Each year The Tarragon Spring Arts Fair offers a free festival of the performing arts that is a creative hotbed for new work that goes on to further development.

Probably the best-known example is Two Pianos, Four Hands, which began at the Fair as a 20-minute skit and with the encourgement of the fair's founder, Andy McKim, went on to become a full-length work that premiered at the Tarragon and then played across Canada and in New York. This summer the show returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre from July 28 to September 5.

Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, the creators and performers of Two Pianos, Four Hands are both scheduled to appear; Dykstra in a new project called Help, and Greenblatt in an improvised piece with Diane Flacks.

Other prominent playwrights at this year's fest include playwrights Judith Thompson, Jason Sherman, Shirley Barrie, Ken Garnhum, Michael Healey and Don Hannah. Among the many performers are Brenda Robins, Patrick Galligan, David Ferry and Susan Coyne.

The two-day Tarragon Spring Arts Fair is on May 16 and 17, from noon to 6 pm. For further information call: 416-536-5018. By Mira Friedlander
Canada Correspondent