In a performance with plenty of audience participation and interaction, the debut of Wanda’s Worry for Kids fringe left the audience smiling.

The Calgary Fringe Theatre Festival’s new kid-friendly shows labelled Kids Fringe, debuted on Aug. 5, 2025, at the Festival Hall in Inglewood.

Producer, writer, and animator for Wanda’s Worry, Day Chase, said it was a great turnout for a Tuesday while hoping Friday’s show will be packed.

“I’m so excited,” Chase said.

During the show, Nyx Orr who played Wanda, kept the audience engaged by asking for their help and letting them interact with the imaginary friends.

The kids and some adults in the audience were very vocal and ready to help when they were called upon.

The show is about Wanda doing a presentation on the machine she created that allows you to see imaginary friends.

One by one, she introduces her imaginary friends to the audience until a new friend appears, and Wanda, with the help of the audience, tries to understand this new friend.

Chase said Wanda’s Worry is a cute and fun little play about how different feelings like anxiety present themselves in kids and what they can do to cope with those feelings.

“I think it’s the sort of thing where you can have a really good time, but also maybe have kids ask questions that they need to ask,” Chase said.

Wanda’s Worry is the first performance for Kids Fringe as well as the first play put on by Chase. Chase is also a performer in the other show for Kids Fringe, Islands Disappear.

“They’re both lovely and they’re both very different,” said Chase.

Chase said Kids Fringe is a wonderful thing to do during summer, and it’s a great way to get kids out of the house.

“I think kids’ shows deserve bigger spaces,” said Chase.

“If you’re an adult, you can come too.”

Chase said the goal for Wanda’s Worry is to tour schools and maybe write a children’s book based on it.

“I think that there’s a good opportunity for curriculum in the script because it’s about anxiety for kids,” said Chase.