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2025 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Zachary Benson
Company: Athena Persephoni
Show: Two Monologues: “An Abbreviated History of My Hair” and “Strange Inequalities—Adjudicated
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Compelling stories, all-too-real subject matter
A shame that so few saw and reviewed this performance. I really appreciated her storytelling, physicality, and urgency. I saw the final show. If you like Afrofuturism or simply pay attention to current events, you will enjoy her work. I hope to see more from this artist in the future. I wish this artist had more reviews. I'm thinking about it still.
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Company: JexArzayus Productions
Show: La Tunda: A Reimagining of a Colombian Folklore
Venue: Mixed Blood
Fun, interesting story.
I love a good "monster that kills abusers & bigots" story. This performance was a fun show. The acting sometimes felt awkward, but other times the performers brought the characters to life in very believable ways. I especially loved the quality of the fight scenes. It felt very real. Seems like they found a great fight scene choreo person. They did quite a lot with their short time-slot. I hope this gets made into a longer play. I would love to see "La Tunda" do more and face new conflicts. While the acting was not polished, I felt that there was still something there with the actors, and if the same cast acted this production again, I'd be curious to see how they further crafted the characters. Also, the performance made me very curious about Columbian folktales (as well as their food, drinks, societal dynamics, etc.), as someone who has acted semi-professionally in 2 different folktale theater productions (Muyehpen as well as Apsara the Musical here at Fringe).
Company: Sophia R.B. White
Show: White Noises
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Remains in your mind long after you finish.
This show is not for squeamish people. It's a dark, moody, empathetic, thoughtful, disturbing glimpse into a young woman's anxieties, both highly individual in comparison to the extremes of genocides alluded to in the story and worsened by society and socialization. But if you are willing to risk the controversial subject matter, this show provokes deep thoughts that force your mind to revisit it. Frankly, words are very hard to find to describe this. I consider this to be the most-underrated show of Fringe, precisely because it's not likely to ever be a mainstream hit, due to the believable, brazen approach to very-fraught subject matter. It discomforts you in the most-compelling way. Even if you do regret watching it, you won't regret watching in another sense, because it echoes around your head, as great art ought to do. The use of sound augmented the picture of increasing isolation. This was a one-person show, yet more-compelling than many shows with multiple actors. Do not miss this if you consume art with intensely uncomfortable subject matter.
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Company: SAATH
Show: Manasu - Echoes of the Mind
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Nuanced characters and story, emotionally resonant
The characters are all relatably flawed and sympathetic characters. There seemed to be real chemistry between the actors. The story follows queer South Asian characters as they navigate issues like IVF, communication, diverging yearnings, and spirituality. They make hurtful, problematic choices for deeply understandable reasons. The use of monologue may have been a bit long. However, the actors really made the audience feel empathy during those monologues. The resolution was not a neat bow, but seemed to encourage respect for differing personal choices. I thought the prop use had lots of pro-level creativity and made each location feel unique. I especially loved the use of sand as a main character explained her gift. Also, the food/drinks mentioned in the play made me want to try it (and a character's pun-based names for the drinks was pretty funny). But I also like how they included words in their language (I believe it was Hindi, but not sure). Even with my small criticisms, this performance really stood out to me, and made me curious about a set of experiences very different from my own. If you can't watch a lot of shows, I do recommend that you include this one. The acting is superb and heartfelt and compels greater imagination of what is possible.
Company: Madlads Productions
Show: Academonic
Venue: Mixed Blood
Fun show with great use of space.
The actor who plays the main character gave a very convincing performance of a very common, frustrating problem in academia. The supernatural entity was portrayed in a fun, funny and interesting way. I wasn't sure if the play was trying to make deeper messages about the power-dynamics of academia, but it brought those questions to mind for me, since the protagonist is a woman of color getting subjected to academic unfairness from a man of European ancestry. The use of space created a feeling of physical distance well, and made it seem like an old university that's falling apart. The premise was pretty interesting, but I do think it could have gone even deeper exploring the academic annoyingness that exists. The actors (especially the main character) really sold their parts well. The main character was a relatable, flawed person dealing with frustrating antagonists in whatever way she thinks will work. Worth watching.
Company: Rajan Khatiwada
Show: Curly Hair Boy
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
RUN, don't walk to this show.
I saw the Minnesota Nepali Facebook page posting about this play. So, I felt extremely curious all summer. But this show went further than my expectations, even after seeing many other amazing shows. This story was done mostly in Nepali, with a few English words thrown in to provide context clues. Yet, the physicality, creative use of space, costumes, & props were done so well that I grasped the message well. Their use of puppetry was done in funny, thoughtful, intriguing way, and I was impressed by their choreography. Even each drop of a prop felt intentional and crucial to the plot. The story itself has great charm and the characters the protagonist helps with his supernatural (curly) hair end up providing critical help to resolving the conflict. The show encourages kindness to nature and courage. At the end of the show, the cast made a very unique, wholesome choice: they passed out yarn to all audience members, which really helped me feel connected to the cast and the characters they played, as well as other members of the audience. Which made me wonder how it would look if the theater space had more audience. There's only one way to find out: you gotta pack the house!!! Nepali culture(s) remain outside my realm of knowledge right now, even though Minnesota has many Nepali people. However, this performance increased my intense curiosity even more. I want to hear more Nepali folktales. I want to discover the intricacies of Nepali art forms. I especially want to learn more about Nepali traditional weaving, which gets shown in the story–and the yarn passed out to the audience really felt like an implied expression of love about their traditional weaving as well. This is a seriously underrated show. They deserve far more people watching them. They traveled all the way from Boston! Watch with curiosity and write reviews!