Thursday, August 6, 2020

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2020: "Climbing My Family Tree"

Location: Digital Hub (available anytime)

Length: 59 minutes

Title: Climbing My Family Tree

By: The Adventures of Les Kurkendaal Barrett

Summary: A storytelling show about a Black man's search for his family, and the surprising things he found.

Highlights: This is a fascinating story, and Les tells it well with a building of suspense. I'm kind of obsessed with those genealogical shows (e.g., Finding Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are), and that's really what this is. After taking an Ancestry DNA test, Les meets his long-lost grandfather, as well as some distant cousins, and discovers he's descended from some pretty amazing and surprising people, of both African and European descent. It makes me want to research my own family tree to see what I might find. But the best part of Les's story is that in the end, what he discovers is that "racism is stupid, because we're all related anyway." Amen.

Read all of my Nightly Fringe mini-reviews here.

Read all of my Digital Hub mini-reviews here.