The Saskatoon Fringe Festival has 231 theatre shows over 10 days.
For Jeff Newman, performing is a full-time job. He has seven performances in this year’s festival.
WATCH: 231 theatre shows part of 2017 Saskatoon Fringe Festival
In 2011, Newman started performing professionally.
“I was doing it as a hobby. I was into magic and mentalism and puzzles and games that I was using as a way to make tips as a bartender,” Newman said.
He now tours across Canada, showcasing his skills of trickery and deception, but said it wasn’t easy getting to this point.
“It was many, many days of writing things down, and trying new bits and finding open mics to perform to see if things worked or not and rewriting and writing,” Newman said.
“Then you have all the administration stuff as well; finding the venues, getting the posters, doing the advertising.”
Newman said performing has gotten easier with time, but adds the work never stops at the stage.
“We also rememorize, rework, restage and remount. It gets an overhaul every time we bring a show out again.”
Hannah Rud also has seven shows at the Fringe Festival. She’s been performing since the age of seven, and now has her own new show called Awkward Girl.
“This show I’ve been writing in my head for a number of years, but this year I finally started writing it on paper. It’s a 60-minute show and I wrote four complete drafts of it, before I finally had a version that told the story the way I wanted to,” Rud said.
Rud said sharing her story on stage can be terrifying, but ultimately rewarding. She said she is often revising her act to adapt to different audiences.
“The way you handle and talk to people in Regina is different than Winnipeg and it’s different here. Then we’ll all reset when we get to Edmonton and do things different there as well,” she said.
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Performers aren’t the only busy ones behind the scenes. Organizers said they are already preparing for next year’s festival.
“We’re looking around seeing what we can improve for next year as it happens. The audience response is so important to us,” Colin Grant, one of the festival’s organizers, said.
Newman and Rud both perform on Monday afternoon.
The Saskatoon Fringe Festival runs until Aug. 12.
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