9:00 a.m - Arise and ... nah.. First day off in ages.

10:00 a.m - Arise and ready myself for a beautiful summer's day at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Noon. Strap on the blades and tear it up to Factory Theatre . Weather is a bit grim but I'm sure it'll clear up.

12:30 - See Dual of ages. Quite a way to start the day with an action play. Some nice writing with some great fight sequences.

2:00 - At the Fringe tent my prediction of saying to myself that I'd know probably a t least six people is doubled and it's chat chat chat time at the tent. Everyone seems really excited. Tent supervisor Hillary Prue seems most elated. "A good day today. This venue hasn't been the hottest one at Fringe but today is good". Just then the summer's day turns into an early fall. The rain comes down hard. Hillary smiles. "Well, at least we got the tents". Then she stands up and presses hard against the flap to spill over any excess water that has gathered. She drenches a couple of elder women on the other side. We all get a laugh.

2:10 - A Streetcar Named Gerard playwright and director Dawn Nearing calls me over. "Hey, did you read our reviews yet?" She says with a smirk on her face. "No, I say. I never read reviews." She takes me over to the clapboard where their poster is up on and shows me edited lines from several reviews like, "You'll feel..." We laugh hard. I'm glad to see she is a real artist who doesn't really give a shit about one or two opinions.

2:15 - Go to see A Streetcar Named Gerard. And I felt... It was a lot of fun. There were several poignant moments wrapped up in satire that I not only enjoyed but felt a bit guilty about in relating to the condescending lead character. Bravo on that one.

3:30 - Back on the tent and getting nice and close to Hillary and the other staff as I try not to get drenched.

4:00 - Go to see The Kreutzer Sonata. I am slightly misled on this one thinking that David Collins, the playwright and director is the David Collins from Twilight CafĂŠ . Oops big time. This play is not the David Collins I was thinking of but rather a David Collins who's never ventured into theatre before. I gasp a little. I don't have a lot of requests when I see a show. But actors having the lines memorize and not reading out of a script is one. Oh yeah! Also some movement on the stage. I need someone to move!!!

4:45 - Sneak out at the end of Sonata and burn over in the pouring rain to see Lost and Found at the Royal St. George. The play is a character study about two nobody's in New York city. Why not Toronto I don't know. The performances are there. There are also some intriguing moments in the writing. But I see where 'character study' plays fall off a little when there seems to be no overall point other than being a character study. Still I enjoyed it.

6:00 - Walk over to the Transac Theatre Fringe tent with Anand Rajaram who's in Lost and Found. We chat with each other and others and then I split to go to Tarragon Theatre to see Kafka and Son.

9:15 - Kafka and Son delights in both performance and visual imagery. The story of Franz Kafka's relationship to his father is one filled with mostly pain, but its honesty is something we can all relate to when discussing inferiority complexes. If only people would learn to turn their damn cell phones off. Shame on you two. You know who you are!!!!

10:00 - After speaking with Keira Loughran about the upcoming Summerworks Festival and how pumped we both are for that, considering the unbelievable Fringe turn out (Check out those programs!!!) Lauren (my wife) and I head home. A day goes quickly at the Fringe.

The Toronto Fringe Festival wraps up today so get out there and see something while its still hot (literally)!!!

Photo of A Streetcar Named Gerard cast; Rachel Blair, Vanessa Ryan, Lindsay Small and Michael Young.