Screenwriting Student Kristin Govers Brings Solo Show to Fringe Windsor – and Looks Ahead to Her Next Act
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For Kristin Govers, The Awkward Ballerina isn’t just theatre – it’s part memoir, part solo act, and all heart.
The Toronto Film School student recently brought the one-woman show to Fringe Windsor, parlaying her tales of early-life adversity into a standing ovation-worthy performance that’s inspiring her next big leap.
“The Awkward Ballerina is a 100 per cent true story based on my childhood as an aspiring ballet dancer with cerebral palsy, and what it was like to have to face some of the difficulties that I faced,” said Govers, who’s currently studying in TFS’s Online Writing for Film & Television program.
The show sees Govers embodying her younger self to tell her story about growing up with a disability, then coming back to the present to talk about how she overcame those obstacles and what life is like for her now.
“The Awkward Ballerina is about believing in yourself and following your dreams. It’s about not giving up on those dreams just because it’s hard. It’s about friendship, love and understanding. But most importantly, it’s about being kind.”
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It was that uplifting message, she said, that found a powerful connection with audiences in Windsor, where Govers staged her fourth Fringe production of the play since it first debuted in 2022 at Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal as a Best English Production and Most Promising Emerging Artist nominee.
“It was a fantastic experience. I had some great crowds and got to talk to most of my audience members – and the feedback from people was really rewarding,” Govers said of her four-performance run at Fringe Windsor July 24-27, which earned her production company, Two Left Feet Productions MTL, the festival’s Spirit of Fringe Award.
“The conversations with my audience made me feel really good, because the whole point of my show is to get people talking and to spread awareness about cerebral palsy and the effects of bullying. So, to know that people resonated with that message and that they found it important, too, was really rewarding.”
It’s that kind validation that inspired Govers to dream even bigger dreams for her show – and to transform it into a whole new medium at Toronto Film School.
Now halfway through TFS’s online screenwriting program, Govers is currently in the process of adapting The Awkward Ballerina into a feature film screenplay.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but I’m really excited about it and I’m crossing my fingers that something happens with it, because I really believe in this story,” she said.
“I really believed in the solo play when I started writing it, and I still believe in it now that I’m adapting it. I’ve always wanted to live in a more inclusive world, so a story like this is really important one to tell, especially in these times.”
Currently in the process of finishing up her first draft of the adapted screenplay, Govers said she’s enjoying the challenge of writing in a new medium. And while screenwriting is a new discipline for her, it’s one she’s embracing fully – thanks in large part to the encouragement and feedback she’s received at TFS.
“I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things I didn’t even think were possible. It’s been amazing and I love it,” she said of her TFS screenwriting studies.
“Being a student at Toronto Film School has really been a great experience. I’m just upset I didn’t do it sooner; I wish I had done it 10 years ago. But life is a journey, and being a writer and an artist, it’s a one-step-at-a-time, one-project-at-a-time kind of thing.”
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That creative momentum is also fuelling Govers’ next stage production: a new solo show called Pregnant! And It’s Still Awkward, which picks up where The Awkward Ballerina left off.
Like its predecessor, the show is rooted in personal experience and vulnerability, but with an extra dash of humour.
“It’s basically all comedy,” Govers laughed. “It follows my pregnancy journey with my son. I tell stories from each one of the months of my pregnancy and talk about what it’s like to be pregnant and living with CP.”
As she balances her screenwriting studies at TFS with the development of her new solo show (which she hopes to bring to Fringe next year), Govers is more certain now than ever that she’s on the right creative path.
“This is the only thing I’m happy doing,” she said of her writing pursuits. “As a kid, I used to tell my mom that I was going to change the world one word at a time – and I still feel that way today. I’m 40 years old and I still want to change the world one word at a time.”
Learn more about Kristin Govers and her work on Facebook, Instagram or her website here.
