Sub-Total
2022 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Florence Brammer
Company: Fortune's Fool Theatre
Show: The Hysterical Woman
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Wow Wow Wow
This was a powerful show, with beautifully curated vignettes and readings by five wonderful actors. The content is painful but vital and was presented through a masterful blend of history, poetry, myth and recreations of scenarios that are way way too familiar. Congratulations to all involved. Just wonderful.
Company: Doc Woods & Friends
Show: Black Wall Street: Dreamland Theatre
Venue: Augsburg Studio
A vital look at suppressed history
Even though I have travelled to Tulsa almost annually for most of my life, I only learned about the Greenwood massacre about five years ago. That is simply an absurd and obscene fact. While I found the vintage film clips fascinating, I think they could have been reduced so that more time was left for the powerful acting. But that is a small quibble with this important and powerfully presented short play.
Company: Mad Company
Show: Connor's Gonna Tell: The Táin Bó Cúailnge
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Absolutely riveting
This story came to life with unbelievable writing and delivery. So evocative and memorable.
Company: Haute Dish Productions
Show: Bonny & Read
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Pirates, feminists and sea shanties
I am so glad I was able to catch this show. It was so well-sung and the stage combat was great as well. Very well done!
Company: Kurkendaal-Barrett Presentations
Show: The Real Black Swann , Confessions of America's First Black Drag Queen
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Les’ best show to date!
I always make sure to schedule Les’ Fringe shows. I loved how he meshed his own journey toward acknowledging suppressed rage with Swann’s amazing and fearless life. A wonderful show.
Company: SAATH
Show: Desi Heart Crust
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Incredibly ambitious production
What a treat to get to see this at the Fringe. This production is SO ambitious: the sheer number in the cast, the complexity of the topic, the sheer quantity of big dance numbers and costume changes. Very appealing and engaging.
Company: The Yes Fly List
Show: The Brothers Dangus Vol. 1: The Liturgy of the Big Yellow Ghost
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Come for the chaos, stay for the . . . chaos.
High art and commerce, Mrs. Sanderson’s moon cream, shit brooms, scorpion soup, a hungry baby and butt-free potatoes. I was all-in for the madness and this cast could not possibly be more committed to it. The only thing In this absurdly scatalogical show that gave me pause was (because of our news cycle of late) a recurring component of an active shooter.
Company: Christopher Kehoe
Show: Jesus Qhrist
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Christopher Kehoe is AMAZING
The way this script starts out, progresses, and then ends is absolutely brilliant. Kehoe’s performance is just mesmerizing. Highly highly recommended.
Company: Ripped Nylons Productions
Show: Endometriosis: the Musical
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Top-notch musical performances and staging
This was a really polished show with excellent comic acting, use of props and costumes, staging, and musical performances.
Company: The Aquatic Center
Show: swim team
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
“WE ARE THE SWIM TEAM”
I loved this show. The text, the staging and the performances were all so good. It’s not for those who want a straight-up linear narrative, but for me it packed a real emotional punch and I’ll be thinking about this talented trio’s artistic choices for a long time.
Company: Clevername Theatre
Show: Who's Afraid of Winnie the Pooh?
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Brilliant idea, beautiful execution!!
The juxtaposition of Winnie the Pooh, Albee and the Milne family dynamics to create this show was such a brilliant idea. Every single one of the performances was spot-on. Just fantastic.
Company: LCcreations
Show: I think we are supposed to be 'Coming of Age' by now...
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
I came out of this show just happy to be alive!
This is so vibrant and energizing. Wonderful dancing and a fantastic band onstage. Loved loved loved this show.
Company: Penny: For Your Thoughts
Show: ShMILF Life
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Beautifully written and performed
Sterling has written a show made up of so many memorable moments and insights. She performs it flawlessly and with a delivery that feels like a friend telling you her life experiences. A really wonderful show.
Company: Surprise Me Productions
Show: Foreigner Frenzy - The MAST diaries of 1978!
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Coming “of age” in the ‘70’s
This is a sweet, honest and evocative look at Keck’s experiences with her new-found sexuality in the 70s, with all the awkwardness, tears and headiness that come with that. Personal and memorable.
Company: Your Silent Partner
Show: Help Me Help You Help Yourself
Venue: HUGE
Ambitious and so much fun
If there were a Lanyard Award for most involved prop clean-up and re-set, this would win hands-down. No effort is spared to give us a colorful, interactive and creative show. It’s really really so much fun.
Company: an alleged Theatre Company
Show: 3 Guys on Stage Who Get Hit with Hot Dogs, Snow Cones, etc.
Venue: CFPA Flex
Groundhog Day Meets The Squid Game
It’s all fun and games until the gaslighting, exploitation and snow cones-down-the-shirt begin. And then it’s still fun and games, but just sinister. Fantastic.
Company: 2HOOTS PRODUCTIONS
Show: Jon Bennett: FIRE IN THE METH LAB
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Amazing performance of gut-wrenching material
Wow. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to present material so personal and so gut-wrenching. I felt like I’d really been through a journey by the time the show was finished. A really polished show, very engaging.
Company: EnCompass Theatre
Show: Shoe Night
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A touching look at a troubled relationship
About halfway in, I thought, “Oh, this isn’t working for me,” but by the end I found it affecting and thought-provoking. The performances were very good. The staging was pretty static, but I don’t see how that could be avoided given the setting in a shoe store.
Company: Virginia Twins
Show: Beach Play
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Unexpected pleasure
I didn’t know what to expect from this, but it was a really enjoyable show. The actors were charismatic and their movement was beautiful. When your ears need a break from intense spoken text, this is a treat for the other senses. I really liked it, a lot.
Company: Cardboard Suitcase Productions
Show: A Little Water
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
A touching focus on Ophelia
I love Hamlet, and Ophelia has always haunted me. I expected this to have some newly created text about Ophelia and was somewhat surprised to learn that it’s still “only” the original text. However this has a real emotional punch and the final image is haunting. The performances are great and the staging is beautiful. I loved the chorus of four Ophelias.
Company: Kyle B. Dekker
Show: He-Man Is The Devil & Other Satanic Panic Tales
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Gripping and personal insights and experiences
Dekker has crafted a series of memories, insights and cautionary tales about his personal experiences. He does this in an earnest and largely untheatrical way that is deeply affecting and memorable.
Company: Phantom Chorus Theatre
Show: Bellerophon's Shadow: Voyage of the Pegasus
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
I LOVED THIS SHOW. SO MUCH.
I adored this show. The puppetry, lighting, and script were fantastic, but it was the physical theatre component that really blew me away. So creative, beautiful and touching. I could definitely see it again. I may.
Company: Brick by Brick Players
Show: My Dance with Lisa
Venue: Augsburg Studio
Navigating life through patriarchy
This is a very touching performance of a script that reveals the painful balance of women both acknowledging and pushing back against living in patriarchy, and -- consciously or not -- also buying into it (e.g., poor body image) and complying with its expectations (e.g., "smile"). For a while I wasn't sure that the conceit of talking to the Mona Lisa really added anything, but that connection strengthened as the play went on.
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Company: Hey Rube!
Show: Orzel Rising
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
History made real with props and 45 minutes
What a wonderful production about a real historical event about which I knew nothing. The text, the performances, the staging, the props, the lighting -- everything was so creative and so well-done. Recommended.
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Company: Kelly McGuigan
Show: Can I Interest You in Me?
Venue: HUGE
SOOOOOOO GOOD
I expected to like this show based on the preview, but I had no clue that it would be as fantastic as it is. The vignettes have been so thoughtfully written and presented to show a wide range of stories having to do with drinking and sobriety. Just beautifully done. And I got a delicious non-alcoholic Old Fashioned, as well! Put it on your schedule!
Company: Alisa Rosenthal
Show: One-Woman Beaches
Venue: HUGE
Adorable and fast-paced
What a fun show. The script is great, the performance is fantastic, and the whole show was clever and fun. Rosenthal is clearly having a blast and so did the appreciative audience. I hope she comes back next year!
Company: Maximum Verbosity
Show: Stages: A Horror Play
Venue: HUGE
I expected to like this, but it didn’t work for me
This show was confusing, poorly staged and just didn’t hold my interest. The concept, as it is described in the Fringe materials, is a fascinating idea for a play, but for me it never congealed into anything. Even at 35-40 minutes, it seemed long.
Company: Killer Whale Collective
Show: Moonwatchers
Venue: HUGE
The nearly full theater loved it, for good reason
This is just a really sweet and fun show, very well crafted, staged and performed.
Company: Wheeler In The Sky
Show: ‘WHOOSH! The Civil War Mythology of Michael Hickey and His Perilous Precipitation Over St. Anthony Falls.’
Venue: CFPA Black Box
An incredible experience not to be missed
Where to begin? The text is pure poetry in its construction and cadence. Its content deftly and movingly navigates in and out of Minnesota history (both real and peddled); the horrors and trauma of war and how those are made manifest (or not); the cruelties of our national sins of slavery, colonization and attempted genocide; and the hijacking of history. The performance, staging and direction add up to theatre at its very best. The use of props is so so clever and always employed to enhance the narrative. It’s just amazing. Tears, laughter and food for much much much thought. You really need to see this. It got a well-deserved standing ovation at the performance I attended.
Company: RE|dance group
Show: The Biggest Wail From The Bottom Of My Heart
Venue: CFPA Black Box
A gorgeous dance show.
Sadly, I saw the last performance for the 2022 Fringe, as the company needed to return to Chicago — so this five-kitty review does no good to Fringe-goers, but it was a wonderful dance show. Eight beautiful dancers on the very tiny stage of the CFPA Black Box, but the intimacy of the space made the experience even more memorable. Great use of music, text and props. I hope they’ll be back next year.
Company: Gabriel Mata and Adrian Gaston Garcia
Show: Jotería: Our Untold Stories...
Venue: CFPA Black Box
More beautiful dance from Mata plus more
I have loved Mata’s previous shows here, and really enjoyed the addition of more narrative and memoir in this one. Great use of props and costumes as well. Very touching. Highly recommended.
Company: The Coldharts
Show: Silver Hammer
Venue: CFPA Black Box
Best use of an overhead projector in 2022 Fringe
This was amazing — both the text and the performance. I’ll be thinking about this for a long time. Just fantastic.
Company: Special When Lit
Show: Finger Lickin' Good
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Sam Landman. That's all you really need to know.
Ohmigawd, Sam Landman is so amazing in this. SO amazing. And of course Shannan Custer as the Fact Checker is brilliant. I could have just watched the two of them for another hour. Some of the scenes, characters and jokes worked far better than others, but this ambitious script (maybe too ambitious and too many threads?) and very committed cast definitely warrant a slot.
Company: Literally Entertainment
Show: On a Stick: A Minnesota State Fair Musical
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Cute idea but didn't quite come together for me
I went in with a pretty clear sense of what to expect in terms of the story (cheese curd and livestock jokes) and I know this is the Fringe, but I still expected a more cohesive script and a more engaging production. The storyline was just so fractured and frenzied (and not in what appeared to be an intentionally "zany" way), and the performances so uneven that I just didn't enjoy the performance very much. But I was clearly in the minority, as the large audience seemed to really enjoy it.
Company: Paper Soul
Show: Paper Soul
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Touching and engaging
Motz has put together a wonderful tale about wandering, home, "growing up," retracing steps and moving forward. Beautifully written and charismatically performed.
Company: Broken Wing Productions
Show: My Empty Arms
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
So beautifully written and performed
This is a riveting personal story told with detail and nuance and some well-placed laughter as well. I can't imagine it being written or performed any better, and I can't recommend this enough.
Company: Comedy Suitcase
Show: Bob and Reggie Go To Bed
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
More Comedy Suitcase brilliance
There is so much creativity and talent at work to make something like this look "simple." It's full of fantastic sight gags, props, music and incredible timing. The sound of young theater-goers' laughter was wonderful to hear.
Company: The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show: Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A touching and beautiful meditation
The power of this beautifully choreographed, staged, lit and performed piece sneaks up on you and really leaves an impression. Another very special work by Winding Sheet.
Company: Lessismore Productions
Show: Rewrites
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
Always fun to see a straight play at the Fringe
This is such a great idea for a play. I felt that for a while the text was referring too much to the concept of the play (I can't say more, I might spoil) and the play got bogged down a bit (We get it! We get it!), but there was a significant narrative payoff by the end. The acting really made it work. The staging was a bit static, though I'm not sure what more could have been done in the intentionally claustrophobic setting of a living room.
Company: The Waterfront Productions
Show: The Conversation
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Eavesdropping on a really interesting conversation
What a great idea for a Fringe show. Suzanne Bengston's performance was really riveting, and the text was engaging throughout.
Company: Mina Oelrich
Show: Penelope
Venue: Augsburg Studio
Kudos to the incredible, young cast
Wow, what a gutsy groups of young theater artists to tackle this complex Enda Walsh script. I admire them so much. I think the script was a bit too much for them, but I really admire and respect their obvious passion for theater and their obvious talent.
Company: New Endeavors
Show: Peace Retreat
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
A very entertaining "straight play"
This show was so well-written and the cast was very capably anchored by a great performance by Shad Cooper. The time flew and it was very well-staged.
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Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: A Day with the Newhearts
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Super-polished show
The acting and production values for this show were fantastic. The text's send-up of "Minnesota Nice" overall hit the mark (with one punch line's rather serious misstep, which I won't specify for fear of spoilers). The cast was having a blast, and so did the audience (the largest audience I've seen in my 14 shows so far this year).
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Company: House Full of Frogs
Show: Sunshine by Adam Szudrich
Venue: CFPA Flex
Incredible solo performance.
The text had a LOT going on. Maybe too much? The solo performance was incredible.
Company: Tom Reed
Show: Erotica for Houseplants
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
So much fun
Such great writing and performance, and such an inspired idea. I loved it.
Company: Oncoming Productions
Show: Slender Vale
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
So much talent
As with all improv, not every segment "worked," but wow, these are talented artists (including lighting and sound folks). And what a fun concept. Definitely worth a Fringe slot, especially for horror and improv fans, of course.
Company: Lampstand of the Covenant Productions
Show: Neil Gaiman's "The Wedding Present"
Venue: CFPA Flex
A touching production of a Gaiman short story
As a Gaiman fan, I was quick to put this on my schedule. In fact, it was the first show of the Fringe for me. I admired the handling of the Covid-related casting change (hurray for brave stage managers!) and the script in hand didn't bother me at all. Something about it seemed a little clunky (maybe direction? I'm an avid theatre-goer, but not a theatre artist), but it was certainly still a worthwhile use of a slot, especially for Gaiman fans.
Company: Noah Sonie
Show: GEMINI: A Magic Show
Venue: Augsburg Studio
A completely different show/performer. Not cool..
The audience was told by the magician who performed at the first show (only after the lights went down) that Sonie had a conflict and wouldn’t be there that night. It appeared Sonie knew about this conflict, not that it was a last-minute emergency. So a completely different magician performed a 35-40 minute magic show with cards and balls/cups. No storytelling. A standard magic set. This just isn’t good that a completely different show and artist were substituted without notifying people before we got tickets. I would have gone to another show if I’d known.
Company: The Pilot Dance Project
Show: Aureate
Venue: Augsburg Studio
An evocative and dreamy hour of dance
There’s not a lot of dance options this year and if you enjoy modern dance, you can’t go wrong with this. Beautiful dancers and dancing.
Company: Blue Moon Theater
Show: Action Will Be Taken! - (an ACTION-PACKED Play!!)
Venue: CFPA Flex
Perfection!
This is SUCH a fun realization of this wacky but also weirdly relatable world. The actors’ expressions and demeanors, the text (there is real substance here, which you’d expect from a Boll short story), the choreography, the costumes, the props. Just great.
Company: Jill R. Hildebrandt
Show: Dead Mother's Underwear
Venue: CFPA Black Box
Beautifully written and performed
This touching and emotional tale addresses generational trauma, suicidal ideation, the effects of poverty and more — and yet the expert writing and performance never seem maudlin. A really wonderful show. I hope it finds the audience it deserves.
Company: Brad Lawrence
Show: Life Underground
Venue: Augsburg Studio
An engaging hour
Lawrence packs so much in 50 minutes: relationships gone wrong, the realities of a career as an artist, and of course a love of the NY subway system (a love I share). Highly recommended. This show won’t be here the whole Fringe and deserves a much much bigger audience.