Sub-Total
2026 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Lethan Candlish
Company: Tiger Love Studios LLC
Show: The Choose Your Own Adventures of Turtle Boy
Venue: Mixed Blood
The Puppet Comes Alive
This piece was beautiful. The script is simple, but that isn’t the point – what’s important is the life that comes through Emmanuel’s spectacular puppetry. Turtle Boy comes alive with all the wonder and flaws of humanity, and his interaction with the audience is perfectly honest. Furthermore, the blocking and movement of this piece is absolutely astonishing as Turtle Boy dances across the stage, and it is easy to lose sight of the puppeteer – he never attempts to hide, but vanishes behind the magic of his work. Highly recommend this performance.
Company: One T Productions
Show: After the End
Venue: Mixed Blood
Dramatic Thought Experiment
What would happen if you were the last human in existence? This question is dramatically worked out by the intimate, open performance by Scot Froelich. The piece is well performed and recognizes the emotional quandaries raised in this scenario. Well worth the time and the ticket.
Company: Levani
Show: A Magician
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Relaxed Magic
Jordan comes to this performance with a cool, comfortable, casual performance style. His love of magic and genuine appreciation for the art is apparent throughout the performance. His magic is confounding, wondrous, and never condescending. He ties his performance together with personal stories that share his path to becoming a wizard. A really wonderful experience for the full family.
Company: Maxxeapolis
Show: Maxxeapolis Goes to Hell
Venue: Mixed Blood
The Devil Ties the Piece Together
This was fun. Didn't walk away feeling a strong message, but that wasn't the purpose - it's a group of experienced sketch comics. The performers know each other well and work together marvelously. I was especially impressed by the actor who plays the Devil, and the use of the hellish setting does a good job of tying the skits together.
Company: Hey Rube!
Show: So Bright, the Night
Venue: The Southern Theater
A Period Piece with Relevance Today
This is a strong play and should be included on your performance schedule. The story is not in a contemporary setting, but themes such as racial prejudice and abuse by government officials clearly relate to current events. The performances are strong and delivered with purpose, with the conflicting motivations pulling the audience into the drama happening on a train. A good script with engaging performances and you should this play it your fringe time.
Company: Tyler West
Show: Small Minded
Venue: The Southern Theater
Brilliantly Varied
Fast-paced humor is filled with honest dialogue that expresses his emotional experience; Tyler draws on a wide variety of performance skills to present his story. With acrobatics, magic, juggling, and more, this piece whips from thoughtful to comical to critical in an easily entertaining and engaging manner. Tyler is a masterful performer and expertly uses his talents to make a poignant statement. It’s his story but has a message for everyone. I highly recommend this performance.
Company: Dawn Bentley
Show: The Quiet Piggy
Venue: Strike Theater
The Power of Fringe
This is a piece about claiming the power of performance. Dawn is clear and direct in her message, while the piece provides absurdist entertainment through the mockery of political demons we know so well. The piece is raw anger and aggravation thrust into the face of an appreciative audience. This is community, this is spoken strength, this is fringe!
Company: Jason Schommer
Show: 1985: Relative Chaos!
Venue: Strike Theater
Family Stories told Well
Jason Schommer is telling stories from his life in a cleaver, quick witted manner. He speaks and writes well, but the stories felt too self-centered – I didn’t find a sense of any larger picture or theme that connected the work. Be clear, he is very good at his performances and finding all the best beats, but it felt like he was playing to an audience that already knows him. As a stranger to this arts scene, I felt out of the loop. Jason is good, but this wasn’t the right place for a person to begin with his work.
Company: dancing arms
Show: Space Company
Venue: Mixed Blood
Playful Satire of Corporate Absurdity
A high-energy, satirical look at the patriarchal absurdity built into corporate pyramids, “Space Company” is carried by the performer Emma and her enthusiastic commitment to character. Appropriately alternating between the absurd and recognizable mockery, Space Company is a safe way to laugh at the way society buys into this structure and how it can dictate our lives. I recommend taking the time to see this piece – the script is great fun and the performance is out of this world!
Company: Mike Fotis Productions
Show: Tech
Venue: Strike Theater
Dramatic Jazz
Loved the trip this piece takes you on. The trope of a behind-the-scenes look at a failing performance is given a new varnish with magnificent improvisation. There is clearly a structure behind each scene, but the variations are endless. Call this piece dramatic jazz, but instead of horns wailing out a new scale, the Russian stage tech is wiping cheese puff crumbs off his shirt. Great fun and well done!
Company: DallaDanna Productions
Show: Improvised Love Is Blind--Minnesota Fringe Edition
Venue: Strike Theater
Improvised Characters form a Lasting Relationship
This show brilliantly satirizes the TV show “Love is Blind” through hilarious improvised scenes that draw from audience suggestions. Performers instantly create characters that are sustained through the show and form a strange dramatic arc, building a strange relationship with the audience that feels cartoonishly natural. Nobody, including the performers, know the outcome of the relationships as the improvised interactions and a great fun of the show is that the romance can succeed or fail, but regardless of the romantic result, the performance is sure to be a hilarious success.
Company: Dame Right!
Show: Good Vibrations
Venue: Theatre in the Round
They Had Fun
This show highlighted the cast having a good time. I liked the story, and I thought the chorus as a character was remarkable. The script wasn't bad, and the story intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the Beach Boys, but nothing pulled me in. I think a large part is that, while the singing wasn't terrible, it didn't come close to the harmonies of the original group, and I think that is necessary if a team will try to do a Beach Boys piece - mind, to accomplish this task is damned tricky, and thus I think it is hard to do a show that correctly captuers the essence of the group. It was fun to see all the performers put energy and excitement into the work, but overall, it didn't work for me.
Company: Mosaic Productions
Show: ANNA
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Melodrama - with emphasis on the Drama
This was very simply a high-quality piece. The acting was wonderful with each gesture and line delivered with a genuine grace. The script was beautiful and from my limited theatrical history the dialogue did feel appropriate for Eugene O’Neill’s style of writing. The situation was interesting, and the circumstances were plausibly confounding. Melodrama, however, is not a style of drama that I typically find appealing, and final dramatic explosion of emotion was just slightly over the top for me – keeping my rating just shy of 5 stars. This, however, is a preference and I do put this in the top tier of productions I’ve seen so far at this fringe (3 of 7 shows). Worth trying to fit it into the packed performance schedule.
Company: Peter Semington/Eaten by Locusts
Show: Wake the Improv
Venue: Mixed Blood
Long Form Improv isn't for Everyone
Long-form improvisation takes enormous skill, and I applaud the groups for giving it a try, but I didn't feel the piece landed. It wasn't bad, just felt unfocused, became a bit dull, and seemed self-referential. I would be more interested in a series of short, focused improv games, as the groups were able to establish characters quickly, but the long-form games didn't keep me interested. Still, bravo for giving it a go.
Company: Jake Mierva
Show: I Will Become The Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You.
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
What I Imagined Fringe to Be
When I first heard about “Fringe Festivals” (3 decades ago), I imagined performance art with poignant absurdity. This summer is my first exploration into the fringe scene, and most of the work has been good (some spectacular), but it tends to be safely in the realm of acceptable theater, albeit with some moderate experimentation, but nothing broke too many rules – until “I will Become the Silver Surfer…” I finally feel I have seen a performance piece that fulfills the form of fringe theater I imagined. To be sure, it is not a show that everyone will enjoy, but as a fan of experimentation and the absurd – I loved it. To call it comic is to provide too simple an explanation. It is hilarious and at times leaves the gut hurting from laughter, but simultaneously the work explores complex human emotional events involving betrayal, abuse, disillusionment, and other entangling mazes of experience – and successfully juxtaposes the ridiculous and the frighteningly real in way that simultaneously confuses and entertains. The performance is also top-notch – the energy, enthusiasm, and emotion delivered by Jake as he shares his piece is really remarkable – while the piece is humorous, his character’s experience of every feeling is honest, and the pain is never portrayed as a joke. I recommend this piece if you are ready to see something truly different – you need to be ready for a work that says F$%& the rules and lets play with emotions. Personally, loved it!
Company: milk rat orchestra
Show: Fly Tape
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Honest, even if a Little Slow
First what I liked and why it gets four kitties: The honesty in the performances was wonderful and moving – nothing felt melodramatic or constructed, and I felt special to be included in this moment of the character’s existence. Also loved the staging – the space is alternative with seats on either side, and I thought the blocking used the stage well and kept the audience engaged. Also enjoyed the characters (mostly) and felt they were real people. My criticism is that the natural pace of the dialogue felt slow at times – while this is natural in real talk, it can dull the audience. I also didn’t fully understand the wacky puppet that came into the story. While I appreciate the attempt at something unique, I wasn’t clear on how to interact with the character and my confusion took me out of the story at times. Worth a watch if you’re around, but no need to go out of your way.
Company: Local 574
Show: HELL ON WHEELS: The Winter Strike of 1934
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
An Unexpected Decision
I wasn’t expecting to see this show – with a fringe schedule filled with high-quality productions, this was an, “eh, local history, maybe if I have time…”, but then I had a lovely talk with a member of the production team as we stood in the restroom and I decided, “Why not? He seems nice - I’ll see the show.” I am overjoyed to have made this decision. The work is incredible – the performances are all powerfully honest, the music adds a beautiful accent to the work and never overpowers, the script is superb and seems meticulously researched, and the staging…this might be the best stage movement and scene sculpting I have ever seen. The stage comes alive in this production, changing from a dining room to a car to an office with magical fluidity and meticulously exact blocking – yet this phenomenal movement never dominates the scene. And the script is fast but clear and beautifully poetic at moments while never falling into unnaturally forced poetry, honest to the source material while clearly pointing to themes of oppression and abuse that history teaches. And we’ve hardly touched on the splendid performances, or the humble folk music that paints scene transitions, or the radio…I can’t say more without giving away a surprise, but the radio is brilliant! And my praise could continue. This is a show you should use as a cornerstone in your fringe scheduling.
Company: True Men Productions
Show: Castrati: A Tale of Two
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Good structure, but missing the balance
I liked the idea of this show, and I think the themes of forced masculinity and pressures of a “right” way to show gender ring powerfully in the contemporary United States, but I didn’t feel the musical fully hit the mark as the balance seemed off in a lot of ways. The most obvious lack of balance was the orchestra and vocal levels – I was impressed by the arrangements and the complexity of the music, but it was too loud. It seemed as if many of the lyrics were witty and engaging, but I had trouble hearing them. This may have been due to my seats being near the relatively large pit musicians, but I found the volume difficult to work around. I also couldn’t tell how much the script/production was trying to highlight the themes of gender stereotypes verses making jokes about genitals – and this was partly due to missing so many words. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy or appreciate the piece and I was impressed with the grandeur of the production that was able to go into this fringe performance – the music, costumes, script, instrumentation, etc… and I will gladly stand by my four stars - but I would have appreciated a bit more polish and clearer decisions on the direction of the piece. This show is an enjoyable hour, but I wouldn’t give it a “must see” rating.