Five Handy Fringe Tips (in no particular order)...

    1.  Grab a Festival Program Guide. This is your all-inclusive, all-encompassing guide to every single event taking place at the Calgary Fringe 2009. You want show times, you want ticket prices, you want a map and performance descriptions – the Guide has it all. Look for the Festival Program Guide at select Inglewood merchant locations and Second Cup locations, or in the FFWD in the July 30 edition.

    2.  Buy tickets in advance. Don’t like lining up? You don’t have to. Tickets to all Indoor Theatre Productions are available on-line, at this very web site. You can buy as many tickets as you like, for as many shows as you want. Buy five tickets or more, and you’ll receive the SUPERPASS discount of up to 30%.

    3.  See shows early. Don’t wait until the last showing to see that one production you’ve been waiting your whole life to see. Tickets get harder to find the less shows remain. Buck the trend and be there for opening night!

    4.  Wander. The Fringe Festival is bursting with activity – Inglewood SunFest on Saturday, August 1 featuring street performers, buskers, vendors, arts of all kinds, food court, music.  And throughout the rest of the Fringe, check out the various and really cool Inglewood stores, indoor theatre, and visual artistic works... Give yourself a few hours to explore the site and discover everything the Fringe has to offer.

    5.  It’s not all in the review. Reviews are only one way to find the hot shows. Keep your ears tuned to word of mouth – and go see the show that everyone’s talking about. Furthermore – go see the shows that YOU want to see. Read the show profiles on this web site or in the Program Guide, and trust your instincts.

And a bonus tip (on me) – prepare yourself for fun!