Rat Academy, The Pigeon & The Dove among big winners at Vancouver Fringe awards

A stylized story of Alberta rodents was chosen best of the fest, while musical exploration of homelessness won Stir Social Impact Award

Vancouver singer-songwriter and *The Pigeon and the Dove* cocreator Carolyn Mill accepting the award.

URBAN ANIMAL LIFE took the spotlight last night, as a physically comedic ode to Alberta rats and a soulful, song-filled look at pigeons and doves took top prize at the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s wrap party.

At the lively ceremony held at the semi-open-air Fringe Bar on Granville Island, hosted by David C. Jones, the Mump and Smoot-mentored Rat Academy won the coveted Best of the Fest spot. The show by Batrabbit Productions was inspired by Alberta’s infamous 1950s anti-rat propaganda.

Runners up included Brunch: A Comedy Show, Underbelly, muse: an experiment in storytelling and life drawing, and Peaches: The play!.

Elsewhere, Vancouver singer-songwriters Reid Jamieson and Carolyn Mill were on hand to accept the Stir Social Impact Award for The Pigeon & The Dove: A History of Hatred & Love. Chosen by Stir’s team of theatre critics, the two-hander was selected for shifting the way we think about the homelessness crisis—using the metaphor of two birds, one considered a nuisance, the other considered acceptable. “Much like the homeless and the housed, the pigeon and the dove are, in fact, the same damn bird. ‘They’ are ‘Us’,” as the program notes put it. The songwriters were inspired by the works of Buffy Sainte Marie and Dr. Gabor Maté. You can read Stir’s review here. Sponsored by Stir, the Social Impact Award honed in on productions with an impactful message on the world as it stands today—ones that touched on resonant political and cultural themes, leaving audiences walking away with new perspectives to support meaningful change.

Rounding out the prizes, Gravity Theatre’s Private Parts: The Secrets We Keep won the Audience Choice Award, and BadPuss Productions’ ParaNorma PI took home the Artistic Risk award.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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