On the last night of the 2022 Winnipeg Fringe, we gathered at Across the Board Game Cafe for our end of Fringe Awards Show and Wrap Party. A huge thanks to Nick and the staff at Across the Board for hosting us this year. We apologize to those who might not have got the message that we were going to be in a new location. As much as we love the King’s Head, and appreciate their long term support, we decided to move to a new location because we wanted a space that was accessible to all. We will try and do a better job next year on getting the word out to all earlier in the festival. We will be hosting next year’s Jenny Awards at Across the Board again next year, so it was the start of a new tradition.

We were short a couple of our crew that night as both our regular Master of Ceremonies Shawn Kowalke and one of our reviewers Lisa Campbell were isolating due to Covid. Big thanks to Ray Yuen for filling in as MC and also doing double duty in photographing almost all of the winners. Apologies to Ingrid Hansen and Tamlynn Bryson who in the rush of presenting we didn’t get pictures of them getting their award.

Our lovely awards were created by hand by Michelle Cook, who wanted everyone to know that the material used for the bodies of the wee donkeys was repurposed from some nurse’s scrubs as an homage to our hard working health professionals.

Below are the categories with the winners highlighted in bold:

1. It Is a Zoo Out There!
(an award for working with a bunch of animals)

1. The Sex Life of Butterflies [Martin Dockery]
2. Crabs Gone Wild [Pinchy Productions]
3. Horseface [Alex Dallas Productions]
4. Bushtits, Shih Tzus and Private Dicks: All’s Fur in Love and Noir [Theatrically Obsessed]
5. Shadow Kingdom [The Wishes Mystical Puppet Co.]
6. Field Zoology 201 [Shawn O’Hara]

2. Don’t Speak…I like to Move It Move It
(an award for shows that don’t need a lot of dialogue)

1. THREE [Bossy Flyer]
2. FERN [Horse & Engine]
3. Minoosh Doo-Kapeeshiw [Echo Theatre]
4. Tango to the Pointe [PointeTango]
5. Journey to the Centre of the Earth [Studio Accelerando]

3. Stand Up and be Counted! or Up Against a Brick Wall
(an award for the Stand-Up acts out there)

1. Stéphanie Morin Robert: BLACK EYE (a live comedy album recording) [Stephanie Morin-Robert Performance Society]
2. Blueberries Are Assholes [TJ Dawe]
3. Paco Erhard: Worst. German. Ever. [Paco Erhard]
4. Pretty Beast [Kazu Kusano]
5. Gabe Mollica: a Solo Show About Friendship [Gabe Mollica]
6. Chris Gibbs, Old is the New New [Kelly Finnegan Productions]
7. God Is A Scottish Drag Queen (Best Of) [Mike Delamont]

4. When the World Gets You Down
(an award for shows that delve into the dark past or possible bleak futures)

1. All of Human History in 7 Stories [So Lonely Productions]
2. A Thousand Words [C. Neil Parsons]
3. Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl In Hitler’s Germany [Ingrid Garner]
4. Six-Legs [Second Date Productions]
5. Se’ed [jurasco]
6. CIVILIZED [By the Book Productions]

5. Let’s Take a Holiday or a Little Trip
(the we could all use a break award)

1. The Happy New St. Paddy’s Valentween Thank Hallow Xmas Day Show [Crosseyed Rascals]
2. AWAY, NOW – The World’s Most Desired Destination [Paul Strickland Presents]
3. mr.coffeehead [Spec Theatre]
4. I’M BATMAN 89-97 [Rod Peter Jr.]
5. Kateryna and Havrylo [Ce-Lee Productions]
6. Slowly and Sideways [Shoestring Players]
7. As It Turns Out… [TBA Productions]

6. Monster Mash
(an award for … nevermind you are just going to say it was a graveyard smash)

1. Monster Makers [North Kildonan Community Players]
2. Bat Brains or let’s explore mental illness with vampires [Scantily Glad Theatre]
3. The Dungeons ‘n’ Dragons Improv Show XIII: The Loom of Annihilation [The DnD Improv Show]
4. Something in the Water [S.E. Grummett]
5. A Grave Mistake [A Little Bit Off]
6. Macabre Tales of Horror and Macabreness (kinda?) 10 Year HELLebration [Puppy in Pants Productions]
7. Buckets of Blood – Fairy tales not for kids [Stories Alive]
8. The Ultimate Actor’s Nightmare [Club Soda Improv]

Editors Note: This was a close 4 way race with A Grave Mistake, Bat Brains, and Something in the Water all within 1 point of Macabre Tales.

7. But Sting Told Me Love Was the 7th Wave
(an award for Tales of Love or at least have Love in the Title)

1. Romeo & Juliet [Indifferently Reformed]
2. Charming & Rose: True Love [R-G Productions]
3. Courtship [Snakeskin Jacket]
4. Are You Lovin’ It? [Theatre Group GUMBO]
5. King Warrior Magician Lover [Wolfhaven Productions]
6. List of People I’ve Killed (A Love Story) [PMF Productions]
7. Murmurs of Earth [MaxQ Productions]

8. All Alone and Desperate
(an award for Solo Performance)

1. Wait So Do I Make Out With A Pan? [Buried Seeds Productions]
2. Scattered Seeds [Kolja Company]
3. The Paladin [THEATrePUBLIC]
4. The Disney Delusion [Prosperity Mule Productions]
5. Daddy’s Boy [Erik de Waal]
6. The Truth(tm) [Still Your Friend]

9. Hear our Voices!
(an award for stories told through song)

1. BEFORE BREAKFAST: An Opera in One Act [Naomi Forman Productions]
2. A Toast to Prohibition [Melanie Gall Presents]
3. Josie & Grace [PKF Productions]
4. Songs From A Wine-Stained Notebook [Big Empty Barn Productions]
5. CABARET SIDE SHOW [Wall Street Theatre]
6. Tomatoes Tried To Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life [Quivering Dendrites]
7. Chase Padgett: Lucky Break [Chase Padgett]
8. The Ballad of Johnny Boy [Walk&Talk Theatre Company]

10. Mysterious and Magical Mysteries
(They will put a spell on you)

1. Grumplestock’s [Eleventh Hour]
2. Dirk Darrow: Magic of Future Past [Tim Motley]
3. The Great & Powerful Tim: Magic Tonight [The Great & Powerful Tim] *
4. Fringe Family Fun Show [Comedy Illusions of Greg Wood]
5. An Evening of Magic & Mystery with Ken Sky [Ken Sky]

* Editors Note: The Great & Powerful Tim won the vote but was not present, so the Jenny went to Tim Motley.

11. Guy’s Night Out
(Bro… an award)

1. Hockey Night at the Puck & Pickle Pub [Monster Theatre]
2. James & Jamesy: Right This Way [Alastair Knowles]
3. Generic Male: Just What We Need Another Show About Men [PUSH Physical Theatre]
4. The Stakeout [big word performance/ jem rolls]

12. Is There a Doctor in the House?
(an anatomically incorrect award about body parts and what can go wrong with them)

1. Epidermis Circus [SNAFU]
2. Bedwetter [Drawing Board Productions]
3. I Am The Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World (And Other True Tales from the Emergency Room) [Melissa Yuan-Innes]
4. Symptom Circus [Chronically ch(ill)! Productions]
5. Brown Wasp [Saw Toe Productions]
6. The Beginner’s Guide To Suicide [Dark Horse Theatre]
7. Contractions [Best of Luck Endeavours]
8. Underbelly [Aaron Malkin]

Editors Note: There was a tie between Epidermis Circus and Bedwetter, and Ingrid and Tamlynn decided to share the Jenny Award instead of using the Tie Breaker. Congrats to both!

13. A Variety of Sketchy Comedies and a Pair of Parodies
(an award that conveniently catches everyone else who was in the Jenny)

1. Everything’s Actually OK: a variety show [S.P.I.C.E. Productions]
2. Family Dinner: Part 3! [Family Dinner Comedy]
3. The Morning After With Pam & Paula [Power Pause Productions]
4. Juliet: A Revenge Comedy [Ryan Gladstone]
5. Meagre Joys [Project Pigeon]
6. Ask Me Anything? [Keep It Movin’ Productions]
7. Lost and Foundling [MTYP’s Summer Studio]
8. Movie Musicals [Move The S Productions]
9. One Man Back to the Future (A Parody) [Historic Jukebox]

Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks to all the nominees and all the great shows out there. I hope everyone had a great time, and that you will join us next year in celebrating our 30th year of the Jenny Revue.

Murray Hunter

Well it is the last day of the Winnipeg Fringe. It goes by so fast. A huge thanks to everyone who helps make this festival great. Apologies to the performer’s whose shows we didn’t get to cover. Get out there and enjoy as many shows as you can today. Then at the end of the day join us at Across the Board Game Cafe for the Jenny Awards.

The Fabulous Jenny Awards—Just a reminder to join us at at our new licensed and accessible venue Across the Board Game Cafe on Sunday July 24th (the last night of Fringe) for our wrap party and awards show. The evening will be emceed by our wonderful host Shawn Kowalke of the Horrible Friends Improv Group. Doors will open at 9:30 pm with the Awards show starting at 10 pm(ish).

Any company who has been mentioned in the Jenny, either in a Review or Shameless Self-Promotion, may end up nominated for one of our 13 fun categories. We then leave it up to the crowd to determine the winners. The only caveat is you have to be in attendance in order to claim your award. If the winner is not in attendence then who ever had the next highest score takes home the prize.

The prize is a highly coveted fabulous hand stitched Jenny Award created by our very own Michelle Cook. With a lot of hard work she creates a stunning herd of Donkeys with a different theme every year. Stay tuned to our Twitter Feed @JennyRevue for the first pictures of the unboxing of this year’s prizes.

Murray Hunter

It is the home stretch of the Winnipeg Fringe. We have over 90 reviews for 87 shows, which is not too bad for a rag-tag outfit. Thanks again to all those who sent us in reviews and to our own staff reviewers, Lisa Campbell, Josh Fidelak and Ray Yuen, who put in some very long hours filling these pages. Thanks also to Michelle Cook for her talents and hard work in creating this year’s Jenny Awards (more on that below). Last, but not least, thanks to Dave Pruden for his amazing cartoons which always make us look good. We have printed one last print edition which should hit the Jenny Boxes in Hospo and the Beer Tent early Friday afternoon.

The Fabulous Jenny Awards—Just a reminder to join us at at our new licensed and accessible venue Across the Board Game Cafe on Sunday July 24th (the last night of Fringe) for our wrap party and awards show. The evening will be emceed by our wonderful host Shawn Kowalke of the Horrible Friends Improv Group. Doors will open at 9:30 pm with the Awards show starting at 10 pm(ish).

Any company who has been mentioned in the Jenny, either in a Review or Shameless Self-Promotion, may end up nominated for one of our 13 fun categories. We then leave it up to the crowd to determine the winners. The only caveat is you have to be in attendance in order to claim your award. If the winner is not in attendence then who ever had the next highest score takes home the prize.

The prize is a highly coveted fabulous hand stitched Jenny Award created by our very own Michelle Cook. With a lot of hard work she creates a stunning herd of Donkeys with a different theme every year. Stay tuned to our Twitter Feed @JennyRevue for the first pictures of the unboxing of this year’s prizes.

Murray Hunter

More Reflections From Our Review Coordinator Ray Yuen—A colleague of mine asked what I’m doing tonight. “Fringe!” was my answer, “just like every night!” I tell him that I review for the Jenny and he wondered if Jenny was my penname or alias. I sent him the link and he ploughed through a few of my reviews. He was particularly interested in Contractions, because it blasts HR. He said he wanted to see it and ask how,

“Is it online?”

“No, it’s in person,” I replied.

“For f__k’s sake,” he exclaimed, “what isn’t available online in this age?!”

“Uh, it’s Fringe.”

He looked lost. He didn’t have a clue what the concept of Fringe is about. He’s heard about it on the news but he had no clue what it is in actuality. I explained to him that it’s theatre, same as any other theatre, opera, ballet, symphony or concert—you attended and watch the show.

“F—k that,” was his answer.

Meanwhile, another colleague overheard and read a number of my reviews. He expressed great interest in seeing a show and promised to read thoroughly through The Jenny to find ones of interest. This weekend, he’s going to bust his Fringe virginity and see his first shows with his family.

After almost every Fringe show, the actors tell you that word-of-mouth is key to attracting people to The Fringe. They say it because it’s true. The people reading the reviews from The Free Press and especially The Jenny are probably Fringe fans already. They have preconceptions about what they want to see and that’s how they prepare their viewing schedules.

Main media’s star system drives a lot of interest but what about the mass majority that get three stars? Just because a sportswriter from The Free Press didn’t deem it worthy of more stars, doesn’t mean it’s not a good or excellent show. How do they attract viewers?

Word of mouth from people like you.

I may not have recruited colleague #1 but colleague #2 and his family will be part of the audience soon. Being his first experience, I want him to hit winners. First, read The Jenny. Second, I’ll tell you what some of my favourites are.

Word of mouth.

Ray Yuen