiences to a gifted but largely overlooked artist.”fontaine concedes he knew nothing about palazzo’s life before taking on the role. “i wasn’t at all familiar with his incredible life until mary proposed me for the role,” notes fontaine, a grad of john abbott college’s theatre program. “i’ve since become very much struck by his art and his life — his identity issues, his quest for recognition. it wasn’t at all hard for me to connect with his character.”

adds melfi: “this isn’t just about his illness or him being gay, but about the fact he was such an essential artist and that we want him to be part of canadian art history. that is my hope, that is my dream, because, sadly, now he is forgotten.”go to visualaids.org/artists/nick-palazzo to view palazzo’s art.daumas: devil’s advocate plays wednesday at 5 p.m., friday at 3:30 p.m. and saturday at 10:30 p.m. at mission santa cruz, 60 rachel st. w.painting moments: the portrait of an artist as a young gayman plays wednesday at 11 p.m., friday at 4:15 p.m. and saturday at 7:15 p.m. at o patro vys, 356 mont-royal ave. e.the 36th montreal fringe festival continues until sunday. for tickets and more information, go to montrealfringe.ca.bbrownstein@postmedia.com