#THEATRE: “FIRST KISS” AT TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL 2026

FIRST KISS debuts at The Toronto Fringe Festival 2026

About longing, belonging and some totally awesome 80s tunes.

One Asian girl’s biting commentary on being shut out of John Hughes romantic comedies of the era, FIRST KISS is 16 Candles meets Kim’s Convenience and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

One Woman, Five Characters – Featuring multiple Canadian Screen Awards winner JOSETTE JORGE

Synopsis:

A coming-of-age musical about a Filipinx teen in 1980s suburbia who desperately wants to get her first kiss before she turns 16. She imagines it will be like Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club or any of the popular rom coms of the day. But reality hits as she realizes no one looks like her in the movies, unless being the butt of the joke.

“I grew up not seeing myself on TV and now I work in TV but can’t get a show greenlit about an Asian teen in the 80s. This is a musical about being an outsider and finding your inner belief in yourself.” says Playwright, Nathalie Younglai.

“Ultimately, First Kiss is not really about a kiss. It’s about belonging. It’s about learning that your worth is not determined by whether someone chooses you, but by your ability to choose yourself.” adds Director, Damon Bradley Jang.

Playwright: Nathalie Younglai (CBC’s Coroner, CTV’s Spencer Sisters, Apple TV+’s Jane) *theatre debut

Cast: Josette Jorge (CBC’s Schitt’s Creek, CBC’s Saint-Pierre, Citytv’s Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent)

Director: Damon Bradley Jang (Fringe’s Who Drinks Mocktails on the Beach?!, Theatre Passe Muraille’s S.E.W., Tarragon Theatre’s Cockroach)

*first male BIPOC director in the Stratford Festival’s Birmingham Conservatory

Composer: Nathalie Younglai

Musicians:

On Drums – Joe Bowden (2026 Dora nomination, 2026 winner of East Coast Music Awards jazz album of the year)
On Keyboards – Kierscey Rand Regozo – credits include: K’naan (Musical Director), Jessie Reyez (Keyboard), Nelly Furtado (Keyboard), Damian Marley (Keyboard), Nas (Keyboard) and many more. TV and film credits: Hello (Again) – Web series (composer), One Delicious Christmas – Film (composer)
On Violin – Rachelle Younglai
On Cello – Jiwon Bang
On Harp – Nathalie Younglai
Choreographer: Damon Bradley Jang

Runtime: 50 minutes
Language: English

Performances:

Friday, July 3 at 5:15pm
Sunday, July 5 at 12:45pm *Relaxed performance
Monday, July 6 at 4pm *Closed Captioning and Sign Language
Wednesday, July 8 at 6:30pm
Thursday, July 9 at 8:45pm
Friday, July 10 at 3pm
Saturday, July 11 at 10pm
Venue:
Native Earth’s Aki Studio
585 Dundas Street E, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2B7

#THEATRE: “AMES & EDDIE”, “PLUS ONE”, “OH! I MISS THE WAR” AT TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL 2025

The Toronto Fringe Festival kicks-off today and runs till July 12, 2025 around town! Here are a few shows to keep on your radar if you’re heading out this weekend. More here on this indie theatre and performance Festival!

AMES & EDDIE

JULY 3rd – 12th at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse
TICKETS: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/james-eddie

Acclaimed playwright, actor, and producer M.J. Kang is bringing her new play James & Eddie, a rare Korean- Canadian story of War, Migration, and Family, to the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival from July 3–12 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse (79 St George St). The production marks a milestone in Canadian theatre as M.J., the first Korean-Canadian playwright professionally produced in the country, returns to tell one of her most personal stories yet.

James & Eddie explores the friendship between two Korean families navigating life in an unfamiliar city still largely unaware of Korean culture or history. Through the eyes of Eun-Kyung (played by M.J. Kang), the youngest daughter in one of the families, audiences are taken on a memory-filled journey of post-war trauma, cultural invisibility, resilience, and the fragile bonds between parents and children.

Told with theatrical skill, honesty, and childlike wonder, James & Eddie weaves moments of joy with the stark realities of immigrant life when Korea was still a mystery to many Canadians. The play is both a cultural reckoning and a tender act of remembrance, asking how families can forgive one another in the shadow of inherited history.

With universal themes of migration, belonging, and intergenerational healing, James & Eddie is set to spark conversation and inspire empathy.

PLUS ONE

July 4th – 12th at the Alumnae Theatre
TICKETS: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/tamar-broadbent-plus-one

Tamar Broadbent is set to make herToronto Fringe Festival debut with Plus One, a hilariously honest and uncensored musical comedy about pregnancy, new motherhood, and all the absurd expectations placed on modern moms. The show will run from July 4th – 12th at the Alumnae Theatre. 

With 10 original songs performed live on piano, including hits like I Tried Hard to Breastfeed, But It Sucked, A Mother’s Place is in the Wrong!, and Don’t You Wanna Have a Natural Birth?!, Tamar is back with her boldest and most personal show yet. 

Tackling fertility tests, failed birth plans, breastfeeding mishaps, hospital snacks, and society’s ever-conflicting ideas of what it means to be a “good” mom, Plus One is a raw, hilarious, and refreshingly honest musical that finds comedy in the chaos, and reminds us that you don’t have to lose yourself to become a mother. While Plus One speaks directly to the maternal experience, it’s equally enjoyable for anyone who’s ever felt overwhelmed by expectations. The show cleverly skewers the “perfect parent” myth while celebrating the beautiful mess of real-life motherhood, with humour, vulnerability, and a whole lot of heart.

OH! I MISS THE WAR

July 2nd – 13th at Native Earth’s Aki Studio
TICKETS: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/oh-i-miss-war

Award-winning actor and playwright David John Phillips will be bringing his acclaimed new play Oh! I Miss the War at the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival this July 2 – July 13th at Native Earth’s Aki Studio (585 Dundas St E).

Oh! I Miss the War is a love letter to queer elders, a challenge to intergenerational silence, and a sensual, soulful meditation on what it means to live and love across time.

Trailer for the show here. 

Set in 1967 London and 2022 Toronto, Oh! I Miss the War features two monologues delivered by aging queer men in two very different, but spiritually connected, queer spaces. In London, Jack, a tailor to the chorus boys of the West End, watches the decriminalization of homosexuality unfold around him. As a former rentboy, he reflects on the outlaw joy and danger of queer love in hiding and wonders what’s lost in the era of visibility. In present-day Toronto, Matt, a service bottom with failing knees, navigates the evolving queer landscape of apps, puppies, and pronoun fluency. 

Grappling with the disconnect between generations, he claims his space as an elder and leans into the possibilities of intergenerational queer intimacy and political legacy. Together, these stories form a tapestry of queer experience across a century, touching on hankie codes, Polari, tea rooms, back rooms, faeries, drag, kink, love, and grief, all told with sharp wit, theatrical finesse, and emotional depth.