Kick & Push Festival Archive

The image on the left shows a performer posing at the top of the hill of Fort Henry wearing a white costume filled with butterfly images and holding an umbrella filled with butterflies as if they were going to fly away. The image on the right shows a man sitting in a room filled with purple and pink lighting with text saying "Why don't we together" alongside a graphic of a hut in front of the image of the man sitting.

Immersion & Interaction at Pop-Up Installations

  • Festival
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Review

Metamorphosing Spaces into Stories Today, clothing only lasts as long as the trend does, meaning it gets worn once, and then tossed into landfills. This normalization of fast-fashion is making modern day sustainability more important than ever. Fiber Artist Leisa Rich stitches together pieces of felt, sequins, glittery mesh, wigs, feathers, and even reusable Metro bags to create colorful, immersive, and diverse art experiences while keeping sustainability in mind. Rich’s […]

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“The Best Plays Ask Questions”:  Janet Kish on Playwriting

  • Artist
  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Pub Shed Productions
  • TK Fringe

Janet Kish has worn many hats in Canadian theatre, including playwright, director, and educator. She spent years teaching high school drama, and her impact has echoed far beyond the classroom. Many of her former students have gone on to build careers in the arts, with Kish cheering them on. This year, one of her plays is being staged at the Baby Grand theatre as part of the upcoming TK Fringe […]

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Poster for 'Providence'. The poster includes the title, dates, location, playwright, and director.

An Actor’s Train of Thought: Behind the Scenes of Providence

  • Artist
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • News

Presenting a play outdoors on a piece of history during the summer is not your typical show, and it certainly does not come with your typical rehearsal process. This year, The Kick & Push Festival is presenting Eye of the Dawn Collective’s production of Providence by Craig Walker; a production which I have been fortunate enough to take a part in. It celebrates the 150th anniversary of the opening the […]

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Poster for "St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival"

A Skirmish of Wits Makes a Visit to Kingston

  • Festival
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Review
  • St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

When I first arrived in Kingston in 2021, there was a severe lack of Shakespeare in the city, but over the past few years it has been refreshing to see numerous community and student groups bring some of his plays to life. The Domino Theatre with As You Like It, Two Rabbits One Hat with Macbeth, and Blue Canoe with Twelfth Night, to name a few. It is evident that […]

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A Labour of Love: Andrea Superstein on Art and Motherhood

  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • TK Fringe

After first visiting Kingston on a grade five field trip, vocalist and 2025 JUNO nominee Andrea Superstein is returning, this time as a performer. She’s eager to be a part of a thriving theatre scene infused with energy and magic that happens over just ten days. As a part of the TK Fringe Festival, Superstein will perform Oh Mother F#@%*!, a show that explores the vulnerable highs and lows of […]

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Kick and Push 2025 poster with a colourful background, Logo, and dates.

Still Kicking, Still Pushing: Local Theatre Festival Launches its 11th Year

  • Festival
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Review

If there’s one thing to learn from attending theatre events, it is that live theatre is unpredictable and that’s just part of its charm. The Kick & Push Festival kicked off its 11th year with a launch event at the amphitheater by Springer Market Square. Fittingly, the opening event reflected both the spirit and the name of the festival. (A quick history lesson: “Kick and Push” comes from a nickname […]

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Headshot of a woman with black and grey hair smiling in front of a background of trees. She is outside with her arms crossed and looks upwards. She wears a green top.

From the Classroom to the Stage: How Two Sisters Wrote a Play

  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • TK Fringe

There is something beautiful and a little magical about a family that creates together. The Socrates Sisters, Stephanie Rehm and Eleanor Daly, are writers, producers, and musical composers of a new play Detention, which will be premiering at the TK Fringe Festival this summer. For the longtime educators and first-time playwrights, the journey to this year’s Fringe Festival has been a full-on family affair. “We’re not a big troupe—it’s me, […]

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Poster for "Providence". An image of 3 men and a little girl on a railway. Information on dates, times, creators, directors, and actors are included as well as the Kick & Push Logo and Kingston arts council logo.

All Aboard the ‘Providence’ Express

  • Festival
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Review

For those who have watched Back to the Future and thought, “I wish I could visit the past!” this is the show for you. Start by finding the entrance to the K&P Trail near Hagerman Avenue where you’ll be surrounded by the buzzing of cicadas and live fiddle tunes played by Jan Leclair on the accordion and Karma Tomm on the violin. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you see an […]

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two headshots of a woman and man side by side. on the left is a woman with black hair smiling in front of a white backgrund. On the right is a man with dark hair and glasses smiling in front of a red background. he is wearing a grey shirt.

Human or Computer?: An Interview with Yuriy Popov and Yana Menov

  • Festival
  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • TK Fringe

This might not be the first time on stage for Yuriv Popov and Yana Menov—the founder and creative director of Studio Reflection, respectively—but it is their first time performing a piece that is 100% theirs. After translating playwright Igor Yakimov’s The Turing Test from Russian to English, the two get to be their own directors, actors, and designers. With over 50 custom-made video clips, sound clips, and even perfectly timed […]

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Poster for 'Love and Other Letters' in TK Fringe. The title of the show, location, dates, TK Fringe logo, and The Kick & Push Festival logo are on the poster. There is also a small image of two hands reaching out to the other in the centre of the poster.

Creativity Gone Wild: Behind the Scenes of ‘Love? and Other Letters’ 

  • Artist
  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • TK Fringe

Alina Siwy and Heiden Jacobi have the kind of creative chemistry that makes collaboration feel effortless. Siwy is currently studying Film at Queen’s with a specialization in Media and Performance Production at the Dan School of Drama and Music. She is also a writer and her newest project, Love? and Other Letters, explores the emotional complexities of loving someone else.  Jacobi is a drama major, actor, photographer, lighting designer, and […]

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a white paper sign with black text reading: "ADVENTURES IN CANADIAN PARKING LOTS"

jem rolls Is a Sensation, and Me? I Can’t Stop Listening

  • Kick & Push Festival
  • Review
  • TK Fringe

During my undergrad I took a Fringe theatre course in which one of our weekly topics was simply titled “jem rolls.” There is a good chance that anyone who frequents Fringe festivals will have met him, or at the very least have heard his name. This physical and poetic storyteller has travelled, as he puts it, “from concrete islands to concrete islands across this sea of green,” and landed in […]

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Partial poster for jem roll's show: 'jem rolls: Adventures in Canadian Parking Lots'. There is an image of a figure shopping, the title, reviews, and the location of the show on the poster.

Reading Between the Rhymes: An Interview with Performance Poet jem rolls

  • Artist
  • Interview
  • Kick & Push Festival
  • TK Fringe

In the uniquely Canadian wagon train that is the Canadian Fringe Festival, jem rolls is kicking off his tour in what might just be his favourite city on Earth: sunny, green Montréal. This one-of-a-kind high-energy English performance poet’s career began at the age of 31, when he semi-accidentally stumbled on stage at a ‘terrible’ open mic in North London and never stopped. Feeling liberated by the possibilities of spoken word […]

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