The 2023 edition of The Kick & Push theatre Festival has wrapped. After 28 days featuring 14 innovative works in various locations around Kingston, the ninth annual Kick & Push Festival came to a close this weekend.

Since 2014, the festival has brought professional, award-winning artists from across Canada and beyond to Kingston to share their work. Each year, the festival allows performers to showcase their work in both alternative spaces and established venues in Kingston.

Madeleine Smith, working with the festival for the first time this year, spoke about the theatre community in Kingston and how they have come together to produce Kick and Push alongside other simultaneously occurring events.

“It's really uplifting and it's a great sort of, I think, projection of the Kingston community and of itself, just this sort of really positive, uplifting energy," Smith said. "And we just are really at our core, trying to share positive experiences.”

While the 2023 Festival has come to a close, Kingstonians can still look forward to The Kick and Push returning next summer for their tenth season in 2024.

“We've had really, really lovely and engaged audience members and we're really happy that we're seeing people come year after year,” says Smith.

Listen to the story below and earn more about this year’s festival from Kick and Push team member Madeliene Smith: