Sub-Total
2022 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Rob Dunkelberger
Company: Lampstand of the Covenant Productions
Show: Neil Gaiman's "The Wedding Present"
Venue: CFPA Flex
Intriguing script, well performed, moving.
Neil Gaiman's "The Wedding Present" is the story a newly married couple who receive a letter as a wedding gift that describes in detail their perfect wedding day. A year later they come across the letter again but it has changed. Now it's describing their first year of marriage but instead of the happy successful marriage they have, it describes an alternate reality version where tragedy has struck and they are having a difficult time. It's like a modern day variation on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The letter updates as time goes on reflecting a more and more unhappy outcome to their lives, while in their real lives they seem almost too successful and happy. In this stage adaptation of Gaiman's short story, the gender was changed from a man and woman to two men. Perhaps a nod to Wilde, who was imprisoned for being homesexual in the less enlightened times in which he lived. It's a great story idea, though I've not read the source material and the script is solid as are the performances. It did feel like the ending didn't quite come together as clearly as it could, but that may be an issue with the short story.
Company: Toby Cryns
Show: Happy Endings Church: A Haggardly Tale of Woe & Redemption
Venue: Augsburg Studio
some fun songs, but lacks anything very original
Happy Endings Church... is a musical about a very religious couple who get married and found their own church. One of the guiding principles of their church is that homosexuality is wrong. What their followers and the wife do not realize is that the pastor is gay. There's a conversion therapy camp and then they see the light and found a new church where it's OK to be gay. It's an unoriginal idea, that plays out without anything very interesting happening. Most of the songs are decent and the songwriting is probably it's strongest element. The cast is obviously having fun and giving it their all, but while several are good singers, no one is a great singer and the musical performances are better written then they are performed. The idea for the musical is just not enough, it's a concept most of us support but at this level of simplicity it makes a better bumper sticker than a musical.
Company: Christopher Kehoe
Show: Jesus Qhrist
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
Jesus Qhrist is the winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award. A phenomenally funny and politically savvy show. Christopher Kehoe is a very charismatic performer which when you think about it is a perfect fit for Jesus. It's humorous without being insensitive to any thinking person's beliefs. It uses the character of Jesus to give the audience a feel for the spirit of his teachings. Then it takes a turn and it uses someone else's words as a contrast. In doing so, it shows how the words of that second person are not compatible with the character of Jesus we have gotten to know or his teachings. It's so effective even though it's obvious to most of us. It seems that even the unthinking should be able to see that you cannot reconcile those words with Jesus and be able to see the truth. But, of course they will not even see the play will they?
Company: Luna Muse
Show: The Witchy World of Luna Muse
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Fun and sexy!
The Witchy World of Luna Muse appears to be an autobiographical drag show about a boy who always identified with the villians and witches in stories rather than the princesses. Cam Pederson, who has created and stars in the show gives a performance that is witty, energetic, and quite sexy. A Combination of Lip Synching and dancing, both done expertly, and a comic monologue. He has the diva attitude and double entendres down pat. He has a confidence on stage that is well earned. I enjoyed this so very much and will absolutely check out future shows featuring Pederson or his alter ego Luna Muse.
Company: The Churchill Theater
Show: Burr: A New Musical
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
Well Written, but uneven in execution.
Burr: A New Musical Revue is a qualified success. Most of the songs are really strong and many of the performers are good singers. This could have been, or maybe it's better to say, this can be great. But there are a couple of things that are working against the show. First most of the acting outside of the musical numbers, is not good. It's almost baffling how they perform the musical numbers really well and then the few moments of dialogue it's like they have never been on stage before. Not every performer but particularly Marie Finch-Koinuma as Theodosia and Trey Arika as Aaron Burr, seemed like they were acting for the first time. And Finch-Koinuma's problems carried over to her singing as well. At times she sang beautifully and other times, not. Stand outs in in both acting and singing were Tony Peterson as James Wilkinson and Zack Cambronne as Thomas Jefferson. The second issue was the music track they were performing too at times overpowered them. I thought the actual songs and plot line were very solid, it was in the execution that it was really hit or miss, but mostly hit. I'd love to see this expanded upon.
Company: Penny: For Your Thoughts
Show: ShMILF Life
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Funny and personal
ShMILF Life is a one woman show written and performed by Penny Sterling. Sterling's show explores, among other things, what it's like to be trying to date as a transgender woman who transitioned just in time to enter menopause. It's a self deprecating and revealing show by a very good writer and a natural performer. Sterling worked in the 80's as a stand up comedian for a time which makes sense as it's clear that she knows how to write and time a joke. Most readers will know by now that my youngest son is a transgender man and that I gravitate to shows like this that help expand our knowledge and understanding of the transgender experience. Sterling does a fantastic job of sharing her story and putting things in a perspective that helps people empathize with a person whose journey is different than our own. I really enjoyed ShMILF Life, in made me laugh and think, and it gave us a lot to discuss on the car ride home.
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Company: House Full of Frogs
Show: Sunshine by Adam Szudrich
Venue: CFPA Flex
Well performed and scripted
Sunshine is a one woman show written by Adam Szudrich and featuring Lisa Marie Fulton in a strong performance as Ellen, a single woman who is at a point in her life when she is feeling a bit lost. Focusing on her insecurities and self doubts, her relationship with her father and deceased mother, the ex-boyfriend she can't forget, and as the show opens, the prospect of a first date. A teacher by day, alcohol abuser by night, we learn as much about her character through her relationships as we do from what she tells us directly. I think a lot of women in the audience are going to find a connection with Ellen and her feelings about her looks, her weight, and her interpersonal relationships. It's a good script that put me in mind of an American Bridget Jones. I'd like to see an extended version of this fully staged with actors playing the roles of the other characters instead of voice overs as this Fringe production utilizes.
Company: Fortune's Fool Theatre
Show: The Hysterical Woman
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Thought provoking and well constructed
The Hysterical Woman is a series of scenes on a theme which is that of the systematic mistreatment and mischaracterization of women throughout history as hysterical i.e unreliable, over sensitive, to be humored and other ridiculous ideas. Pulling from sources as varied as Greek mythology and Emily Dickenson to Anita Hill's testimony about Clarence Thomas and Britney Spears Conservatory saga. The show uses humor to make the medicine more palatable, but there is a message to be heard here. Filled with examples from the grievously obvious to the subtler types that happen everyday. Showing us the examples that remind us what an historical and pervasive issue this is, but also the ways in which we can all do better.
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
Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
Whoosh!... is... well first off, it's The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner. Secondly, wow! What a performance by Andrew Erskine Wheeler. Portraying multiple characters throughout, each is a brilliant characterization, distinct and fully realized. It's a story that incorporates so many different elements. The Civil War, post war, Artist Douglas Volk, it's part ghost story, part comedic tale of an Irish immigrant and his survival going over the St. Anthony Falls. It's so many different things yet it tells a cohesive and well structured tale. Allison Vincent does an amazing job directing the show. The timing and staging of how and when to move, pull props out, refer to visual aids, subtle changes in costume, all done brilliantly. Which brings us again to Wheeler's performance, It is absolutely the best piece of acting I've see at Fringe, a true tour de force and a master class in stage acting. Saturday he has performances back to back, if you haven't gotten to it, make sure you do. Frankly, I'm staggered by the thought of him performing twice with but 40 minutes between them, it is such a physical and intense performance it hardly seems possible.
Company: Moral of the Story Productions
Show: Unbelievable!
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
bible stories retold humorously thru a modern lens
Unbelievable! is an amusing and clever look at four bible stories told with a modern sensibility. The scenes start strong, but progress with diminishing returns. The first story about Adam and Eve's decision on whether or not to eat the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil being the best. The scene acknowledges the absurdities and gaps in logic inherent in the creation myth. The second is the story of Abraham who has been tasked by God to take his son Isaac up the mountain and sacrifice him. This scene focuses on Isaacs WTF? response to this situation and enacts the story through the lens of a modern father/son dynamic. What's interesting about these stories is that it approaches them with the application of logic and intelligence, it talks through the stories and addresses the fallacies within them, but it never actually destroys them. It's an entertaining show and should be inoffensive to all but the far religious right. If you haven't contemplated at least some of the questions this raised you simply are not a critical thinker.
Company: The Coldharts
Show: Silver Hammer
Venue: CFPA Black Box
Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
Silver Hammer is one of today's Co-recipients of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Awards. Silver Hammer feels as it begins with text projection that will be a political piece. Then it becomes an interesting spoken word science-fiction story. Then it becomes an autobiographical account of a failed effort at writing a Fringe show and then how during the pandemic it was converted into a salvage show. From there it delves into analysis of a Beatles song, the title of the show should clue you into which one. All of which leads to the uncovering of a conspiracy regarding arson and its relationship to the Politics of disinformation on Russian Propagandist Vladislav Surkov. A one man show created and performed by the very gifted Nick Ryan. It's thought provoking, very funny, and you are left, as he indicated could happen, wondering what of what proceeded is true.
Company: Jill R. Hildebrandt
Show: Dead Mother's Underwear
Venue: CFPA Black Box
Great message told with humor and humility
In Dead Mother's Underwear Jill R. Hildebrandt combines humor and poetry to explore family lineage, alcoholism, mental health, student loan debt, and of course her dead mother's underwear. It's an honest and revealing performance that models one of her key takeaways, to not conceal but reveal your pain and struggles. She traces her family tree, focusing on maternal relationships and how the relationships from mother to daughter from each generation to the next informs the one that came after. I think a lot of audience members are going to find familiar aspects which they can relate to within Hildebrandt's story. It's a show that doesn't sugar coat the world, it acknowledges the hardships but does it through humor, which helps the audience to onboard the messages she's trying to impart.
Company: 2HOOTS PRODUCTIONS
Show: Jon Bennett: FIRE IN THE METH LAB
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
This was the most interesting title at the location I was already at for a 10:00 PM show. Before the many many reshuffles of my schedule it wasn't even on my itinerary. Boy, talk about happy accidents. I don't know what I was expecting besides maybe a comedic take on life in a meth lab or something. What you get at Jon Bennett's show is an exploration of his brothers life of addictions which culminated in Meth and ended him up in prison. From Australia, Bennett reminds one of a younger fitter Matt Berry. He is instantly engaging and tells of his relationship with his older brother with an openness that is refreshing. He manages to illustrate how his brother is an asshole, was a bully to him his entire childhood, and how he still loves him. That is the crux of many addiction relationships and the paradoxes that exist within them. Extremely funny, at times incredibly moving, Bennett makes a connection with the audience that feels almost one on one. It's an unexpected stunner and whereas I ended up accidentally seeing it due to a rearranging of my schedule, you should be rearranging your schedule in order to see it.
Company: Oncoming Productions
Show: Slender Vale
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
didnt flow actors seemed to thwart promising ideas
Slender Vale is an improv horror show. Improv and horror are two genres that I generally enjoy. The combination of the two should be really interesting. Maybe it can work, but tonight it didn't really ever get into a groove. When you think about it, Horror in itself is a genre that routinely fails to stick the landing. There our hundreds of horror novels, movies, TV episodes, and yes plays that are really effective right up until the end, and then kind of lets you down. Horror is hard to write well, it really shouldn't be a surprise that a genre that relies heavily on a well crafted and constructed build up and a satisfying end doesn't lend itself well to being made up on the fly. a Horror story without a plan would require and uncanny amount of luck to successfully pull off. Sure there are individual moments and performers that worked. The darkened basement for example and everything Tom Reed said. But as a whole it never felt like it had any sense of direction. The performers seemed to constantly be thwarting each other and anything that looked like a promising development plot wise. I wrote all of these thoughts down before I saw the final show of the day, or it might have been less favorable.
Company: Alisa Pritchett/Out Of The Mist Celtic Theatre
Show: We Are The Sea
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Beautiful music and lead performers are top notch.
We Are the Sea is a production by Out of the Mist Celtic Theatre written by Laura Lundgren Smith. It's a haunting and tragic cross between historical truths and celtic folktales. The reality is that Irish immigrants came over to America in what would come to be called "Coffin Ships." The Folktale or fantasy aspect is that when the bodies were thrown overboard after death that the sea accepted them and listened to their stories. The show is filled with beautiful celtic music, get there early and hear the band play a few tunes before the show begins. There are strong performances particularly from Sage Hovet, Catherine Hansen, and Katrina Stelk, as three women who are trying to survive their crossing of the Atlantic. John Haynes gives an equally compelling portrayal as the heartless and murderous Sailer. No one is credited with make-up but whoever is responsible, particularly the makeup on Hovet and Stelk, deserves some special recognition, they looked like they were really on the brink of death particularly around the eyes.
Company: Rippling Stories
Show: I love my body, and it's trying to kill me
Venue: CFPA Black Box
More speaker than performer, but good topic!
I Love My Body and It's Trying to Kill Me is not my usual type of show but I'm really glad I chose to see it. Katie Knutson is the type of natural storyteller who can feed you information through a narrative, like a sneaky form of education. The faux game show hook that opens the show and returns throughout is a wonderful way to point out some real absurdities in regards to our rights as citizens, patients and consumers. It also helps the information to stick with you longer because you have a visual cue as well as the audible. The show is more like a speaker's presentation than a theatrical production, but these are important topics and worth making the shift in gears.
Company: Killer Whale Collective
Show: Moonwatchers
Venue: HUGE
Winner of the Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
It's a hilarious show about two moonwatchers whose job it is to turn on the moon each night and manage various night sky activities like having the cow jump over the moon and a comet fly by. It's all pretty routine until one night they discover the moon has been stolen. While one of the moonwatchers subs in for the moon the other goes off in search of the moon rustler who made off with it. Yes, you read that right - they are not just a myth, there really are moon rustlers. This show gives you everything: comedy, music, comets, cows, and if that isn't enough it gives you the moon as well, literally. It's the kind of show that sinks or swims on the personalities of it's two performers. Nigel Berkeley and Corey Quinn Farrell are two very charming moonwatchers.
Company: Maximum Verbosity
Show: Stages: A Horror Play
Venue: HUGE
didn't work for me, but the performers were good.
Stages: A Horror Play is based on an original Short Story by Phillip Andrew Bennett Low. Sometimes a show just doesn't work for you. I admit I was somewhat lost in this one. I can say that there is a consistent dreamlike quality to the piece. The individual performances, costumes, sound were all well done. By the end, the final action solidified what I think was happening but I suspect that the point is not knowing until the end, so I'll not spoil that. I think for me it was possibly the source material. This was the second show I've seen based on Low's work and in both cases I felt that the use of horror in the titles, or subtitles, was misleading. I think the real issue is that Low and I are just not on the same wavelength and his style just isn't going to be my cup of tea.
Company: Nocturnal Giraffe
Show: Piñata
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
Fun exploration of mean girl Moms
Pinata is a very funny exploration of the mean girl phenomenon but the adult version. Taking place at a children's birthday party where two mothers are marched upon their arrival to the penalty box. One is a mother who has been in the group for awhile now, but doesn't really fit in. The other is a new mother to the group who is terrified that if things go wrong with her, her son will not be invited to any more birthday parties, thus scarring him for life. While essentially a comedy it sneakily deals with several themes that really do deserve to be examined. Not only are we witnessing this dynamic between the mothers, but issues such as entitlement are brought up, and worrying about our kids not being accepted or teased. Pinata deals with these issues in a humorous way, but it does address them in a way that the audience hears and processes. The three main performers are all excellent. Greta Grosch as Queen Bee Carol who finds herself in the penalty box at one point plays both the one in control and the one losing control equally well. Katie Consamus and Stephanie Cousins play their rolls broadly but not cartoonishly. They have to be certain types, Consamus the free thinker who doesn't care what the other Mom's think and Cousins as the timid one who is worrying about everything. There are a lot of laughs in this show with a fair amount of physical humor as well.
Company: Kyle B. Dekker
Show: He-Man Is The Devil & Other Satanic Panic Tales
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Authentic and moving.
He-Man is The Devil & Other Satanic Panic Tales is a one man show written and performed by Kyle B. Dekker based upon his own childhood. I've learned as a parent of a transgender child that what is more powerful in terms of opening people's minds and hearts is not news stories or social media memes but telling your own story directly to people. I have certainly been aware of many of the things in Dekkers play, but for the first time I didn't just hear them, I felt them. It's a well constructed assemblage of stories of his upbringing in an ultra right wing religious family. that vividly illustrates a childhood that sounds exactly like what the adults in his life were supposedly trying to save him from. I want to applaud Dekker for his skill in taking a childhood full of stories like the ones he shares and selecting the perfect examples for creating something that flows like a narrative. I also want to thank him for sharing so much of himself. After the performance Dekker remarked to the audience that this was the first time he had ever performed at Fringe, in the past he produced and wrote shows. I'm so glad he chose to perform the show himself, it made it so much more powerful. Telling our stories directly to people like this is what creates understanding and empathy.
Company: Special When Lit
Show: Finger Lickin' Good
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner
For me, this was the most anticipated show heading into the Fringe Festival. I've seen many of these artists before both on and backstage and have really responded to and admired their work. It tells the story of Colonel Harland David Sanders and his rise to become the founder of KFC and the undisputed chicken king of America. It's hilarious, at times a little risque, and when it comes to Colonel Sanders the play leaves little to the imagination. There are some portions of the story that don't seem quite right, but luckily Shannon Custer is there as the fact checker to keep things more or less on the up and up. This cast loaded with local talent like Custer, Duck Washington, and co-writers/performers Heather Meyer and Nissa Nordland Morgan does not disappoint, nor does Meyer and Morgan's script. The show belongs though to the incomparable Sam Landman, in what can only be described with the euphemism that he gives a very brave performance. Director Mike Fotis whom I've seen perform at Huge Improv does an amazing job as the show seems to fly by, so many fun choices like having Landman on stage as the audience comes in laying on a Chicken skin rug in a red silk robe and hardly anything else. To the staging of the Colonel's last moments in what one might call poetic justice. Everything from costumes and props to the occasional musical number work together to make one of the wildest and enjoyable shows at Fringe.
Company: The Shrieking Harpies
Show: The Shrieking Harpies
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Musical Improv done right
The Shrieking Harpies is an improvisational musical by three performers who are clearly on the same page. It works beautifully flowing nicely from scene to scene so that we end up with a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. Musical improv terrifies me on behalf of the performers. But, obviously these three Hannah Wydeven, Lizzie Gardner, and Taj Ruler accompanied by Justin Nellis on keyboard thrive on that danger. They have the wit and the voices to carry it off. This is improv done right, very very funny.
Company: Orthogonal Productions
Show: Karaoke After Dark
Venue: Rarig Center Arena
Fine if you want to perform. otherwise skip
Karaoke After Dark is a combination of Karaoke, Burlesque, and Improvisation. If you are looking for a way to join in on the performance side of Fringe this is the show for you. Audience members can put their names and song choice on a slip of paper before the show begins. Throughout the show Curvee B, the Emcee, will call an audience member down to perform their song. While they are singing, a burlesque dancer will perform. The Improv comes in the what the dancer comes up with for the song, as opposed to a normal dance performance they are not moving to a song they've rehearsed. The highlights of the show are the costumes and what the dancer does to make the song choices fun. This is an 18+ show, it's risque but not too graphic.
Company: Tom Reed
Show: Erotica for Houseplants
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Sensually hilarious and steamingly funny
Wow! What a show to pop my Fringe Cherry with. Erotica For Houseplants is written and performed by Tom Reed who reminds us why his name alone put this on my must see list. Wickedly funny and oddly arousing at times. Tom's script unearths every possible double meaning for everything from plant anatomy to gardening tools. It's smartly earthy and when you think he has to have about run out of path he breaks into song, beautifully. It's all in fun and never crossed into uncomfortable territory, but it's not the show you or your Grandma want to see sitting next to each other. However, with adult friends or that special someone it's... well, not exactly good "clean" fun, You'll definitely be laughing at how dirty nature can sound. A quick run through the sprinkler afterwards should cool you down and have you feeling clean again in no time. This was my first Fringe show of the 2022 festival and my first live Fringe show ever, and when I left it I knew I was going to love the next week and a half!
Company: Comedy Suitcase
Show: Bob and Reggie Go To Bed
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner
Comedy Suitcase presents Bob and Reggie Go To Bed created and performed by Joshua English Scrimshaw and Levi Weinhagen. I don't know what I was expecting when I entered the theatre for this show but it wasn't to see my love of silent comedy brought to life, live on stage. Bob and Reggie get ready for bed confronting obstacles that arise with the problem solving skills of Laurel and Hardy. Set in the silent world of a Buster Keaton two reeler, the duo blend physical comedy with a Keatonesque surreal humor. Inventive in the way it keeps building on it's situations. The humor comes as often from the reveal as it does from their solution to the next snag in their bedtime routine. Just when you think it can't get any crazier it takes a turn that made me think of Sherlock Jr. The similarities to the silents doesn't stop at the type of humor but also in the fact there is no dialogue. Just as there was with the silent movies, there is a live score and sound effects, created on stage by Rhiannon Fiskradatz, who adds more than just accompaniment to the proceedings. The final performer in this four person show is Sulia Altenberg as the Tooth Fairy. Scrimshaw and Weinhagen are brilliant in their gag creation and execution. You have to be pretty smart to act this stupid. I only knew Scrimshaw from his work with the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society and would never have guessed that a genius for this form of comedy was in his or anyone else in the 21st Century's wheelhouse. This is the perfect show to take everyone and anyone too, old and young, the larger the audience the more fun it will be. I already knew that one of the downsides of Fringe is that it's impossible to see everything, there is always the worry of what you are missing. Tonight I discovered another downside, you can't justify seeing things twice. That's really frustrating in this case because I want to see Bob and Reggie Go To Bed with everyone I know. If this was not at Fringe and just a normal show on a two or three week run, I'd be organizing group meet ups to enjoy this show again and again. If you could see only one of the three shows I saw today it has to be Bob and Reggie Go To Bed. And so it earns the inaugural, highly coveted and just made up on the fly The Stages of MN Best of Day Fringe Award!
Company: Jason Schommer
Show: Curtain Call: Letters to My Friend Louie Anderson!
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Nice for Louie fans, you get a sense of who he was
Curtain Call: Letters to My Friend Louie Anderson! consists of writer comedian Jason Schommer alternating between reading letters he's written to his recently deceased friend Louie Anderson and performing bits of standup that revolve around the legendary entertainer. Like many Minnesotans I grew up with Louie's comedy. His Guthrie comedy special was recorded off the TV and played repeatedly. My Dad, sister, and I would all quote from it throughout our lives. Both aspects of the show work well. In his letters, Schommer gets to express to Louie what he meant to him and how he misses him. In the stand up segments we get to hear stories about the real man. If you've been an Anderson fan as long as I have, getting that glimpse of the real person and having it reflect what you always hoped was true about him is a real treat. I had someone in my life that I felt the same as how Schommer feels about Louie. They are the relationships that we carry with us throughout our lives and the ones we'll always miss.
Company: Ripped Nylons Productions
Show: Endometriosis: the Musical
Venue: Theatre in the Round
The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner
It's a musical about Jane Smith and her ongoing struggles with extremely painful menstrual cycles. Making things worse she lives in our world where far too often women's health issues are controlled by men. This has all the makings of an intense social drama but instead it's an hysterically funny musical. Written by Maria Bartholdi and Kristin Stowell this is sure to be one of the hottest tickets of this years Fringe Festival. Featuring a brilliantly expressive and all in cast lead by Abby Holmstrom that brings the house down with every song. Nothing is off limits and it confronts the sad truth that for many people, the subject of this production is something that should not be mentioned above a whisper and definitely not during dinner at Applebees. I urge you to reserve your seats now this one feels like a sell out.
Company: EnCompass Theatre
Show: Shoe Night
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Naturalistic in script and performance
Shoe Night is written and directed by Kelsey Norton who based the story on an experience from her own life. This effective one act, two character play deals with the phenomenon of ghosting. In this instance a young woman runs into the ex-boyfriend whom she lived with, went out of the country for work, then ghosted her. Resisting the urge to slink away unnoticed she decides that after four years it's time she got some closure. The script avoids the treading water that can happen in a one subject show and is filled with details which give the show a feel of authenticity. It doesn't drag nor out stay it's welcome, and the end, when it comes, seems to underline the lasting damage this practice of ghosting can do. The show is anchored by two well rounded and naturalistic performances by real life couple Gillian Constable and William S. Edson. It's nice to see a present day drama in the mix and it's a nice palate cleanser between comedic shows.
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Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: A Day with the Newhearts
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Very funny and very dark, loses itself at the end.
A Day With the Newhearts is a play that explores the dark underbelly of the typical suburban Minnesota neighborhood. Taking the form of a 1950's sitcom the show skewers the form as well as the idea of "MN nice". It's a lot of fun performed by a cast that nails the plastic sitcom presentation while also showing us the fear, anger, and menace underneath. It's a crowd pleasing show no doubt. The character work is great, the set, props, costumes all first rate, the idea is ripe with possibilities. Yet the whole is a little less than the sum of its parts. It loses something in the last 10 minutes, it crosses a line that takes it from quirkily off, to a place irredeemably unreal. But, the parts are kind of a blast!
Company: The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show: Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Beautifully haunting folktale brought to life
Arsgang: What You Follow Follows You centers around a Swedish folktale about a walk that some would choose to go on in order to gain foresight of the coming year. The story follows a young orphan Lajla, who was recently made only child, and her Arsgang journey. Created by the Winding Sheet Outfit it has they're usual attention to language and sense of reverence to past cultures and customs. A spare but effective set consisting mostly of this bare trees that evoke a feeling visually that ties in with Lajla's solitary trek. Beautifully written and performed along with being deliberately paced with music by Joshua Swantz and Amber Bjork that's almost hypnotic. While all of those elements combine to give the show a unified feel and tone, it might not be the best show to attend in a 10:00 PM performance slot if you've been Fringing all day and not a night owl. I'd like to mention the costumes which I thought were really good as were the masks created by Derek Lee Miller who also designed the trees.
Company: The Bearded Company
Show: Swords & Sorcery: The Improvised Fantasy Campaign
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Brilliant and hilarious Improve
Swords & Sorcery: The Improvised Fantasy Campaign is improv that worked at the highest level. It's basically a Dungeons and Dragons game played out live with a Game Master narrating the story which directs the performers on what to do next. When the characters wish to do battle they tell the Game Master and he rolls his 20 sided die to determine if they are successful or not. The performances are serialized and will carry on the story from wherever it ended the previous performance. This flowed beautifully, organically the performers seemed to sense the best direction to take things and never seemed to be struggling with what to do or say next. The entire cast was brilliant but highlights being the two Tylers, Michaels King and Mills. The biggest laugh undoubtedly went to Maria Bartholdi for her sandmetary line. What a Fringe Bartholdi is having, not only is she brilliant in this but she also co wrote and directed Endometriosis: The Musical which won The Stages Of MN Fringe of the Day Award yesterday. This show was so much fun I wish I could take in each performance! It was a fairly full house, so this might be one to line up for early or reserve your seat for.
Company: Marie Cooney Stories
Show: Pajama Stories (For Children, All, Adults Only)
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Good show for younger kids
Pajama Stories (For Children, All, Adults Only) written and performed by Marie G. Cooney is a wonderfully expressive and engaging storyteller. You can tell that she is gifted at connecting with young children. That is the common theme in her storytelling, interactions she has with young people and it's almost a class for us the audience in how to engage with them ourselves. The issue is that in most cases we, the audience are not children. The delivery ever so slightly pushes the tolerance level. What keeps it from crossing the line is our knowledge of how effective it is with the people in her stories. The other issue is that a couple of the stories are best enjoyed by people who know the children in the story.
Company: Clevername Theatre
Show: Who's Afraid of Winnie the Pooh?
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award
Who's Afraid of Winnie the Pooh? In which Pooh and Piglet attempt to crush each others souls while Christopher and Hunny watch on in horror. Combining the world of Winnie the Pooh with the bitter marital games of Edward Albee's classic play is anything but obvious. They seem like strange bedfellows but once you see it, well, it fits so perfectly it seems shocking that no one thought of it before. But then you think, who in the hell would EVER think of doing this? Thank God writer Alexander Gerchak did! The script, the performances, and the cross pollination of these disparate ideas is dead brilliant. Endlessly inventive, the premise never runs out of steam and holds true until the very end. It shouldn't work but, it really works! Word of mouth should turn this into a hit. It's easily the most accomplished script and production I've seen so far at Fringe. The entire cast is great but a special shout out to Thomas Buan as Winnie, best dramatic performance so far. Knowledge of the works of A.A. Milne regarding Pooh Bear and Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are not required but will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the play.
Company: Lessismore Productions
Show: Rewrites
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
Clever script about creating, with excellent cast
Rewrites by Phil Holt takes a surreal view of how a playwright creates by imagining that she can actually call and invite her characters over to help her through her writer's block. But then who's the writer? As her character's point out, they cannot tell her what happens until she writes what happens. I love a work in any medium that takes on the challenge of trying to understand and share the creative process. The show explores why we want to create taking loving stabs at the pomposity that can motivate those intentions or that one might use to try and justify their success. It's a clever script full of surprises and humor that I have no intention of spoiling. The cast is excellent with great comic timing but, also an ability to change the mood and tone at a moments notice to something more real.
Company: The Waterfront Productions
Show: The Conversation
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
An idea in need of a director
The Conversation is a show I wanted to like more than I do. It's a good idea and a great topic that should make for powerful theater. But, the script for The Conversation plays like a less interesting and less natural version of a real conversation. A conversation can be a great way to come up with ideas, but then you have to dramatize it. The show is full of threads, either intentional or not, that could be developed into something interesting. It's also full of extraneous details, like a contract for an upcoming venue that interrupts any flow the show has without any real purpose. Like those contract asides, in execution this is awkwardly staged and performed. Suzanne Bengtson is clearly someone with a commanding stage presence and can perform. William Bengtson, who in fairness is making his acting debut, doesn't have the same confidence and the performance is more like a script reading. What the show needed was an outside director to help address staging and script issues. This feels like 15 minutes worth of material stretched to 45 minutes that just don't really build to any type of climax.
Company: Brad Lawrence
Show: Life Underground
Venue: Augsburg Studio
The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner
Brad Lawrence's one man show keeps the audience enraptured as he tells about life in New york City and stories of what the Subway has meant to him. It's a deeply confessional show in which we genuinely feel like we have gotten to know Lawrence. The storytelling takes various tangents but none of them are ever dead ends and they always seem to wind up back on the tracks, but with more background information under the audiences belt. The less said about the details of this show the better, but I will say it got a little dusty in the theater at the end for this reviewer. Brad Lawrence is an incredibly engaging and likeable performer and I found his show very rewarding.
Company: Fearless Comedy Productions
Show: What's Your Day Job? Or, How Capitalism Destroys Us All!
Venue: Augsburg Mainstage
An uneven script but, the Performers are all in!
In What's Your Day Job? Or, How Capitalism Destroys Us All Fearless Comedy Productions takes the skit approach to tackle their theme of, well basically how messed up our capitalistic society is. It's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the script with some sketches working better than others. The messages are important and come across, though not always as clearly as they could have. What isn't a mixed bag though is the cast, who all show up and gave it their all in every moment. A good example is the final skit between an engaged couple. There is an interesting idea about the economic realities of trying to do what you love and the cost that can have on a relationship. The message could be better addresses but both performers are terrific and extremely present in the moment.