The Ottawa Fringe will host a winter festival

undercurrents: theatre below the mainstream is Ottawa's winter festival of independent theatre, showcasing the best indie theatre from Ottawa and across the country. The festival is crossing town from Hintonburg to Downtown Rideau. undercurrents fifth anniversary will take place at Arts Court during February 2015. "undercurrents feels like a natural extension of what the Ottawa Fringe does and Arts Court a great space and host." –Patrick Gauthier, Festival Director Since 2011, undercurrents has presented eight world premieres while providing a platform to artists who are in the final stages of creating a new work. For some, the festival can be (and has been) a transition from Fringe to the mainstage. While the Ottawa Fringe Festival and undercurrents can be distinguished beyond the obvious summer/winter duality–the latter is curated, the former open-source–the fit for Fringe artists and audiences is easy to recognize. That's not to say that undercurrents 2015 will be a Winter Fringe–the summer festival provides a stage for nearly 60 shows whereas an undercurrents programme presents a half-dozen. Historically, however, exceptional Fringe shows have had a stage at undercurrents alongside national and local companies who have made compelling impressions on Canadian audiences. The Ottawa Fringe is in its second year of a partnership with the City of Ottawa to manage Arts Court Theatre as well as several performance and rehearsal spaces in the building. With wheels of the Ottawa Fringe team spinning year-round comes the opportunity to create performance and development opportunities for Ottawa theatre that extend beyond the summer Fringe Festival. Partnering with the Great Canadian Theatre Company to bring undercurrents to Arts Court–where it will be produced and presented by the Ottawa Fringe–is a broadening of the organization's scope to advance an ongoing effort in facilitating connections between independent theatre artists and Ottawa audiences. undercurrents Partners

• Arts Court

• Great Canadian Theatre Company

• Downtown Rideau

• Ottawa Festivals