After performing one-man shows at more than 20 festivals, Richmond actor and playwright Andrew Wade has decided that it was time to get a co-star.
In the upcoming Vancouver Fringe Festival, Wade and his partner, Katie Purych, will be putting on his original play: Hullaboo and the End of Everything.
“It is about an imaginary friend who gets abandoned — a puppy dog who doesn’t understand why his human won’t play with him anymore,” explained Wade.
Wade grew up in Richmond – he graduated from Hugh McRoberts Secondary in 2004 and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in theatre, along with a BA in writing from the University of Victoria.
Even though he did not study at the Gateway Academy in Richmond when he was younger, Wade said that “Gateway is my home” and he currently works there as a front-of-house manager and bartender.
Wade also co-created the characters for the Steveston historic walking tour vignettes and worked as a tour guide.
The script for Hullaboo and the End of Everything has had a “long gestational period” – it started out as a monologue that Wade had written while he was still in university, then it turned into a short 10-minute play, a one-man show and was finally rewritten last year.
After the script was completed, Wade and Purych flew to Saskatoon and performed together at that city’s Fringe Festival after only two weeks of rehearsal.
Taking part in a fringe festival is no easy task; the spots are determined by a lottery and participants have to pay a $1,400 fee, which they might not earn back in ticket sales.
Prior to landing a spot at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, Wade applied to five other places and had no luck.
“This year, the tickets are $15 each and we get to keep $12… most people don’t make a ton of money doing Fringe, but you get to create your own work,” said Wade.
Participants are also responsible for finding their own performance venue and any promotional work.
“The most difficult part of it is talking to people and convincing them to come to your show.”
The 50-minute play runs Sept. 6-16 at the Carousel Theatre on Granville Island. Tickets are available at Tickets.VancouverFringe.com or at the door.
