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2025 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Susan Searing
Company: Duluth Improv
Show: Duluth: An Improvised Midwest Murder
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Hilarious!
Are we the only audience members who chose to see this because we honestly thought it was set in Duluth? Well, that notion went out the window right away when the troupe asked a random person in the audience to name a small town in MN as the locale for the action. Then they gathered quite a few other prompts from the audience, which they wove into a hilarious plot with characters who showed surprising depth and complexity at times. Minnesotans love to laugh at ourselves, and this fun show played on every beloved stereotype, with enough stagey murder and mayhem to keep us on the edge of our seats. The performance we saw stayed within the normal time frame.
Company: Marie Cooney Stories
Show: Journey to Joy, Again
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Powerful first-person storytelling
We're all on that roller coaster called Life, but each of our rides is a unique blend of the planned, the unexpected, the glorious and the absurd. Marie has an abundant talent for examining her own experiences to find the threads of passion -- for women, sailing, the theater -- that connects them. And in doing so, she surfaces themes of love and resilence that all of us can relate to. Her background as a playwright and theater technical professional have given Marie an intuitive understanding of emotional arcs, language, vocal dynamics, and more that help hold an audience's attention as one woman tells her story without props or much movement on the stage. This show is thought-provoking, uplifting, and definitely worth seeing.
Company: Dogdog-Beardog
Show: Ranger Jim
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Standing ovation!
Jim Stowell is a superb actor/writer/storyteller who shapes a powerful and emotionally gripping performance from highlights of his career as a National Park ranger. He fully inhabits the challenging space of the Kilburn Theater stage, using his voice and movements to propel the story and to invoke laughter, tears, and awe from the audience. Jim is one of the most amazing storytellers I’ve ever heard. His opening night show brought us to feet at the end. Don’t miss “Ranger Jim!”
Company: American School of Storytelling
Show: More Better Stories
Venue: American School of Storytelling
Fine storytelling by masters of the craft
Six different shows rotate through the More Better Stories schedule. Opening night featured two excellent shows: 2Lorens (Loren Niemi and Howard Loren Lieberman, both local storytelling luminaries with well deserved national reputations); and Kory May, another nationally lauded teller and Moth favorite from Iowa. Their compelling tales, all drawn from real life experiences, are by turns edgy, sweet, suspenseful, hilarious, thought-provoking, and horizon-expanding. So many performances at Fringe vie to top each other in spectacle or outrageousness, and that’s part of the joy. But when you need a break, when your heart and mind longs to focus on the age-old question, What does it mean to be human?, it’s time to settle in at a cozy venue and listen to some fine storytelling from masters of the craft. The other offerings under the umbrella of More Better Stories look really intriguing as well. I predict that Laura Packer’s fairy tales for grown ups will be fabulous; she always brings a unique and entertaining perspective to traditional stories.