“The Lucky Fxxxers”: The Fringe Touring Performer as Embodied Theatre Archivist

This paper explores the concept of archiving fringe theatre from the perspective of the touring fringe performer, with particular attention to the Canadian Association for Fringe Festivals (CAFF) lottery and tour. Looking at the “uncurated, uncensored” model of CAFF Fringes, this paper explores the role of luck, contingency, and embodiment in archiving fringe theatre. By exploring the instability of archiving fringes and, indeed, theatre itself, this paper ultimately seeks to complicate both where and how we might archive the fringe. Through a mix of performance studies, qualitative interviews, and maybe even some poetry, Fitz-James makes an argument for embodied ways of archiving fringes and presents the fringe as a model for alternative performance archives.