As the excitement and energy of Fringe season descends upon Montreal once again, Forget The Box is gearing up for our third annual Review Lottery. While you pour your heart, soul, time, and finances into crafting the most compelling FringeMTL production possible, we're diligently assembling our review team and finalizing our coverage plan for this year's festival.

It was a chilly evening when I braved the typical November cold. I left my cozy couch to walk to a wine bar I had not yet heard of in Beaubien. I was meeting my friend, Karina. We had met in a screenwriting class six months prior and usually gathered with our other screenwriting classmates every other Tuesday for a writing group of our own.

As the temperatures hesitantly begin to rise, the Montreal literary scene is flourishing. Starting April 24th, it’s time for the annual Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival!

Tina Cruz is a multidisciplinary artist, comedian, and writer known for her sharp, introspective humour that skillfully explores the intersections of cultural identity, family dynamics, and personal experiences.

Gabrielle Lacoste is a Chilean/Belgian visual artist. Born in Zimbabwe, they moved to Santiago, Chile at the age of 3 and stayed until 19 years old. They then moved to France to study art, where they lived 1 year in Paris and 3 in Nantes. They received their undergraduate degree from Nantes' School of Fine Arts, which included a semester exchange at Bergen's Academy of Art and Design in Norway.

Studio Mile-Ex, an expansive industrial space in the rapidly evolving Mile-Ex neighborhood of Montreal, served as the setting for Imago Theatre’s “immersive and site-specific” Scorpio Moon. Once our tickets were scanned, we passed through a door, then a passage lined with plastic sheeting and tarps, entering the world of the play.

Written by Montreal’s Adjani Poirier, Scorpio Moon is set in an unnamed city of low rent and high culture, where young artists have the economic space to live and create with a Utopian freedom, where an abandoned warehouse hosts a reckoning between two close friends about the aftermath of an incredible betrayal.

Every morning of my first four years in Montreal, I walked by a vivid yellow door as I headed down Aylmer toward McGill University’s campus. It always seemed like a fun, quirky touch against the urban backdrop.

Montreal's vibrant queer comedy scene is bursting forth from the winter doldrums with the second annual Winterlewd festival. Building on the success of its inaugural year, Winterlewd 2025 expands its reach with a focus on inclusivity, collaboration, and showcasing the diverse talents within the LGBTQ+ community.

Montreal’s Nuit Blanche has been a part of our city winters for over 20 years. It was established on the heels of its Parisian predecessor in 2003 as a vital part of Montreal en Lumière.