Dayna Lea Hoffmann (she/her) is a bi-racial multidisciplinary artist, actor, and administrator from the Unceded Coast Salish Territories now living in amiskwaciwâskahikan. She has a strong passion for creation, collaboration and clown, and hopes to share these passions with audiences across Canada. She is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program and has spent the last few years in school honing her skills of acting, clown, dance and juggling. She additionally holds a diploma in Theatre from Douglas College, is a former circus-performer, student and teacher of the Vancouver Circus School, and alumnus of Canada’s National Voice Intensive. You can catch Dayna in 100 Words for Snow (Northern Light Theatre), All The Little Animals I Have Eaten (Shadow Theatre), and Rat Academy (Batrabbit Collective) later this year!
When did you start Fringing?
I wrote and directed a show for Vancouver Fringe in 2017 that was a product of being an angsty teen. It rocked my world. Since then, I have participated in Van Fringe 2018, 2019, and got a job with Edmonton Fringe in 2021! I’ve done the festival here twice and am so excited to head into 2023.
How would you describe your job at Fringe?
I began as a programming assistant in 2021, which is a catch-all term for whatever the programming department needs me to do. I have since managed musicians for the outdoor stage, contracted artists, created schedules, edited videos, produced in the Fringe Season, and operated and designed projection for Late Night Cabaret! I don’t always have the same title, so I will coin the term, Fringe Floater. I think they keep me around because I do a bit of everything, and if I can’t, I’m pretty quick to learn!
What are you most excited about in your role with Fringe?
Each year has been very unique. There are always some challenges to work through but the festival high points are extremely rewarding. I think of each year as having its own flavor depending on what I’m doing, so I’m pumped to see what this next one will feel like.
If you could invite anyone, living or dead, to fringe with you, who would it be and why?
I’m pretty far from home here at the Fringe and for that reason I’d invite my brother. OR! famous surrealist painter Lenora Carrington. I love her work and I’d like to meet her, and I also think she’d be a fan of Fringe.
What is something you are learning right now?
German!
What is an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
I recently premiered the show Rat Academy in the Backstage Theatre at Play the Fool Festival 2022. That felt huge. We had the opportunity to create a clown something from a ratty little idea that lived in my heart for years. People filled those seats and laughed their butts off watching it so much that I had a hard time not crying while performing. It was a huge achievement for me. I have never been so proud of anything I’ve made in my life (so far). Shout out to Katie Yoner, co-creator and co-performer.
What are you passionate about outside of work?
SELF CARE AND BODY MAINTENCE. Getting 8 hours of rest! Getting exercise! Eating good! Socializing! Taking breaks! Nourishing your body and soul in a way that lets you get back to doing what you love without burning out. This is the kind of stuff that reminds me to love life.
I’m also passionate about the phrase. “Every minute is a New Year” I think I say that to myself once a day.
If joy became a national currency, what kind of work would make you wealthy?
Sleeping probably.