How Fringe Festival Artist Lauren Brady Took Flight — and Why Your Support Matters 

“I love cultivating what people call the ‘magical space,’ where you invite the audience on a journey with you and give them the opportunity to participate in or elevate the story even further,” she says. “Clown is special. It’s theatre that moves people in a different way.” 

But, when she graduated during the pandemic, no one was hiring. So, she took a leap. 

Lauren wrote her first solo show, InterWEBBED, and brought it to the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival in 2023. The next year, she returned with OWE-a-DEBT – a bold, physical clown ballet about yearning, relationships, and how hard it is to love yourself in a world that tells you you’re not enough. The show was selected to be part of the Fringe Theatre Holdover Series. It moved audiences to laughter and tears. And it changed Lauren’s life. 

“Edmonton Fringe gives you immediate support. You become part of a Festival that really supports the Artists so that they can succeed.” 

Since then, that same show – now renamed SWAN?! – has toured internationally. It’s been performed in Adelaide, Australia and right now, in Edinburgh, Scotland – at the original Fringe Theatre Festival. It’s backed by one of the UK’s biggest venues and selected by The High Commission of Canada & The Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation in the UK as part of the Spotlight Canada programme.  

“It’s wild,” Lauren says. “I started with a recital costume and a dream. Now I have a professionally built tutu with cigarette burns, animal bones, and custom feathers. And it’s washable!” 

But Fringe gave Lauren more than a platform. It gave her purpose and the space to take a weird little idea and turn it into something real.  

Her shows are deeply personal, often rooted in questions that challenge societal norms. 

“I am very passionate about social issues people don’t like talking about. I have so many unanswered questions in my mind, so I investigate those questions through art. And hopefully the audience investigates them when they leave the performance. Maybe it inspires conversation around the question: how can we look into ourselves and change moving forward?”  

Audiences have embraced her vulnerability. Some have embraced her, literally. 

“A lot of people come up to me after the show and want to share stories with me or want to talk to me about their experiences and how they felt seen in my work, which I think is really special.’” 

And none of it – not the shows, not the conversations, not the career – would have happened without Edmonton Fringe. 

Support from donors like you ensures barriers to access are removed to help Artists like Lauren achieve their wildest dreams.  

“Producing theatre outside of Fringe is expensive. You need a venue, a team, a tech, marketing. The really great thing about being a part of the Festival is that you don’t have to worry about all of those things because you’re being supported by Fringe.” 

But here’s the truth: 

Only 2% of Fringe Festival ticket buyers are monthly donors.  

If every ticket buyer gave just $5 a month every month, Fringe Theatre would become instantly sustainable (for less than the cost of a latte!). 

That $5 would go toward supporting Artists. Hiring technicians. Keeping tickets affordable. That $5 would help the next Lauren Brady take that first leap – and land on a world stage. 

“You’re not just sustaining a Festival,” Lauren says. “You’re sustaining a place where people feel included, where Artists are excited to create and can share themselves authentically.” 

Photo Credits: Marc J Chalifoux 2024