The Arts

The Arts

PAUL MCKEEN PHOTO From left: Christopher Dunn (as Rufus), Jacqueline Arthur, Janice Marple and Stephanie Schmid

Library opera shows let kids take control of the action

Conrad Sweatman 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Virtually everyone would choose a treat over a mouldy sandwich.

But the youngsters attending Rufus and Rita in Winnipeg libraries often choose the latter.

The 25-minute opera, produced by Manitoba Underground Opera and showing in Winnipeg libraries until the end of August before touring rural Manitoba, has a lively choose-your-own-adventure quality.

“Let’s find out what happens when we let the kids take control, and they can tell us what story they want to know,” says Brendan McKeen, MUO’s executive director.

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The Arts

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Daniela Smith-Fernandez, new company manager at Manitoba Association of Playwrights, in her Exchange Distric office. Smith-Fernandez has great ambitions for Manitoba theatre.

Thespian has lofty goals for province’s theatre scene

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Thespian has lofty goals for province’s theatre scene

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Daniela Smith-Fernandez has had an eventful summer.

Her debut play, the verbose sex comedy Jean-François: plus que parfait premièred at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in July (earning 4/12 stars in the Free Press).

And just a week before, in early July, Smith-Fernandez joined the Manitoba Association of Playwrights as its new company manager.

“I don’t want inclusion to be tokenism anymore. I want people to be including Manitoba plays because they’re amazing, not because they feel like they should support local,” says the 41-year-old trilingual Chilean-Canadian artist. “(At MAP) I feel like I get to be myself in a way that definitely didn’t happen when I was working in insurance.”

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Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

The Arts

Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP Director Gregg Araki arrives at the premiere of “I Want Your Sex” on July 28 in Los Angeles. The film will be screened at Cinematheque tonight to Tuesday.

Cinematheque celebrates LGBTTQ+ director’s catalogue

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Preview

Cinematheque celebrates LGBTTQ+ director’s catalogue

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

As a distinct and important voice in queer cinema, director Gregg Araki’s sex-filled, nihilistic films about LGBTTQ+ life have left a lasting impact on indie films.

To end off the summer, Winnipeggers will have a rare one-week opportunity to experience the Los Angeles-born filmmaker’s work in theatres at Dave Barber Cinematheque from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6.

The series is to celebrate Araki’s newest movie, I Want Your Sex (which opens tonight and runs to Tuesday),and incorporates some of his more well-known works along with older films that aren’t usually screened, says Olivia Norquay, film programmer for Cinematheque.

One of the most important inclusions for Norquay is Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy, which includes Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997).

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Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

The Arts

Opera group hits pub to stage shows for sophisticated palates

Opera group hits pub to stage shows for sophisticated palates

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Preview

Opera group hits pub to stage shows for sophisticated palates

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Monday, Aug. 17, 2026

Opera’s famous drinking songs — La Traviata’s Brindisi, Don Giovanni’s Fin ch’han dal vino, Carmen’s Votre Toast — tend to flow with references to women and wine, not beer.

But that hasn’t stopped Winnipeggers from sipping 1919s or Generics at local bar and brewery Little Brown Jug over the past few years to the strains of Verdi, Puccini and Mozart.

Currently in its eighth season, Opera by the Pint has its next LBJ event Wednesday at 7 p.m. (The artists also perform at the Public Brewhouse and Gallery in Steinbach at 7 p.m. on Thursday.)

This week’s program focuses on musical hits, while also featuring traditional Filipino ballads and Mexican art songs.

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Monday, Aug. 17, 2026

The Arts

The view from here

The view from here: Phyllis Green. Boob Tree, 1975

2 minute read Preview

The view from here: Phyllis Green. Boob Tree, 1975

2 minute read Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026

Staycation: The Art of Being Here feautres more than 100 Manitoba-related artworks from the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq collection, spanning the past 50 years. These pieces reveal how the places around us are layered with memory, story and lived experience. Over the coming weeks, the Free Press will spotlight works from this eclectic exhibition, each one offering a new way of seeing home. Experience it in person and enjoy some staycation time at the gallery, on view until December.

Phyllis Green. Boob Tree, 1975

(Yarn, wood. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Naylor, funds administered by The Winnipeg Foundation, 2014-128. Photo: Ernest Mayer.)

The year 1975 was designated International Women’s Year by the United Nations, and in celebration, the WAG staged the show Images of Women, which explored how women had historically been depicted, an impressive selection but by mostly male artists. Amid pushback from the community, Sharron Zenith Corne and Marian Yeo organized a second exhibition, Woman as Viewer, which challenged those portrayals by only featuring works by women. It was called the first Canadian exhibition of feminist art. American artist Phyllis Green’s Boob Tree, a four-foot-tall crochet sculpture of a cluster of breasts, adorned the exhibit posters, which were so popular they were snatched by passersby! The sculpture is playful and unsettling, re-appropriating the objectification of women’s bodies.

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Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026

Opinion

MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS FILES Last year, wildfire smoke hung over the city during the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Ballet in the Park series. This year, the entire event was cancelled because of heat.

Climate change threatens events we wait for all year

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Preview

Climate change threatens events we wait for all year

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

This week, owing to extreme heat and a wild storm with tree-snapping winds, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet had to cancel its full run of Ballet in the Park, a much-loved annual tradition at which people from all over Manitoba can enjoy world-class art in the verdant Assiniboine Park.

Two weeks prior, Rainbow Stage, another jewel of a Winnipeg summer, had to cancel the closing matinee of Jesus Christ Superstar owing to heat and humidity.

And at the beginning of July, Winnipeg Folk Festival attendees baked under scorching temperatures — 47 C with the humidex — to enjoy not just the discovery of music, but the community that has formed in Birds Hill Park on the second weekend of July for over 50 years.

This doesn’t feel great. I do not begrudge cancellations — they are absolutely the correct call for the health and safety of performers and patrons — but I can’t be the only one feeling some existential dread about our summers, and the things that make them special, in the face of a changing climate.

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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

The Arts

SUPPLIED Arjun Lal at a YMCA in Nova Scotia before his initial performance of To Be a Flamingo in 2024

Dreaming of a better future

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Preview

Dreaming of a better future

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2026

The lingering ghosts of colonialism have long haunted Nova Scotia artist Arjun Lal.

“When I’m thinking of colonial ghosts, it’s these elements of colonial legacy and oppression that maintains a presence in this contemporary world,” says Lal, 34.

He said he most commonly sees this in the fetish community, where colonialism is still often role-played through the oppressor and the oppressed.

Seeing how society’s systems and spaces are still shaped by colonial powers, Lal, whose parents both immigrated from India, questioned what it would be like to break free from these systems and their current form: What would it be like to be a flamingo?

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Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2026

The Arts

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Fringe festival posters and sandwich boards line the sidewalk along Market Avenue beside the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.

Singing the praises of fringe shows that dare to take risks

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

Singing the praises of fringe shows that dare to take risks

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2026

In the sweltering heat, after a couple of beers, conversation in the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival queues this year could turn saucy.

There’s a wholesomeness to so much of the fringe, one of the great local festivals, but we all know people talk smack. Sometimes, it’s about the shows. Other times — it’s easy to overhear — it’s about the reviews.

The second sort of smack-talk is my favourite. I relish it just as I do the bad reviews emailed to me of my bad (as in negative) reviews.

Reviewees, and their outspoken fans, understandably sometimes feel that reviewers get things wrong. That was echoed in last year’s Reviewing the Free Press 2 by comedian Benji Rothman, which razzed the paper for its perceived biases and inconsistencies.

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Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2026

The Arts

Fringe festival sees highestattendance since 2019

Ben Waldman 2 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2026

Theatregoers made this year’s Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival the best-attended edition since before the pandemic.

Marking a 3.4 per cent increase over 2025’s festival, this year’s fringe welcomed 87,832 attendees to 31 venues across the city. That translated to $879,522 in box office revenue, each dollar of which goes to performers from the festival’s 160 companies.

This year’s festival — the 39th — marked an upward climb in both attendance and revenue, though there is still some way to go before the fringe reaches the heights of its final pre-pandemic edition in 2019: that year, ticketed attendance totalled 98,673.

Executive fringe producer Chuck McEwen said in a release that the festival “remains one of the most vibrant celebrations of theatre in Canada and North America.”

The Arts

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Josh Peterson’s home is decorated with works by local artists such as Paul Zacharias, Simon Hughes, Cyrus Smith and Winston Leathers, to name just a few.

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 24, 2026

There’s a small, treasure-filled art gallery on the second floor of the Sherbie.

Directly above the West Broadway vendor and noisy bar now known as the Kyoto Kat Club, amid a primly kept wardrobe and dirty coffee mugs, Josh Peterson’s bachelor suite is bursting with coveted Manitoba art.

“The Simon Hughes piece was an unbelievable gift from a friend for helping her take care of her mom going through palliative care with cancer,” says Peterson.

The Winnipeg artist’s iconic illustrations of ice floes can be found on the cover of the Weakerthans’ Reunion Tour album, as well as on Peterson’s walls.

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Friday, Jul. 24, 2026

Books

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS John Thompson at his pop-up Bookman stand on Friday. Fringe veterans often like to take a book along to shows so they can read while waiting for the curtain to lift.

Bookman brings roving kiosk of literary treasures to fringe

Ben Waldman 6 minute read Preview

Bookman brings roving kiosk of literary treasures to fringe

Ben Waldman 6 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2026

Every superhero has a true identity: Superman is Clark Kent, Captain Canuck is Tom Evans and Wonder Woman is Diana Prince.

In Winnipeg — on university campuses, at craft markets and at flea markets — the Bookman is John Thompson.

Each July since the mid-1990s, the denim-clad seller has peddled perused pages to fringe festival goers in the Exchange District, setting up his bookshop — a movable feast of literary diversion — on the periphery of Old Market Square. Inside his shelved kiosk, the Bookman offers a broad selection that encourages expansive search and sudden summertime discovery. He takes credit, debit and cash.

While the annual theatre festival’s core curriculum is centred on its paperback program — containing snapshots from 160 indoor theatre productions — fringe veterans understand the value of having other reading options available in their back pocket for prolonged sidewalk waits.

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Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2026

The Arts

Centennial Concert Hall (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)

Safe-walks program around downtown venues to launch after pleas from WSO performers

Malak Abas 6 minute read Preview

Safe-walks program around downtown venues to launch after pleas from WSO performers

Malak Abas 6 minute read Monday, Jul. 20, 2026

The city will provide safe walks and patrols will be increased around downtown arts venues in response to performers and staff feeling unsafe while working in the inner city.

The safety measures are part of the new Performing Arts Wayfinder Program, which will use $100,000 in funding from the mayor’s office for two additional Downtown Community Safety Partnership staff members to focus on safe walks and patrols for performers, audience members and staff.

The program is scheduled to begin in September and run through June 2027.

The initiative comes after members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra reached out to Mayor Scott Gillingham in a letter outlining their concerns about safety for musicians, other staff and their patrons.

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Monday, Jul. 20, 2026

Opinion

Eric Zachanowich / Netflix From left: Good Eagle (Wren Zhawenim Gotts) and Laura Ingalls (Alice Halsey) become friends on the new Little House on the Prairie.

Reimagined Little House still shot through with the truth

Jen Zoratti 6 minute read Preview

Reimagined Little House still shot through with the truth

Jen Zoratti 6 minute read Saturday, Jul. 18, 2026

In 1974, NBC had to issue a press release explaining why Michael Landon, starring as Charles (Pa) Ingalls on the new show Little House on the Prairie, didn’t have a beard.

Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books, on which the series was based, objected to Landon’s clean-shaven face. The real Charles Ingalls famously had a beard (a wild one, at that), and Pa certainly has a beard on the page, as illustrated by Garth Williams.

My point is: Lauraheads have always had their bugbears when it comes to adaptations.

Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie, which dropped on July 9, is no exception. Among the criticisms I have seen: Mary (Skywalker Hughes) isn’t blond. Jack the dog isn’t a bulldog. Laura (Alice Halsey) wouldn’t have a slingshot and she wouldn’t wear a boy’s hat. And she wouldn’t have an Osage pal named Good Eagle (Wren Zhawenim Gotts).

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Saturday, Jul. 18, 2026

The Arts

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Bistyek says he’s constantly inspired by the Exchange District.

Artist Bistyek enjoys the freedom of living a creative life in full colour

Ben Waldman 7 minute read Preview

Artist Bistyek enjoys the freedom of living a creative life in full colour

Ben Waldman 7 minute read Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2026

In pants nearly as wide at the ankle as a downtown sidewalk, Bistyek cuts a striking silhouette on his daily marches through the Exchange District, an area the painter has made his muse since arriving in Winnipeg nine years ago.

He likes it here, loves it even, but as he’s established himself as one of the city’s most vibrant visual artists — with a street-honed style that pays homage to both Japanese anime series Dragon Ball Z and graffiti-inspired American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat — Bistyek won’t forget where he came from: he can’t.

Though the 30-year-old has built an enviable life here, he’s eminently aware that his circumstances are defined as much by sheer luck as they are by determination or talent. When he was growing up in Afrin, a village in Syria, his family was torn apart by civil war and discrimination against the Kurdish minority under the rule of dictator Bashar al Assad.

“I was living in Lebanon as a refugee for seven years, with a big group of friends, but day after day they started to cross the sea from Turkey or Greece. Some of them made it, some of them did not,” says the artist born Ormeya Zagros. “I turned to Mom and said, ‘I want to go across the sea. I cannot stay here. I don’t see a future here. I don’t see opportunities. There is so much discrimination and racism. I cannot build a life.’”

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Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2026

The Arts

Supplied Nova Courchene

Indigenous theatre founder gets nod for prestigious prize

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Preview

Indigenous theatre founder gets nod for prestigious prize

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Saturday, Jul. 11, 2026

For her work as the founding artistic director of Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, Winnipeg’s Nova Courchene has been named the recipient of one of Manitoba theatre’s highest honours for emerging arts leaders.

Since 2023, the Cherry Karpyshin Arts Management Prize has been given out by Prairie Theatre Exchange to early-career or aspiring arts managers. Named for PTE’s longtime general manager, for whom the company’s mainstage is also named, the Cherry Prize is accompanied by professional supports and a $2,500 cash award.

Meaning “new moon” in Anishinaabemowin, Oshkagoojin runs a variety of initiatives in Winnipeg, including the teen-focused Rising Voices, the middle years Growing Voices, and the early years Young Voices programs. Through storytelling, movement, narrative games and guided play, the Young Voices program introduces Indigenous children aged five through nine to the fundamentals of collaborative and co-operative theatre with a curriculum devised through a cultural lens.

“As I continue to grow Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, I look forward to strengthening the organization’s capacity, sustainability, and national reach so that more Indigenous young people can access theatre, cultural learning, and artistic leadership opportunities in their own communities,” says Courchene in a release. “I believe that when Indigenous youth are empowered to tell their stories, entire communities benefit, and I am excited to continue building these pathways for future generations.

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Saturday, Jul. 11, 2026

The Arts

Roughing it (less)

Roughing it (less)

AV Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Roughing it (less)

AV Kitching 6 minute read Monday, Jul. 6, 2026

I hate camping.

I loathe the very idea of leaving the comfort and safety of home to sleep in a random field, where not only will I be exposed to the elements, but will also be at the mercy of all manner of creatures, from ursine to canine to insectan.

I do not want to hike up a hill just to share one outdoor tap with 12 others, standing alongside them as I brush my teeth.

I do not want to queue for 15 minutes, then part with a $2 coin to wedge myself into a shower stall just to stand under a piddly stream of lukewarm water while trying my best to swiftly soap up and sponge off lest I irk the rapidly growing line of campers outside.

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Monday, Jul. 6, 2026

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