Montreal Fringe Festival brings personal stories to the stage

The Montreal Fringe Festival is known as a place where underdogs and marginalized voices are put in the spotlight and real stories find a home and an audience in theatres scattered across the city.

During this edition of the Fringe, which runs from June 7 to 17, some storytelling takes that theme even further, delving into the personal and, at times, painful narratives of lived experience.

Montreal-based performerAl Lafrance hasturned a lifelong battle with depression and insomnia into a 60-minute comedy show, which had its Montreal premiere on Friday.

Lafrance is well-known in the fringe scenehis play I Think I'm Deadhas been touring across the country and abroad, and he'll be hosting events at the 13th hour, Montreal Fringe's officialafter-party,throughout the week.

Theplay deals with the actor and writer's very real struggles with insomnia, starting when he was a teenager, and gives a window into the choices he's made as a result of all those sleepless nights.

But Lafrance is a comedian above all else, and while he puts forwarda vulnerable narrative, he speakswith the affectionate nostalgia of wisdom, looking back distantly on his youthful mistakes.

"The way that I deal with everything is by making jokes about it," he told All in a Weekend host Ainslie MacLellan.

Lafrance, who is originally fromAylmer, Que., but has lived in Montreal for the better part of a decade, said that sharing his experience onstage isn't always easy, but that it's important to bring these issues to the forefront.

"I really aim to take the stigma away from talking about issues like depression and the fear of getting help. Which is a huge problem, I feel, especially for men growing up."

Despite the deeply personal nature of the content, Lafranceremains buoyant and rueful as he recalls a time where he wouldregularly godays without sleep.

"I went from being a straight-A student to a person who would barely show up to class," he said. "I'm a five-time college dropout.It's a family record."

Jokes aside, Lafranceisproud of what he's createdand hopes his opennessmight encourage his audience to think and feel, as well as laugh.

Tackling autism one monologue at a time

Christine Rodriguez, aMontreal playwright and actor,also chose to centre her Fringe Festival production around stigma and acceptance in this case, the challenges faced by people with autism and those close to them.

She pulled her inspiration both from her own experience as the mother of a son with mild autism, as well asfrom a series of interviews she conducted with people with autism.

Her play, The Autism Monologues, features a cast of five actors (including her) who portray multiple characters and situations over the course of an hour.

"Every monologue is a different character, a different story,"Rodriguez told CBC's Homerun. "It's a play that explores the lives of autistic people, their family members and people who work with people with autism."

Rodriguez credits her 2012 one-woman show,Dreaming in Autism, with putting her on the proverbial map, but said that the intensely personal production was not easy to pull off.

"Playing myself is like showing up naked onstage," she joked."This is other people's stories."

Along with interviewing people,Rodriguez also admitted to taking inspiration from her son.

But Rodriguezsaid she'swary of bringing him to the show because she's not sure how he will react to seeing someone else interpret a part of his experience.

She hopes that her play will help break down barriers and help people to understand thatevery individual is different.

"Everybody touched by autism has a different experience," she said. "[Theatre]isa way to reach people in a more intimate way."

The Autism Monologuesand I Think I'm Dead runat the Montreal Fringe Festival until June 17.