theatrical musings in Minnesota and beyond
Saturday, August 31, 2024
"The Physicists" by Dark & Stormy Productions at Gremlin Theatre
Thursday, August 29, 2024
"Faust" by Mixed Precipitation at Silverwood Park
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024
I just got home from 10 days in the UK, including a visit to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Started in 1947 as a response to the new Edinburgh International Festival, the OG Fringe has grown to a massive size and inspired Fringe Festivals around the world, including right here in Minnesota. While our little Fringe is very contained and manageable, with about a hundred shows at set venues all on the same schedule, Edinburgh Fringe features over 3000 shows at hundreds of venues spread out all over town, with various runtimes (although usually around an hour) and start times from morning until well past midnight. I didn't have any plans going in, other than to see some shows. Mission accomplished! I got a good feel for the festival in just a few days. Read on for my experience and a few tips.
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: Wrap-up and Favorites
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "That Woman - The Monologue Show"
Show: 31
Category: Drama / Historical content / Political content
By: Tennessee Playwrights Studio
Created by: Molly Breen & Angela Gimlin
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: Monologues by six women involved with President John F. Kennedy, including his wife Jackie.
Highlights: I finished my 2024 Fringe-going on a high note. We've all heard about JFK's infidelity, but have we heard the women's stories? In this show, five (alleged) mistresses get the chance to tell their story in monologue form, each one introduced by Jackie (Emma Bucknam), who gets the last word, and asks us not to define her by the short time in her life when she was Mrs. Kennedy. We also get to hear from German spy Ellen Rometch (Emma Kessler), who vows to take her secret to her grave; Mimi Alford (Molly Breen), a White House intern who had an 18-month affair with the President and kept it secret for 40 years; burlesque performer Blaze Starr (Haley McCormick-Jenkins) who had a brief encounter with the President, and other powerful men; Mary Pinchot Meyer (Alison Anderson), the ex-wife of a CIA agent who enjoyed having the President's ear (and paid the price for it); and Judith Exner (Simone Reno), the first woman to come out as a mistress of JFK. All of the monologues are well written and well delivered by the cast, sitting in the single chair on stage or walking around the stage. A great concept for a show, well executed, with a final performance today at 4.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "As Above, So Below"
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Show: 30
Title: As Above, So Below
Category: Drama / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Storytelling
By: Michael Rogers
Created by: Michael Rogers
Location: Barker Center for Dance
Summary: A solo storytelling piece dealing with traumatic family issues that is visceral and mesmerizing.
Highlights: Michael Rogers gives the best performance I saw at Fringe this year. He performs the piece in a stream of consciousness style, almost like a long form poem. It's beautifully written, with lyrical and descriptive language that makes you see and feel what he's describing. He talks about the recent falling apart of his family, that showed cracks long ago. As he says, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, his father was diagnosed with Q-Anon, and only one recovered. He talks about his dad's childhood, his own childhood, and into the recent past when a bad breakup sent him on a downward spiral in which all of these things simmering below the surface finally boiled over. Michael performs in a small circle spotlight in the middle of the stage, with an easy chair, end tables, candles, and wine. The show starts off lighter and a little funny, and then begins to loop around and around and back again, until the audience is completely riveted to the point where you could hear a pin drop. It's the kind of raw, vulnerable, brutally honest performance that requires him to assure us at the end that he's OK. It feels that real. He just completely goes there in his performance, letting us in to the worst moments of his life, and it's incredibly moving. Truly an astounding and unforgettable show.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Mae West's The Drag"
Show: 29
Title: Mae West's The Drag
Category: Comedy / Drama / LGBTQIA+ Content
By: The Feral Theatre Company
Written by: Braden Joseph
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: A modern update of play written in 1927 by Mae West, with drag performances!
Highlights: This play feels like it could have been written today, with its modern themes of identity and LGBTQIA+ rights. The story focuses on a closeted gay man named Rolly (Mitch Vosejpka), his wife Clair (Abby Wagner), and their friend Grayson (Zach Sain), whom Rolly has a crush on, but asks to accompany his wife when he's away, as he often is. We also meet the couple's fathers, one of whom is a doctor attempting to covert homosexuals, including Rolly's ex-lover David (Basil Jenkins). A lot happens in 60 minutes, but in the end several of our characters come to terms with who they are and who others are, including Clair, who's given more agency and voice in this re-write. And of course, we have some fabulous drag performances by Chad Burke, Dee Jackson, and Jordan Girard at the drag ball Rolly holds in his home. This nearly 100-year-old play is a find by Feral Theatre, and they've given it nice treatment, bringing it into the modern age while still being a period piece (with beautiful period costumes and set pieces), so that it's both historical and timely. And you still have time to see it - their final show is today (Sunday), the final day of Fringe.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Transition: A Story of Two Trans People Becoming Themselves"
Show: 28
Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Opera / LGBTQIA+ Content / Political content
By: Emily Boyajian
Created by: Emily Boyajian
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: An orchestral and choral concert interspersed with dramatic scenes around the theme of transgender people becoming themselves.
Highlights: I wouldn't call this show a musical, rather a concert with dramatic scenes. It begins with two transgender people sitting at their computers, getting ready to post on Facebook coming out as transgender. They discuss their fears and hopes, and we follow them through the aftermath, with both the good and bad things that result. In between scenes the two performers step up to microphones holding a book of music, and sing along to the 11-piece orchestra. Emily Boyajian created the show and wrote all the music, and it's really beautifully written and performed. Songs are hopeful, or angry, or brave, uplifting. As Emily said at the end of the show, it's not just an inspiring story of trans journeys, but also an encouragement for all of us to be our authentic selves and not try to fit into any kind of binary. It can't help but remind me of the recent idiotic comments about the Olympic boxer who doesn't look or act or sound like some people think a woman should look or act or sound, and therefore she must be a man. People are complicated and don't fit into neat either/ors, and this show introduces us to two people who have taken a much more difficult journey than most of us can imagine just to be who they are. And they sing about it beautifully and expressively, accompanied by what is by far the largest orchestra (really the only orchestra) I've seen at Fringe. Musically gorgeous, and with an inspiring, uplifting, and necessary message.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "A Murder on the Great Grimpen Mire Express"
Show: 26
Category: Comedy / Mystery / Literary adaptation
By: Fearless Comedy Productions
Created by: Tim Wick & Jami Newstrom
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: A mashup of two of the most beloved mystery stories: Murder on the Orient Express and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Highlights: This is a very funny, clever, well-written show. Putting two of English literature's favorite detectives (Poirot and Holmes) together* is a fun idea, and the show plays on the idiosyncrasies of both characters. Like in Orient Express, Belgian (not French!) detective Hercule Poirot is traveling by train when he happens upon a woman - a Baskerville heir - who's afraid someone is trying to murder her. She has enlisted the services of famous detective Sherlock Holmes, setting up a bit of a rivalry between the two detectives. But Holmes isn't actually on the train, he's sent his trusty assistant Watson. Ms. Baskerville tells the two men her story (with some fun feminist commentary on the damsel in distress trope). Poirot interviews everyone on the train, and of course solves the mystery. The set quickly and cleverly transforms from the sleeping cabins to the dining car and back again. Everyone in the cast is great, particularly Edwin Strout as the mustachioed detective, Angela Fox as the slightly amnesiac Ms. Baskerville, and Dawn Krosnowski stealing scenes as multiple characters (who all come together in the end). Their final performance is today, the final day of Fringe, so you still have time to see this fun, clever, well executed mashup.
Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.
*For more Holmes/Poirot fan fiction, go see Park Square Theatre's return this after a couple dark years with the original play Holmes Poirot by Jeffrey Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson.
Saturday, August 10, 2024
"Marry Me a Little" by Sklark Opera Theatre at the Crane Theater
Friday, August 9, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "5x5"
Show: 25
Title: 5x5
Category: Physical / Theater / Historical content / Literary adaptation / Non-verbal
By: Transatlantic Love Affair
Created by: The Ensemble
Location: Open Eye Theatre
Summary: A tréteau style performance, in which five actors tell five stories within the space of a five-foot by five-foot square.
Highlights: What is tréteau? I still don't really know, but judging by this show it's incredible. TLA began at MN Fringe some 14 years ago, and I've loved them since my first transformative experience with them at the 2012 Fringe. Their shows are always gorgeous and moving, as they create the entire world of the show with just their bodies, voices, and souls. But they've given themselves an extra challenge this year - performing inside a 5x5 square taped out on the floor of the Open Eye's already tiny stage. This limitation has only made the work better and more creative. Directed by Amber Bjork (who always makes everything better), the five performers (Mark Benzel, Christina Castro, Peyton McCandless, Derek Lee Miller, and Allison Vincent) tell five stories, each performer somewhat taking the lead but all participating in the storytelling. And it very much feels like storytelling. Between stories they banter with each other in a fun and playful way, calling each other by their names, commenting on what just happened or is about to happen. The five short stories are mostly familiar, and each more delightful than the last, encompassing humor, adventure, tragedy, and romance. We are treated to the Arthurian story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Shakespeare's classic tale of unchecked ambition Macbeth, Nosferatu done as a silent movie, a whirlwind version of the dinosaur movie Jurassic Park, and the lovely and tragic legend of Popo and Izta from Mexico. The five actors work together so well, just seamlessly and beautifully telling these stories in barely enough space to breathe much less move freely. It reminded me very much of Live Action Set (with whom Mark has frequently performed), my first physical theater love, who often did things like this (watch their LOTR in 8 minutes). I'm not sure what else to say other than this is unsurprisingly my favorite show of the Fringe this year - a clever and unique concept perfectly executed with so much heart, charm, and humor. Their final performance is on Saturday. Online sales are sold out, but if you want to see it, get there super early to snag one of the 25% of seats held for walk-up sales.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "5 Episodes of Minnesota Tonight; 4 Minnesota Fring3, it’s Minnesota 2Night’s 1st Time at Minnesota Fringe."
Show: 24
Category: Comedy / Improv / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content
By: Denzel Belin Presents
Created by: Minnesota Tonight
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: A late night style show featuring stand up, sketch comedy, music, and interviews.
Highlights: This is a great idea for a show, and host Denzel Belin does periodically it throughout the year, but this was my first time seeing it. Unfortunately Denzel wasn't there the night I saw it, but fortunately guest hose Bailey Murphy was a delight, as was musical guest James Rone singing and playing guitar (who knew this great improviser was also a musician?!). Before the show started we had a warm up comedian, as you actually do at such shows. I didn't catch (or retain) her name, but she was fun and easy going and returned for a few bits throughout the show. The real show began with comedian Emily Bradley, also very funny, and then proceeded to Bailey's desk monologue. All the typical elements of a late night show are there - guest interview (esteemed Fringe artist Ariel Pinkerton), sketch comedy (by the funny and feminist troupe Smartmouth Comedy), banter, and bits. There's one final performance of this fun show on Sunday, and it'll be different from any of the previous shows. Follow Minnesota Tonight for news of shows post-Fringe.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Pants on Fire"
Show: 23
Title: Pants on Fire
Category: Improv
By: The Project Factory
Created by: Sarah Broude
Location: HUGE Theater
Summary: A game show in which two teams try to guess if the story someone is telling is a weird truth, or an elaborate lie.
Highlights: What a great idea for a show. If you've heard of "two truths and a lie," it's like that, but each participant only has one chance at a story, with the opposing team guessing if it's true or a lie. It's a nuanced game, in which the storyteller not only has to tell the (possibly made-up story), but make the others believe it's true when it's a lie, or vice versa. And the even trickier thing is that sometimes part of the story is true, but not all of it. The evening is hosted by Sarah Broude, with help from Music Director Chris Perricelli and a delightfully bored assistant (whose name I didn't catch), throwing snacks at the guests, changing outfits frequently, and giving occasional side eye. Each performance has different guests, all pulled from our talented comedy/improv scene. I went (not coincidentally) to the show that featured the Four Humors: Ryan Lear, Brant Miller, Matt Spring, and newest Humor Allison Vincent. This group never fails to crack me up, and this was no exception; in fact I think it's the hardest I've laughed at Fringe this year. They were split into teams with captains Dale Peterson and Katie Kaufmann (who I gather are at every show), and each one got to tell a story, from getting kicked out of a Bozo the Clown show, to being part of a pregnancy reveal gone wrong, to childhood pranks. Watching these six weave a tale on the fly, and the others respond to it and ask questions, is sheer joy and hilarity. Highlights of the evening include watching Matt mime milking a cow, Brant reenact a Santa Experience, and hearing Ryan recite all the books of the Bible, after making us think he couldn't (but of course he can). The point system is a bit suspect, with math and word problems thrown in arbitrarily, but it's all in good fun. Great fun actually.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Blackout Improv Does Something!!!"
Show: 22
Category: Comedy / Improv / Puppetry
By: Rogues Gallery Arts
Created by: Blackout Improv
Location: HUGE Theater
Summary: Minneapolis' first all Black improv troupe does the something that only they can do.
Highlights: Blackout returns to the Minnesota Fringe for the first in seven years, which doesn't seem possible. I'm pretty sure my first experience with them was at Fringe, and I've seen them many times since, including most recently for their fabulous Juneteenth celebration at the Ordway. As a short form improv troupe they're very funny and work well together, bouncing ideas off each other and yes-and-ing. But what I keep coming back for is their trademark swag hat in which they draw an audience-suggested topic from a hat, have a real round-table discussion about it, and then do improv based on it. Many of the audience suggestions were of course about the election, and it was really interesting (and dare I say hopeful?) to hear the Black perspective on it. A lighter topic drawn from the hat was Black nerd problems, which we can all relate to (or at least everyone attending a theater festival can). Before the swag hat we were treated to special guest artist - Blackout alum and former #TCTheater artist Theo Langason (they have a different guest at every show). He's just a gem, and though he no longer lives in town, he returns occasionally to direct or for events like this. The multi-talented artist sang us three sweet and mournful songs that he wrote, accompanying himself on steel guitar (the most beautifully melancholic instrument). Then the troupe did a few improv scenes based on his songs, to everyone's delight. The other feature of the night was scenes about little known moments of Black excellence throughout history, like the first time someone said a song was "my jam," the emergence of the "magical Negro," and Moses parting the Red Sea (although I feel like that's pretty well known). Blackout's 60-minute show flew by and felt like 20; I'd see it again if I could! You've got two more chances to see them this weekend!
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Gasthaus"
Show: 21
Title: Gasthaus
Category: Drama / Original Music / Historical content
By: TROMPE L'OEIL
Written by: Kevin Bowen & Lynn Bowen
Location: Phoenix Theater
Summary: The story of an inn on the border between West and East Germany not too long after WWII.
Highlights: Inspired by a true story, the playwrights tell the fictional tale of a family trying to run their inn and dealing with border patrol inside their home. It's a compelling story, if a bit cliche, in which the West German daughter falls in love with one of the East German soldiers. The charming German-themed set, authentic period costumes, and live accordion music help set the scene, with the cast speaking Germlish (English with a few German words thrown in like Nein, Guten Morgan, Ost, and Danke - the language I used to speak with my friends when studying abroad in Austria). Directed by Amanda Weis, the cast is talented and engaging in this look at a fascinating time in history in which families and friends were separated by an arbitrary border (which has happened a lot throughout the history of this planet). An overall enjoyable show, even if the ending is a bit too easy and abrupt.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Daddy Issues"
Show: 20
Title: Daddy Issues
Category: Drama / Physical Theater / Storytelling
By: Pretend Productions
Written by: Allison Vincent
Location: Phoenix Theater
Summary: A solo show about Allison's journey guiding her father through the end of his life, and their complicated relationship leading up to it.
Highlights: Developed a couple years ago with Pillsbury House + Theater, this is an excellent example of a very personal solo storytelling show that's funny, moving, and relatable. Using her skills in physical theater and transforming into multiple characters, Allison conveys her experience as her father's guardian/caretaker/health care advocate. Suffering from a myriad of health issues after years of hoarding and ignoring his health, she moved him from Illinois to Minnesota and advocated for him as he entered hospice care in a facility, despite the fact that their relationship was... complicated. She tells the story in a convivial way, voicing multiple other characters, with excellent choices for music during scene transitions and one very funny radio driving scene. The set is charmingly constructed of cardboard boxes, with some fun cameo voiceover performances. The story is well constructed and delivered with ease, true emotion, and vulnerability, and doesn't leave a dry eye in the house. Allison is always a highlight of any show she's in (including as company member of two of my favorite Fringe-born companies Transatlantic Love Affair and Four Humors, and her recent foray into directing), and it's a joy to get to spend these 50+ minutes with her and get to know her a little better, and watch her use all of her skills in telling this personal story.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Beanie Baby Divorce Play"
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Show: 19
Title: Beanie Baby Divorce Play
Category: Comedy / Drama / Horror / Original Music / Puppetry / Storytelling / Historical content / LGBTQIA+ Content
By: Melancholics Anonymous
Created by: Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly
Location: Open Eye Theatre
Summary: The story of a couple fighting over their beanie babies during their divorce and ignoring their actual children, who resort to desperate measures to get their parents' attention.
Highlights: This is bizarre in Melancholics Anonymous' trademark style. The story is told by the Beanie Babies CEO in a smoking jacket ala Masterpiece Theater, reading out of a children's book. We meet the family in court, the kids bored and ignored, the parents angry and selfish. While playing, the kids make a wish that turns ugly with the appearance of a mystical evil creature. One of the kids is kidnapped, and the other fights to get her back, with the help of Princess Diana (or not). The performances by the eight-person cast (Timothy Kelly, Aerin O’Malley, Anneliese Garner, Bee Davis, Meredith Enersen, Nick Willcocks, Samantha Miller, and Claire Chenoweth in a creepily physical performance as the Beanie monster) are great and really committed to this absurdity, and the use of Beanie Babies as props, set, and costumes is truly impressive, particularly what I can only describe as a Beanie Baby tower (set and prop design by Mady Smith). It's a really weird and fun show about the dangers of consumerism and obsession, and if I wasn't emotionally invested, maybe that's OK.
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare"
Show: 18
Category: Comedy / Improv / LGBTQIA+ Content / Shakespearian elements
By: Juliet & Juliet
Created by: Meghan Wolff & Sami Haeli
Location: Theatre in the Round
Summary: Just as the title says - two women improvise a new Shakespeare play, written by the Bard himself!
Highlights: This show is a lot of fun. Meghan and Sami have obviously done this a lot, because the Shakespearean language (with lots of prithees, thous, and perchances) flows effortlessly off their tongues. At the beginning of the show they ask for a couple of themes and some names, and they're off and running. The show I saw was about friendship and being unprepared. We meet two friends at the king's court who need to deliver him a message, which one of them received from a forest sprite. Scenes go back and forth between the faery world and the king's court, and then the worlds collide and the two actors are running back and forth playing multiple characters in the same scene! They manage to work in quite a few Shakespearean tropes - an apothecary with a magic potion, faeries doing mischief to mortals, and character soliloquys while the other one is standing right there but cannot hear. If you're a fan of Shakespeare, or improv, or having a good time - go see this show!
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Peña Flamenca - La Corrida (Bullfight)"
Show: 17
Category: Musical Theater
By: Flamenco X
Directed by: Marie de los Reyes
Location: Southern Theater
Summary: A series of flamenco dances accompanied by live music.
Highlights: Where else can I see flamenco dancing other than the fringe festival?! I'm sure there are places, but none that I frequent. To be honest, I only saw this show because the one I was planning to see in this slot dropped out and the local Spanish and Latin dance company Flamenco X bravely agreed to fill the slot the day before the festival began. I'm glad I saw it; the dancing is fantastic, and unlike anything I've seen! The slow seductive movements followed by fast movements, with beautiful arm and hand movements, is a thrill to watch. Especially when they stamp on a wooden plank with a satisfying percussive noise. Four dancers (Marie de los Reyes, Gaël Poretti, Nan Marie Zosel, and Rafaela Del Sol) present a variety of dances, some sexy, some funny, some folk dances, and there also was a young woman doing some jaw-dropping acrobatics (unclear is that's part of the flamenco tradition). The first few dances were to recorded tracks, then guitar player David Elrod came out and played for the dancers, with Marie singing on some songs in addition to dancing. While the individual performances are great, the production is a bit rough. Between scenes there was lots of awkward silence as we waited for the next scene to be set up and for the dancers to change from one gorgeous costume to the next. The amiable host Nan covered for some of it with her charming and disarming banter (including telling a Lena and Ole joke after encouraging us to yell Olé), but there's too much dead space within the show. A rough production but mesmerizing dancing I probably wouldn't see anywhere else.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Playing Dead"
Show: 16
Title: Playing Dead
Category: Comedy
By: Kari Heistad
Written by: Kari Heistad
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: A woman and her two daughters gather to prepare for her mother's funeral, when one of the daughters seems to be possessed by the dead woman's spirit.
Highlights: Grief does strange things to people. In this family dramedy, it makes a granddaughter pretend to be possessed by her recently deceased grandmother's spirit. Or maybe she really is possessed, or maybe she's having a nervous breakdown, or maybe she's just an eccentric actor (she also occasionally channels Lady Macbeth). Either way, the play explores mother/daughter and sister/sister relationships in a funny, real, and relatable way. The three women tell stories, bicker, and make up after a health scare. Written and directed by Kari Heistad, the talented three-person cast feels like a real family, with all the love and frustration that comes with it. #TCTheater veteran Meri Golden (you can see her play the title role in Theatre in the Round's King Lear this fall) is wonderful as the family matriarch, Laura Carlson is a hoot as the eccentric daughter and her grandmother, and Natosha Guldan is convincing as the serious stable daughter who feels like she's taken for granted. With more set pieces than usual at a fringe show, we feel like we're in this homey living room for all the fun family dysfunction.
Monday, August 5, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon"
Show: 15
Category: Drama / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Storytelling
By: Mahmoud Hakima
Directed by: Nicole Wood
Location: Theatre in the Round
Summary: A solo storytelling show about child abuse, and a way out.
Highlights: Mahmoud first performed this show at the 2009 Fringe but I've never seen it, and am mostly familiar with Mahmoud as a member of Blackout. But I now know him as an expert storyteller too. In what I assume is an autobiographical tale, he relays the story of a young boy and the abuse that he and his siblings endured at the hands of his step-father. He only refers to "the boy" and "the man," which perhaps allows for some distance to the story. This family experienced some brutal child abuse that's chillingly and viscerally recounted, in a way that makes it difficult to watch at times. But it's beautifully told and so worth seeing. The show is constructed as a series of scenes that move around a bit in time, and also talk about the boy's relationship with a protective slightly older girl in elementary school, who it turns out may have some issues of her own (not too surprising considering some of the disturbing child/parent play she employs). This is perhaps the most dynamic storytelling show I've seen; with direction by Nicole Miller, Mahmoud uses the entire in-the-round space, moving four chairs around in different configurations to represent characters or locations, so that when we return to them we instantly know where they are. He sometimes acts out the scenes in addition to narrating them, bringing them to fuller life. The blackout moments between scenes provide a needed breather from these sometimes brutal stories, and are accompanied by a well-chosen soundtrack of songs. This is a tragic story that's beautifully and effectively told.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "DIVINE/GYPSY"
Show: 14
Title: DIVINE/GYPSY
Category: Clowning / Comedy / Dance / Drama / Horror / Musical Theater
By: The Blair Kitsch Project
Created by: Hailey Woolverton
Location: Barker Center for Dance
Summary: The musical Gypsy, if Mama Rose were played by iconic drag performer Divine, star of several John Waters movies.
Highlights: This is a mashup that makes sense. It's a Gypsy that's a little cruder and trashier (that's a compliment, and I think what they were going for). In about 45 minutes they hit the highlights of the musical, singing along to recorded tracks (the Patti LuPone version, natch). Three local drag artists play all of the characters in the condensed story. Blair Kitsch (Hailey Woolverton) plays Mama Rose with the right amount of camp and sincerity, with an emotional high in the final song "Everything's Coming up Roses." Mink Hole (Cam Crawford) is an awkward and loose-limbed baby Louise (there's no June in this story, or maybe the two sisters are combined into one character), later transforming into the seductive stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Pistachio Creampie (Samuel Karie) acts as narrator and plays a few other characters, with some poignant commentary on fame, identity, and self-confidence. This divine Gypsy succeeds as a fun campy drag version of Gypsy.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "A Monster Scientist and a Tattooed Anarchist Walk into a Bar"
Show: 12/13
Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Spoken Word / Storytelling / Historical content / LGBTQIA+ Content
By: Mermaid Productions
Created by: Rev. Matt and Ariel Pinkerton
Location: Comedy Corner - Underground
Summary: A double bill of Ariel Pinkerton's storytelling show Put a Needle in Me and Reverend Matt's Monster Science show, with a different topic at each performance.
Highlights: This independently produced show works a bit differently; it's actually two rotating shows, so you'll have to buy a ticket for each one separately. But it's worth it because both are great examples of what these two artists do so well. Ariel's new show (which premiered at Tuscon Fringe earlier this year) is the latest chapter in her very personal autobiographical storytelling career. While drawing from various periods in her life, this show mostly focuses on her most recent "mid-life crisis" involving a divorce, a pandemic, a new career direction, and a full back tattoo. Beautifully crafted and authentically delivered, as per usual, the show posits that maybe what people call a "mid-life crisis" is just reassessing where you are and what you want your life to be. Reverend Matt (aka Matthew Kessen) presents five different shows about various monster-themed topics. The one I happened to see was about evolution, which turned out to be a great (passive) choice. It wasn't just about evolution and the strange and interesting plants and animals that creates, but it's also about something called speculative evolution, which I didn't even know was a thing, but is quite remarkable. As per usual, Reverend Matt's presentation is thorough and detailed and wonderfully nerdy, complete with visual aids! I recommend seeing both shows back-to-back on Saturday or Sunday, and getting a bite to eat from The Corner Bar (which this intimate venue is below) between shows. Note: the Fringe website says you can order food and bring it downstairs, but some of the employees gave us different answers about that. Proceed at your own risk.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate's Midlife Crisis"
Show: 11
Category: Physical Theater
By: Hey Rube!
Written by: Marcus Anthony
Location: Theatre in the Round
Summary: A comedic retelling of the life of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet.
Highlights: The story is told in flashback by Stede (Joshua English Scrimshaw) and Tristram Shanty (Natalie Rae Wass). Google tells me there is a fictional character named Tristram Shandy, it's unclear if the playwright was inspired by this character, or just the funny name - similar to Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon being unable to say Nabulungi, Stede calls Tristram by any number of words that start with T. From some unknown time and place in the future, Stede tells his story (with constant corrections from Tristram). We watch as Stede hires Tristram and his crew to be pirates, and go about doing piratey things, although Tristram insists they're not pirates. But all Stede wants is to be a pirate. He soon meets the real pirate Blackbeard (Madhu Bangalore), and all Blackbeard wants is to be a gentleman. They both get what they want, in a be-careful-what-you-wish-for kind of way. The play is constructed of many short scenes with blackouts in between, which isn't a bad thing, but when the audience decides it needs to applaud at every blackout, it disrupts the momentum and flow of the storytelling. (Note to audiences: you don't have to applaud every time the lights go out, often it's better for the story if you just hold the silence.) Despite these interruptions, there are some great performances, particularly Joshua as Bonnet, performing with his trademark physicality, literally climbing around the theater. The entire six-person cast, dressed in piratey costumes including tall boots and puffy shirts, is committed to the campy comedy tone of the piece, and there are some great fight scenes with imaginary swords. All in all it's a fun fringey romp.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Banana Wars"
Show: 10
Title: The Banana Wars
Category: Solo Show / Storytelling
By: The Miller Conspiracy
Written by: Derek Lee Miller
Location: Phoenix Theater
Summary: A remount of one of my favorite shows from the 2017 Fringe, this is a fascinating deep dive into the Banana Wars, that's really about so much more (militarism, capitalism, globalism, oh my!).
Highlights: This show is the reason the Fringe Festival exists. Most shows - dance, sketch comedy, drama, musicals, even clowning - have another performance home. But where else can someone give an hour-long history lesson about the banana that manages to also comment on the US military through history to today? What Derek Lee Miller has done here is, simply put, brilliant. It's like if John Oliver were to do a piece on the so-called Banana Wars, and at the beginning you think, "why is he talking about the Banana Wars?" And at the end you think, "OMG why isn't everyone talking about the Banana Wars?! Smedley Butler, people, Smedley Butler!!" Using a series of silent film placards, Derek walks us through these small, brutal wars (which I won't even begin to explain here, just go see the show), interspersed with personal remembrances, all to paint an ugly picture of greed and power. Smedley Butler, by the way, that guy with the funny name you've never heard of, was the most decorated Marine in history who at the end of his life spoke out against the US military. Like a speeding freight train, Derek barrels through history at a breakneck head-spinning fast-talking pace that makes 60 minutes feel like 10. This show probably won't make you feel good about the world or about being an American, but like a good John Oliver piece, it'll make you glad you know about the Banana Wars. And you'll never look at a banana the same way again.*
Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.
*Highlights borrowed from what I wrote about the 2017 production.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Camp Out"
Show: 9/27
Title: The Camp Out
Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Physical Theater
By: Mike Fotis Productions
Created by: Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Nels Lennes, Heather Meyer, Danna Sheridan
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: An improvised story of six friends who go on a campout to remember a deceased friend.
Highlights: Long-form is my favorite kind of improv, and this show is an example of why. Over the course of about an hour we watch these relationships develop in front of our eyes (although I'm not sure if characters and plots points are improvised and different every time, or just the conversation around them). And these six improvisors (Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Nels Lennes, Heather Meyer, and Danna Sheridan) are some of the best. The show starts with a couple actually setting up a tent on stage, which is a drama in and of itself! Friends start arriving, and we start to gather what everyone's relationships are. In the show I saw, the friends are there to honor their friend who died a year or so ago, and secrets (relationships, pregnancies) are revealed. It's so much fun to watch this group just be these people, talking and joking and snacking. It feels so real, like eavesdropping. When real life thunder was heard from outside the theater, they incorporated it into the show, starting to prepare for the rain. It's a well-done, smooth, and very funny improvised dramedy.
Update: I had an open slot in my schedule so I saw this one again, and it was completely different! Same performers, same concept of saying goodbye to a deceased friend (reading a letter from a family member and spreading their ashes in the park), but the characters and relationships were completely different. No surprise revelations, just being together and grieving. I cried from laughter, and a little bit at the real emotions.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Wind Phone"
Show: 8
Title: The Wind Phone
Category: Drama / LGBTQIA+ Content
By: Broken Wing Productions
Directed by: Nicole Wilder
Location: Campbell Plaza (outdoors)
Summary: Several individuals visit a wind phone to talk to their deceased loved ones.
Highlights: Based on the real-life phenomenon of the wind phone which began in Japan, the show explores themes of grief, loss, and healing. Four people visit the wind phone in a park in Minneapolis (not hard to imagine since that's where we are, the natural amphitheater set in a park on the U of M campus), with the park's caretaker Lana (Sheree Froelich) there to give advice, disinfect the phone between visits, and just chat. We meet MaryAnne (Boo Segersin) who needs to talk to her mentor with a problematic history, Carter (Anthony Sisler-Neuman) who visits annually to talk to his husband, and exes Peggy (Kira Pontiff) and Alice (Megan Kim) who are mourning the loss of Peggy's mother and their relationship. The show (co-created by Callie Aho and Sheree Froelich and written by Sheree) is basically a series of monologues, well delivered by the cast. Each story of grief is different but all are moving, and the show is not without moments of lightness and humor. The setting is perfect, and the cast can be heard despite fighting against ambient sounds of wind or passers by. They use the large performance space well, which contains both permanent sculptures and the set pieces and props for the show (designed by Andrew Lester). I love an outdoor show at Fringe, and this one fits the bill well. Get there early to sit in one of the comfy camp chairs, or sit on one of the two cement arcs.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Heart Ripped Out Twice And So Can You!"
Show: 7
Category: Clowning / Comedy / Solo Show
By: Linnea Bond
Created by: Linnea Bond
Location: Barker Center for Dance
Summary: A hilarious and heart-wrenching solo show about medical procedures, heartbreak, and the wonder of human existence.
Highlights: As advertised, this one ripped my heart out. But not literally, like what happened to touring artist Linnea Bond when she was diagnosed with two benign but fast-growing tumors, one on her brain stem and one behind her heart. As good artists do, she's turned an unimaginably painful experience into a thing of beauty, and a way to connect with the world. The show is structured as a timeshare presentation, complete with power point presentation, but what she wants us to buy into is human existence. As she describes the things that could happen (open heart surgery, infections, the person you love abandoning you), it doesn't sound very appealing. But by the end you're all in, and somehow the laughter at the way she tells her story in an absurdist clowning way has turned into tears at the unfathomable beauty of life. For someone who had severe health issues, Linnea's performance is incredibly physical, running around the stage, changing clothes, using silly puppets, traipsing through the audience. This is a well-honed professional show and she perfectly delivers, somehow getting us to laugh at her pain, until the breakthrough and the reveal of whom she's really trying to sell brings it all home. This is the kind of show that Fringe is made for, and so beautifully done.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Hugo and Maeve Join A Cult!"
Show: 6
Title: Hugo and Maeve Join A Cult!
Category: Comedy / Horror
By: Alex Stokes / Sky Blue Productions
Created by: Brendan Nelson Finn, Abilene Olson, and Alex Stokes
Location: Bryant Lake Bowl
Summary: Twenty-something friends Hugo and Maeve are seduced by chocolate into joining an Oompa Loompa cult in the bowels of the Mall of America.
Highlights: This is just good fringey fun. Liberally sprinkled with Minnesota references, cult references, and Roald Dahl references, it tells the story of these two friends who go to the mall for some Bubba Gump Shrimp and end up in wigs and cloaks, running for their lives. Exhausted from the forced labor of shrimp farming next to the Rainforest Cafe, they find an empty room and livestream their story in the hopes that someone will rescue them. They tell us the bizarre details of their cult, which really are no more bizarre than the real cults they bring to mind (NXIVM, Scientology, Heaven's Gate). Created and directed by Alex Stokes and performed by Abilene Olson and Brendan Nelson Finn (winner of the 2023 TCTB Award for best comedic performance), you're in good hands - these folks know funny. There's a bit of horror, and a fun voiceover cameo, but mostly it's just these two loveable idiots lamenting their fate. It's a short one at about 40 minutes, and I would have happily spent another 10 or 15 minutes with Hugo and Maeve in the basement of the Mall of America.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Dumb Waiter"
Show: 5
Title: The Dumb Waiter
Category: Comedy / Drama / Physical Theater / Political content
By: Jackdonkey Productions
Written by: Harold Pinter
Location: Open Eye Theatre
Summary: A one-act play by British playwright Harold Pinter about two hit-men waiting to do a job.
Highlights: As I've written several times, I don't get Pinter. His plays are so bleak and often absurd, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of it. But maybe because The Dumb Waiter is not a full-length play (Pinter is easier to digest in small bites?), maybe because of Jackdonkey's excellent production, this is my favorite Pinter yet. It has a Waiting for Godot feel, with these two men sitting in a bare room (per the script they're supposed to be sitting on beds but per this Fringe aesthetic they're sitting on stools with a few props in a bucket, which works well), waiting for word from their boss about their next job. They have conversations about nothing (tea and snacks), and talk about past jobs that they can't forget. Ben (Dominic Shiro) is the calmer quieter one, reading a newspaper, while Gus (Robert Wood Frank) is a bit more restless, wandering around, leaving the room to make tea or use the bathroom, filling the silence with chatter. Both actors along with the director Zach Christensen are U of M/Guthrie BFA grads and continue a summer of excellent work by the Guthrie farm team. Everything is crisp, precise, and thoughtful, with the actors, particularly Robert, performing with interesting and specific physicality. The staging, lighting (by Matthew Walsh), costumes, minimal props, and use of the trap door as the dumb waiter are all so cohesive and well done. Fringe is a great place to see new work, but it's also a great place to see excellent new interpretations of established plays, and this is one of those.
Saturday, August 3, 2024
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "An Honest* History of Bullshit"
Show: 4
Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Historical content / Political content / Religious content
By: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International
Created by: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International
Location: HUGE Improv Theater
Summary: German comedian Paco Erhard returns to MN Fringe with a new show about, well, bullshit.
Highlights: Paco's 2013 show 5-Step Guide to Being German was one of the top-selling shows, and one of my favorites of the festival. His new show An Honest* History of Bullshit probably won't make my favorites list, but it was still very entertaining. The concept feels much looser than last year's, he only occasionally returns to the idea of bullshit (which he defines as people wanting to believe the stories in their own heads rather than the truth), using it as a very loose framework to tell a bunch of stories, some funnier than others. Like in his last show, he brings an interesting cultural perspective as someone who grew up in Germany, has traveled and lived all over the world, and now resides in LA. He makes jokes about Americans, Germans, and Canadians, talks about how there are certain jokes that work better in Europe than America, or vice versa, and the idea of stereotypes in general. It's a fun standup comedy show with a global perspective.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Holy O"
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Show: 3
Title: Holy O
Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Solo Show / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content / Religious content
By: Lauren Hance of Out of Mind Productions
Directed by: Amelia Peterson & Cathy Lam-Patrie
Location: Corner Coffee Uptown
Summary: A solo piece about a nurse who wants to become a nun, that is sweet and uplifting despite the heavy topics of religion, sex, trauma, and loss.
Highlights: Traveling artist Lauren Hance brings her hit show to Minnesota, and you should not miss the chance to see it. Performed at Corner Coffee in Uptown (an easy walk from any of the Uptown Fringe theaters), it's intimate and participatory, but not in a scary way. Vera (short for Veracity ) wakes up from a nap to see all of us sitting there, assuming we're saints. Because since moving next door to a couple of nuns, she's been having weird and rapturous experiences while praying. This leads her to want to become a nun, but she's not sure about giving up the things she'll need to give up. One of which is clothes, so she asks for our help deciding what to keep and what to give away. She offers three choices, each with a story, and someone in the audience chooses one, making this a choose-your-own-adventure type show that is never the same twice. Each story is about herself or someone she's met in her life or career as a midwife and later as a school nurse. Some are funny, some are tragic, all are affecting. Lauren is so good at what she does, taking whatever the audience gives her and making it part of the show. I'm typically not a fan of audience participation, but this works so well, and feels intimate and communal as she looks us in the eyes while telling these stories with real emotion (if you don't want to participate, don't sit in the front row or on the center aisle and don't offer a suggestion, and you'll be fine). She prays for the people whose stories she tells, and blesses audience members who help her, but not in a creepy preachy way, rather in a sweet and loving way that somehow makes you feel healed. Whether or not Vera decides to become a nun - you'll have to see the show to find out.
Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Show Me Your Wings"
Show: 2
Title: Show Me Your Wings
Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Physical Theater / Puppetry / Storytelling / Audience participation
By: MaMa Faerie Productions
Created by: Rhiannon Fiskradatz
Location: Squirrel Haus Arts
Summary: A multi-media intimate interactive experience about wings, love, identity, and self-expression.
Highlights: In this very personal piece, singer/songwriter/artist Rhiannon Fiskradatz shares her story of becoming herself. She wrote a collection of songs during the pandemic inspired by the idea of wings, which is her personal inspiration in life. She shares several of these songs, along with stories of growing up and becoming the truly unique artist that she is today. Guided by conductor Shanan Custer, The experience starts in lobby of Squirrel Haus Arts (just a quick 10-minute drive from the Cedar-Riverside hub), which is filled with wings-inspired art. Then we follow her into the main performance space in small groups, each one with a short activity (mine was to pick up a book and find an inspirational quote). Then we all gather together for the performance, backed by a fabulous band and four-person ensemble (Marc Berg, Thalia Kostman, Lindsey Oetken, Josh Vogen). The audience sits on mismatched chairs or pillows on the floor, while an artist creates a painting live, and Rhiannon and the ensemble perform little vignettes, each one a story in itself (like the fierce Medusa song), with some really cool physical theater/movement/dance elements (choreography by Thalia Kostman). Rhainnon was given the name MaMa Faerie and it suits her - magical, earthy, airy, maternal, feminist, and eccentric (in the best way). This is a show unlike any other you will see at the Fringe - it's not just a show, it's an experience. On the way out you can take in the exhibits and sensory activities, or add your comments to questions on the wall. It's a lovely and magical community experience that should not be missed.