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Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Empty Nest"

Day: 10

Show: 39

Title: Empty Nest

Category: Clowning / Comedy / Improv / Physical Theater / Spoken Word / Storytelling

By: Zabel Weinhagen

Created by: Laura Zabel and Levi Weinhagen

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: A comedy show with heart about the experience of sending your child off into the world.

Highlights: This show was on my must-see list, but because of the quirks of the Fringe schedule, it was the last one I saw in the festival. It turned out to be the perfect way to end what was a fantastic Fringe, just a fun, easy, pleasant kind of show that deals with big themes in an honest but light-hearted way. The show is framed with a parody of Waiting for Godot, in which two parents wait for their child to text or call them. Then Levi and Laura turn back into their charming, personable, relatable selves, and perform a half dozen or so sketches or vignetts. They tell us about their ten biggest mistakes in raising their daughter (all hilarious and relatively harmless), they talk about new activities they've discovered together, they wordlessly show us the challenges of getting a good night's sleep, and even renew their vows with the help of the audience. Each of them has a storytelling monologue, Laura's about peri-menopause, Levi's about his relationship with his father, expanding the subject matter beyond just parenthood and into life stuff. Funny, relatable, insightful, silly, with some physical humor, just what I expected from this duo.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Foshay! You Know The Tower - Now Hear The Story"

Day: 10

Show: 38


Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Historical content

By: TROMPE L'OEIL

Written by: Kevin Bowen & Lynn Bow

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: A musical about the man behind the Foshay Tower, the tallest building in Minneapolis for over 40 years.

Highlights: The Foshay Tower is a fixture in the Minneapolis skyline, but I've never thought about where the name came from, or even if there was a person behind it. As we learn in this new musical (which premiered as a full-length musical at Open Window Theatre in 2023), Wilbur Burton Foshay was a businessman with big dreams. If you're thinking maybe he's similar to another businessman who like to see his name in big letters on buildings, he's not. He took pride in paying his workers fairly, and insisted that his tower (modeled on the Washington Monument) be built with 100% union labor, despite the fact that Minneapolis was "not a union town." This condensed version of the original musical somehow fits 19 songs into an hour (although a half dozen of them are instrumentals or reprises), and tells the full arc of Foshay's rise to the top, and his fall when the stock market crashes shortly after his tower opens, landing him in jail for mail fraud (he's pardoned decades later). It understandably feels like things wrap up too quickly, and I hope to see the full-length version sometime (it feels like the kind of show that would work well at History Theatre and benefit from their process). The songs are catchy and clever, expressing the emotions of the story and characters well. The two lead actors, Landon Hudson and Elisheva Scheuer as Mr. and Mrs. Foshay, give fantastic performances, with great support from Michael Chapman, Jessica Peters, and Samm Nordstrom as multiple characters. With simple set and costumes that evoke the period, this feels like a nice sampler of a promising musical that I hope to see more of.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "FAST Death of a Salesman"

Day: 10

Show: 37


Category: 

By: alleged Theatre Company

Created by: alleged Theatre Company

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: An important theater director is desperate to impress his 10-year-old nephew, so he leads a group of theater students through Arthur Miller's classic at a pace kids are used to.

Highlights: In typically meta fashion, Alleged does theater about doing theater. While the idea of getting more young people engaged in theater is one worth exploring, this show is not that. Instead it shows what goes wrong when you try to make theater for a short-attention-span youth. Dr. Duke Didier is a serious director (you can tell because he wears a beret), but what he wants more than anything is the approval of his nephew Braden, who used to love going to the theater, but now will not look up from his device (played I think by an audience member). So he directs a bunch of theater students (and one carnival barker auctioneer, because he can speak fast) to do Death of a Salesman fast, first by acting to a recorded track of the original dialogue sped up, for a ridiculous breakneck Salesman. When that doesn't work, he asks the students' advice, so they try a superhero Salesman, a comedy roast Salesman, a "brain rot" Salesman (I'm so old that went completely over my head). And then finally, at his wit's end, he himself performs some sort of absurd one-man Salesman. His students tell him he should just make the kind of theater he likes for people who like that sort of theater, and let Braden watch whatever kind of theater/entertainment he likes that other people make. What a novel idea; maybe if you make the art you're inspire to make, the right audience will find it, even if that's not your nephew. Written and directed by Jake Mierva, with Jeremy Motz as Dr. Didier and J. McIntyre Godwin, Kait Johnson, Laura Berger, Sarah Halverson, and Steph Callaghan playing the cast playing the Salesman roles, this show is a wild and meta ride.

Monday, August 17, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Machinal"

Day: 10

Show: 36

Title: Machinal

Category: Dance / Drama / Mystery / Physical Theater / Literary adaptation / Political content

By: Combustible Company

Directed by: Renee Hatton

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A 60-minute adaptation of the 1928 play Machinal, about a woman caught in the machine of life.

Highlights: This is a brutal look at the drudgeries of life, work, parenthood, and marriage, and the limitations of women's choices, written almost a hundred years ago but still very relevant today. I saw Clevername Theatre's production of this play a couple years ago, and this shortened version covers the full story of a woman who marries her boss, and then kills him. In fact, I think one hour of this brutal and absurdist story is enough, it's heavy and dark, but beautifully done. As per usual with Combustible, it's visually stunning, using precise movements to represent the machine of work, with silver hoops and silver metal chairs as set pieces creating a consistent look. A hoop hanging on a trapeze rack is used in a couple of scenes to beautiful effect. They also use music well, with some lovely and haunting a capella moments, and appropriately chosen songs of the period like "O Death" and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair." The talented young cast is comprised of U of M students or recent grads, Anna Pladson as the woman with ensemble members Alvaro Araque, Ella Eastman-Kiesow, Ella Hendrickson, Gavin Wells, Lily Jones, Matthew Wilhelm, Michael DiPrima, Nitalia Michelle, and Vincent Strunk. It's a dark and ugly story, beautifully and powerfully told. And although Fringe is over, they have three more performances this weekend at St. Croix Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Muskie"

Day: 10

Show: 35

Title: Muskie

Category: Comedy / Horror / Puppetry

By: New Endeavors

Created by: New Endeavors

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A parody of the 1975 film Jaws, set in Garrison, MN, on the shores of Lake Mille Lacs.

Highlights: I saw the Jaws musical parody Chum! on the first day of the Fringe, so it seemed only fitting that I see the Minnesota comedy parody Muskie on the last day. From the people who brought us last year's An Exorcism, Doncha Know and the beloved (by me) Buttslasher series, this show is exactly what you think it is - a sincerely campy and very Minnesotan version of the classic movie (that I still haven't seen, but probably should after seeing two parodies of it). When people start mysteriously disappearing in the lake in violent ways just before fishing opener, the mayor doesn't want to cancel the fishing contest because of all the business it brings into the town. The Sheriff is concerned, especially when her brother, a disgraced former champion fisherman, comes back to town and tells everyone that it's a giant Muskie that's causing the disturbance. Eventually the group goes out on the water to try to catch the beast, personified by a beautiful and scary giant puppet (designed by Thalia Kostman and Marc Berg). Written by Andrew Rakerd, directed by Andrew Rosdail, and with a cast that includes Alyssa Fraser, Cayla Marie Wolpers, George Smith, Glen L. Dawson, Henry Lantto, Laura Erchul, Maija Dahlberg, Matt Saxe, and Michelle Schwantes, it's a very fun and fringey parody.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Leave Room for Jesus"

Day: 10

Show: 34


Category: Comedy / Improv / Musical Theater / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content / Political content / Religious content

By: Hannah Wydeven

Directed by: Hannah Wydeven

Location: Barker Center

Summary: An evangelist revival show featuring songs, testimonies, and inspiration from Pastor Marla.

Highlights: This show was a bigger energy boost on my final six-show day than the cold brew I was drinking! It was a late add to my schedule based on several recommendations, and I'm so glad I saw it. As one of the Shrieking Harpies, Hannah Wydeven is an expert at musical improv, and in this show applies it to this wildly entertaining character. Dressed in a purple sparkly gown, with big hair and big glasses, Pastor Marla is a stereotypical TV evangelist. She walks through the audience talking to people to get song suggestions (what's something you're struggling with? what advice do I always give!), which she turns into little musical gems that sounds like fully formed songs (except ridiculous). She was joined by a rotating cast of performers over the five shows, and I'm not exactly sure who performed at the one I saw (except for fellow Harpie Lizzie Gardner as one of three backup angel singers, along with Anna Weggel). She had a fantastic keyboard player who improvised right along with her, an actor playing her sullen teenager who literally did nothing but watch Friends on an iPad and try to hide inside her sweatshirt, and two followers planted in the audience, who came up to give testimony, sing a song, or be baptized. By the end we're all converted to the church of Marla, and we're even treated to a visit from Jesus himself (Will Schroeder). It's a fun, joyful, rousing kind of show, the perfect choice for the first show on the last day.

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "The Importance of Being Eternal"

Day: 9

Show: 33


Category: Comedy / Literary adaptation

By:  Little Apple Theatre Company

Directed by: Paul Willis Jr.

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: Oscar Wilde's most well-known play The Importance of Being Earnest, reimagined in the vampire world.

Highlights: Just a few weeks ago, I saw the debut of new #TCTheater company Little Apple Theatre with a charming and clever production of The Importance of Being Earnest, seen through a queer lens. Now they're back with their Fringe debut that takes that version, and adds vampires! You don't need to have seen the first production to enjoy this one, but it certainly adds another layer of fun. Many of the team of artists from the first production return for this one, including three of the five cast members. How do you do a three-act play in less than an hour? Like this: cutting out a few incidental characters, trimming some scenes, but still conveying the major plot points of the three acts. Although altered, because BFFs/lovers Algie and Jack are vampires, as is Aunt Bracknell and her daughter Gwendolin, and Jack's ward Cecily is a goth girl who wants to be turned. They've changed the names of the characters in this version of the play to names familiar from vampire stories, from Nosferatu to Interview with a Vampire to Twilight, and added in some vampiric references. The Algie, Lady Bracknell (her Dracknell/Dracula), and Gwendolyn characters are all played by the same actors as the first production (Adam Rider, Tinka, and Grace Barnstead), in performances that are similar but campier, and vampires. Joining the cast are Ian Olson as Jack and Victoria Jones (set designer for the previous production) as Cecily, and all are delightfully over-the-top and bloodthirsty. On its own, this is a very fun and very fringey take on a classic comedy, but viewed with the previous production is an even more impressive double-shot of original and clever adaptation.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Who We Are: Stories from the Surge"

Day: 9

Show: 32


Category: Storytelling / Historical content / Political content

By: Three Second Memory

Created by: Bruce D. Manning

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: Stories from Operation Metro Surge, based on interviews and testimony from people who lived it.

Highlights: There are (unsurprisingly) several shows in this year's Minnesota Fringe that are directly about, or reference, Operation Metro Surge, as artists react to the violence and terror on our streets for several months over the winter. But this is the only one I've seen that compiles the voices from dozens of people who lived it. Witnesses, lawyers, immigrants, neighbors, it presents a full and intimate picture. Co-writers Bruce Manning (who was in Uprising Theatre's production of the docuplay The Laramie Project, to which this piece bears a resemblance) and David Hellstrom, have constructed a compelling story out of dozens of interviews, interweaving the stories in a way that tells a cohesive story. A cast of 13 reads the words of the real people, some of them with great emotionality that makes us feel they are those people. They're dressed in black, with a prop or costume piece that hints at the character. In a particularly moving part of the piece, they place white shoes around the stage as they talk about someone who was taken, representing the ICE Ghost Shoes Project, which has placed these white shoes as art displays around the city in locations where people who were taken. I'd never heard of this project, but it instantly reminded me of the shoe memorial on the Danube River in Budapest which I visited last fall, and it turns out was an inspiration for this project. Seeing all these empty shoes, in both art installations and in this show, is very sobering and brings the victims to life in a tangible way. Stories from the Surge is an affecting and effective way to share the real stories of what happened on our streets some six months ago, and which continues around the country in small and big ways.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Too Fat To Run"

Day: 9

Show: 31


Category: Comedy / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Storytelling

By: Fat Theatre Project

Created by: Eileen Tull

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: A solo storytelling show by Chicago-based artist Eileen Tull about running a marathon, despite the world telling her she's too fat to run.

Highlights: While I don't identify as fat, I definitely identify as a runner who doesn't have a typical runner's body, who runs slower than is "cool," and who has found a lot of self-confidence and self-worth through running. After running nearly 70 races over the last 25 years, including 7 marathons and 28 half marathons, I firmly believe that anyone who runs is a runner. Being a back-of-the-pack runner, I've seen runners of all ages, shapes, sizes, body types, races, genders, and running gaits. No matter what you look like, no matter how fast (or slow) you run, we're all runners, which Eileen beautifully expresses in this show. She speaks in a very conversational and informal way, as if this is the first time she's telling this story, hesitating and backtracking, which is very endearing and instantly get us on her side. Dressed in workout gear, she paces and runs around the tiny stage at Open Eye, stretching and doing exercises, giving the show a sense of movement. Eileen tells us that grew up in a large athletic family, and while she was always active, she also always had issues with food and body image. She got into running as a "healthy obsession" to replace drinking, and even ran a few half marathons before she was sidelined by an injury. Then one day in the early post-COVID years, she decided to run a marathon, and spent nearly a year preparing and training for it. She took exercise and stretching classes, she found a running group (the running community is incredibly supportive), and she ran. And ran. And ran. Despite the cruel and thoughtless comments from strangers and people she knew. She made it to marathon day, and she accomplished her goal. Not, as she tells us, to prove anything to anyone, but to prove something to herself. I found Eileen's story very relatable and moving (#fringetears), but you don't have to be fat or a runner to relate to her story. It's a story of perseverance and determination, about loving yourself and your body enough to do hard things even, or especially, when people tell you that you can't. Go runners!

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Too Much of a Good Thing"

Day: 9

Show: 30


Category: Comedy / Drama / Musical Theater / Solo Show

By: RAR Entertainment

Created by: Rachel Redleaf

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: A solo storytelling show by TV and film actor Rachel Redleaf about her relationship with her large breasts and decision to have reduction surgery.

Highlights: Rachel is very funny and honest in this very personal show. With humor, funny voices, cute cartoon video illustrations, and a Wizard of Oz theme, she tells us stories about being obsessed with breasts all her life, even before she had them. It was all she wanted as a child, but it eventually became a "careful what you wish for" kind of thing as her breasts started growing in high school, and didn't stop until she reached a bra size of 40H, through college, breakups, and weight gain. As an actor, and in relationships with men, she began to feel like no one could see her beyond her large breasts. She tells the story in a very cute way, giving a funny voice to each of her breasts, who sometimes talk to her, and imagining characters in her story as characters from the Wizard of Oz (when she finally found the right surgeon who listened to her and what she wanted, she was like Glinda the Good). This is very honest, funny, silly, relatable look at being a woman living under the male gaze, and loving yourself and your body enough to know when to say goodbye to some of it.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Is That Why?"

Day: 9

Show: 29


Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Spoken Word / Storytelling

By: Ari Hoptman

Created by: Ari Hoptman

Location: American School of Storytelling

Summary: A solo show about the origins of words, from your favorite professor Ari Hoptman.

Highlights: If you love words and languages, you'll love this show (and you can still see it today at 1!). Based on a series of large flashcards drawn randomly by an audience member, Ari shares short (3 minutes or so) stories about the origins of words and the relation of various languages, using no notes, but occasional visual aids. The handout (professors love handouts) shows a map that connects Germanic, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit languages via their common ancestor, "the Indo-European Machine." I love words, and I love nerds (i.e., people who are passionate about a specific subject), and Ari is charmingly obsessed with this sort of thing, and his enthusiasm for the subject and simple way of explaining things (with some pop culture references thrown in) make this a very entertaining and educational show. The history of language is the history of humanity, and this show is good nerdy fun.

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "1 Hour Left to Live: A One Puppet Show by That Felt Good"

Day: 8

Show: 28


Category: Comedy / Improv / Musical Theater / Original Music / Puppetry / Storytelling / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content / Religious content

By: Sockpop

Directed by: Phoebe Bottoms and Matt Olson

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A puppet named Pal has one hour left to live tells his life story to a priest in the form of improvised scenes.

Highlights: I don't think I've ever seen puppet improv before, and it's pretty adorable. But also weird and funny. The furry pale blue puppet Pal is puppeteered by Jim Hensen Co. trained Pheobe Bottoms, and expresses an amazing array of emotions, making him very human-like and endearing. On his deathbed, Pal tells his life story to a priest (Victor Gonzalez), which we see play out in improvised scenes based on a few audience prompts, telling us about his childhood and failed relationships (performed by improvisors Eric Heiberg, James Moore, Philip Simondet, Meg Trowbridge, Zelia Gonzales, Chris Rodriguez, Steph Callaghan, and Patrick McIntyre). There's also a stand-up set, I'm not sure why, but the guest stand-up at the performance I attended, Jamie Carbone, was very funny. Finally, after Pal breathes his last puppet breath, the audience votes on where he goes next, and the sadistic audience voted for hell. So then we got to follow Pal into hell, with more improvised scenes and some of the characters from his life coming back. It's a unique premise for an improv show, and a fun twist. Last show Saturday at 7, and That Felt Good also performs Friday nights at Bryant Lake Bowl.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "I Will Become The Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You."

Day: 8

Show: 27


Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Audience participation

By: Jake Mierva

Written by: Jake Mierva

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: A solo show about a man who thinks he's been chosen to save the world from Galactus, in the absence of the Fantastic Four.

Highlights: I don't read comic books or watch comic book movies, so I didn't really get the comic references, but that didn't matter. What on the surface is a silly and ridiculous show about superheroes and villains, is really a serious exploration of childhood trauma and mental illness. This character (Norman? Norrin?) claims to have seen Galactus five times in his life, all associated with a moment of trauma. He repeatedly insists that he's not crazy, that Galactus threatening the planet and him being the only one who can save us is real. But really, this is his brain's way of dealing with childhood trauma and feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Jake gives a fearless performance, barreling through the script in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way while slathering himself with what I hope is non-toxic silver body paint, as he becomes the Silver Surfer (which apparently is an actual superhero). We've learned from TCHF that when there's a tarp on stage there will be blood, and now we know that a giant silver tarp covering the Rarig thrust stage means there will be silver paint splatter. Fans of Marvel Comics will appreciate all the superhero talk, millennials will enjoy the 90s/2000s references (Avatar: The Last Airbender and Saved by the Bell), and everyone can relate to family drama (and trauma), feeling like you're not enough, and wanting some control over the uncertainties of life. This is an impressive first solo show by Jake Mierva of Alleged Theatre, with direction by Alleged's J. McIntyre Godwin, and lighting and sound design by Eric Wigham (with some great sound effects, and the recorded voice of Galactus). Last show today at 1!

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Silent Movie!"

Day: 8

Show: 26


Category: Clowning / Comedy / Drama / Improv / Original Music / Physical Theater / Non-verbal

By: The Improv Movement Project

Directed by: Sean Dillon and Mark Benzel

Location: Barker Center

Summary: An entirely improvised silent movie, created by the troupe based on the result of three spinning wheels.

Highlights: This show is a delight, and kind of miraculous how this troupe of silent physical theater improvisors (Sean Dillon, Mark Benzel, Elizabeth Dunn, Erin Sheppard, Evie Digirolamo, Gregory Parks, Luke Fanning, Mandi Bedbury, Rachel Buhman, and Victoria Pyan) are able to create a complete and cohesive story without speaking. At the start of the show, co-director Sean Dillon spins three wheels to determine the genre (bump in the night at the show I attended), plot (long-lost treasure), and star (Elizabeth). Once they have done one of these items, they cross it off so that each of the five shows is a totally different combinations. While I didn't always complete understand what was happening, it was always entertaining, and I got the general gist of the story which was some sort of evil growing plant, a little like The Last of Us, or "don't feed the plant" (or in this case don't eat the plant. The performers would clap and use a hand signal to call for different types of scenes - slow motion, close up, wide shot (with one performer's fingers walking across the others shoulders and outstretched arms), or thoughts. And occasionally they'd make a motion to bring the lights down, and start a new scene. It's really clever storytelling, with the performers communicating in some silent language (or telepathy) what's coming next in the story. They're all talented improvisors and physical theater actors, with apparently no sense of personal space because they literally climb all over each other, like they're one body telling the story. Final show Sunday at 7!
 

Friday, August 14, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "The Importance of Living"

Day: 7

Show: 25


Category: Comedy / Drama / Horror

By: Mermaid Productions

Written by: Tim Uren

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: Two happy murderers meet on death row, or maybe the afterlife, and share stories of their crimes.

Highlights: This sounds like a dark premise for a play, and it is, but it's also delightfully fun. We meet one of the murderers (Ariel Pinkerton) on death row in 1940s California, eating her last meal and reading her last book (the philosophy book The Importance of Living). She also gets to summon someone for her last conversation - a murderer from London (Tim Uren) who doesn't know he died over 40 years ago. Both married multiple times in their lives, with each spouse dying mysteriously, and leaving them a little better off. She (I apologize, I'm not good with names in general and after 25 shows I cannot remember these characters' names from last night) has the upper hand in the situation because she has studied his criminal case, and knows he eventually hangs for his crimes, so she continually points out his lies. These are people with hard lives (she in the American South in the Depression era, he in late 19th Century England), who did what they had to to survive, although they took it a little to far. Ariel and Tim make these characters almost likable, or at least entertaining. There are a lot of names thrown around in these stories that are a bit hard to keep track of (names are hard, as previously mentioned), but we get the general gist of things in this dark, creepy, time jumping dramedy. 

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Watership Down"

Day: 7

Show: 24


Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Physical Theater / Puppetry / Storytelling / Kid friendly / Literary adaptation

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Written by: Richard Adams, adapted for the stage by Melancholics Anonymous

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: An original folk musical adaptation of the 1972 adventure novel Watership Down about a group of rabbits who go in search of a new home.

Highlights: I'm only about 2/3 through my Fringe, but I'm ready to declare this my favorite of the festival, and my favorite work ever by Fringe darlings Melancholics Anonymous. This is one of the shows I was most looking forward to, and it exceeded my expectations. I read Watership Down for a class my first year in college (probably before most of these artists were born), and still have the book, so I've been rereading it (and didn't quite finish #spoileralert). I read it for a class with the theme "everyone needs a hero," in which we studied the Joseph Campbell hero cycle, read Lord of the Rings (confession: this is why I chose this class, I'd already read it multiple times #nerdalert), and watched Star Wars (to date the only time I've seen it #notthatkindofnerd). And Watership Down fits perfectly into the hero cycle, with an unlikely hero (a rabbit), impossible tasks, guidance along the way, and triumphing through hard work, determination, and togetherness. The novel is nearly 500 pages long, and adapters Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly have done a really great job condensing it into a 60-minute play, omitting or condensing a few episodes or characters. They use a narrative style, with the characters trading off the narration, which really helps set the scene, provide exposition, and move the plot along. And they've beautifully and smoothly taken out my least favorite part of the novel in a simple and effective way (all the hero rabbits in the novel are male, and a major plot point is "we need some does" in order for the warren to reproduce and survive, but in this adaptation they're all genders, and they just need "more rabbits" for the warren to flourish). Bee Davis has written about a half dozen or so original songs that further the plot, provide more emotional depth for the characters, and are just great songs I'd like to listen to again (played by musicians Hawken Paul and Mason Tacke on various folky instruments). In fact, this is a rare Fringe show that feels like it's more than just a Fringe show, it deserves more than five (nearly sold out) performances, and I'd love to see the Melancholics expand it to 90-100 minutes and have a longer run sometime/somewhere outside of Fringe. It's such a successful adaptation of this beloved (and kind of odd) novel (full disclosure: I've seen neither the movie nor the recent mini-series), with a beautiful and sincere story of a community that overcomes great odds by working together, and a leader that comes into their own by being brave and strong and listening to those around them. By the end of the 60 engrossing minutes, it feels like we've gone on an epic journey with these rabbits, who feel like unique and specific people we know and love (played by Aerin O'Malley, Meredith Enersen, Samantha Miller, Anneliese Garner, Bee Davis, Claire Chenoweth, Laura Marie, and Timothy Kelly, with Hawken Paul as their bird friend). I want to go back to Watership Down! Final performances Friday at 530 and Saturday at 4.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "After the End"

Day: 7

Show: 23


Category: Comedy / Drama / Musical Theater / Solo Show

By: One T Productions

Written by: Scot Froelich

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: After the entire population of the planet was wiped out in a deadly pandemic, Jeff finds himself the last man on earth, and holds a concert for an imaginary audience.

Highlights: Fringe vet Scot Froelich has written a compelling story about the end of the world, or more specifically, what happens after the end of the world. He plays a character named Jeff who by some fluke was trapped in a shelter for six months when The End happened, and now, 12 years later, he has set up shop in an abandoned theater for a few days to sing and play guitar, which he learned to do with all of his spare time, and tell us, an imaginary audience that looks real (wink, wink), his story. It's a little Pluribus, a little The Last Man on Earth, with Jeff traveling around and finding the best place and the best way to survive alone on the planet. But what's it all for, if there's no one to share this life with? Scot/Jeff sings a half dozen or so story-appropriate songs, from "All by Myself" to "Ground Control to Major Tom" (while in DC, he makes a connection with a couple of astronauts stranded on a space station), in a lovely singer/songwriter kind of way. Scot gives a natural and vulnerable performance as this man who is grieving the loss of his wife and everything he knew, while still holding on to hope that there's something more. It's a beautiful thought experiment about the importance of community and human connection, and the things that really matter "after the end" of the world. Final performance Sunday at 4!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "A Woman's Place is in the House"

Day: 6

Show: 22


Category: Comedy / Spoken Word / Storytelling / Audience participation / Historical content / Political content

By: David Alan Berger

Written by: David Alan Berger

Location: Rarig Kilburn Arena

Summary: The first four women elected to Minnesota's House of Representatives time travel to the present to give us hope in these uncertain times.

Highlights: This was an appropriate show to see the day after Minnesota's primary election, which resulted in two female candidates for Senate and the two female candidates for Governor, meaning that Minnesota will soon have its first female Governor, and it's about time! It all started in 1922, just two years after women finally got the right to vote, when four women were elected to Minnesota's House. This play starts in 1923 when they're arriving to start their jobs - the young and slightly boy crazy union organizer Myrtle Agnes Caine (Olivia Dubiel), realtor Sue Metzger Dickey Hough (Amber Payne), farmer and teacher Hannah Jensen Kempfer (Rachel Ratkowski), and businesswoman Mabeth Hurd Paige (Megan Rowe). They're visited by a time traveler from our times (Ann Frances Gregg), who explains the dire situation we're currently living in, and invites them to travel with her back to the future, to inspire people in a rally just when we need it most. And they do just that, finding humor and camaraderie along the way. But the most inspiring part of the rally-within-the-play are the speeches by the guest stars - real female members of today's Minnesota House of Representatives, the enduring legacy of these four pioneers. The play is a little pedantic and on-the-nose, the effect of the women's visit a little too rosy, but I'm OK with that. In the end it's inspiring and educational, and like Aaron Sorkin's West Wing or The Newsroom, sometimes we need stories that are aspirational in a time when reality is stark. This play provides hope that a better future is in store if we work for it, a future in which women are in the House, and the Senate, and the Governor's office, and the White House.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Sisters on Stage: An elder millennial’s exploration of Shakespeare’s sisters"

Day: 6

Show: 21


Category: Comedy / Drama / Solo Show / Shakespearian elements

By: Deanne McDonald / The Traveling Players

Created by: Deanne McDonald

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A solo show exploring the sibling relationships in Shakespeare's plays.

Highlights: Deanne McDonald was inspired to create this show after seeing Patrick Paige's solo show All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain on tour at the Guthrie a couple years ago, shortly after playing middle daughter Regan in King Lear at Theatre in the Round. While Regan could be seen as a villain, she's definitely a sister, and as a middle child herself, Deanne has brought those sibling relationships into her many Shakespearean roles over the last couple decades. The show is part memoir, part Shakespearean study, part treatise on family dynamics. With direction by Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha, Deanne performs scenes from a half dozen or so plays, many of which she's performed in the past, each one preceded by a story about her family or life at the time (e.g., "I played this role in a pub in Chicago"). She plays weird sisters (Macbeth), scheming sisters (King Lear), really bad siblings (Richard III, who allegedly killed his brother's sons), friends close as sisters (Midsummer), tortured siblings (Hamlet), and loving siblings (Twelfth Night). With a great soundtrack of the last few decades, and an array of props and costumes specific to each character and also her story, Deanne embodies all of these characters, sometimes multiple in one scene, and makes them feel real and grounded. She makes these ancient and much-performed plays feel alive and modern and relatable, especially for anyone with a sibling.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Tapeze - a la seconde"

Day: 6

Show: 20


Category: Dance / Physical / Theater / Kid friendly / Non-verbal

By: Twin Cities Trapeze

Created by: Katie Kimball and Cathy Wind

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A combination of tap dance (as well as some ballet and contemporary dance) and trapeze.

Highlights: I heard about Tapeze at last year's festival but wasn't able to see it, so I'm glad they're back. I needed a dance fix halfway through the festival and this was it, and served as a great palate cleanser. This show is a delightful combination of multiple artforms, performed by a huge cast of varying ages and body shapes and sizes, all sharing the joy of movement. The Southern Theater is probably the only venue that would work for a trapeze show, but it was empty at the beginning and I kept wondering where the trapeze would come in. After a few dance numbers, the company assembles the trapeze out of many metal pipes lying around the space. They could have set it up before the show, but it's thrilling (and a little scary) to watch them set it up in front of us. The dance numbers alternate with the trapeze numbers, and sometimes both artforms combine and play off of each other. These are seriously talented artists, but they don't take themselves or the show too seriously, there's a lot of humor and playfulness in it. The large and talented and enthusiastic company is led by tap dancer Cathy Wind of Keane Sense of Rhythm Tap Company and trapeze artist Katie Kimball of Twin Cities Trapeze. Both of these organizations also offer classes so you can join the fun! But until then you can watch them do it in their final two performances.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "BE NOT AFRAID"

Day: 6

Show: 19


Category: Comedy / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Original Music / Physical Theater / Storytelling

By: Third Space Theater

Created by: Mariabella Sorini & Alex Church

Location: Southern Theatre

Summary: A struggling North Dakota farm family is threatened by the construction of nearby oil rigs, as they're visited by angels and devils.

Highlights: This is the only dramatic play I've seen at Fringe so far, and feels much more like a one-act play than a Fringe show, not surprising for Third Space Theater. It's an original play written by Mariabella Sorini (who also stars in it) and Alex Church (who also directs, with Stephanie Kahle), and everything about is thoughtful and polished and gorgeous. The story is centered around Micah (Mariabella) and Jordan (Ben Qualley), living on and trying to save his father's farm despite the nearby fracking and the usual environmental issues. Jordan's cousin and his friend are crashing on air mattresses in their living room, Peter (Logan Lang) trying to work and make money for his daughter, Mason (Sebastian Grim) only out for momentary "fun." Neighbor Sam (Tamira Rashid) is desperate after her horses are lost, and beset by strange occurrences that are killing livestock. There's a sense of familiarity among this group of people, like they've known each other forever and we're just getting a peek into their lives. Once Micah is visited by a scary angel (Em Adam Rosenberg) she starts to prepare for a fire and/or some other catastrophe, removing pesticides and gas for the generator despite Jordan's insistence that they're needed. The catastrophe does eventually come, and it tests everyone. The Southern is the perfect backdrop for this story, with its weathered brick walls full of history. A couple of ladders, sawhorses, wooden poles, and lines of laundry hung between them create the stark farm landscape. Lighting changes from full blackout to a red glow to bright lights, and the sound design is haunting, with music and effects. All of this helps to tell this earthy and otherworldly story about a community, the land, and the dangers of industrialization. The movement and physical theater pieces are beautiful, particularly the silent wounded deer (embodies by Mary Lofreddo), perhaps representing our wounded earth. This is definitely one of the most polished and professional shows you'll see at Fringe.

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Small Minded"

Day: 5

Show: 18


Category: Clowning / Comedy / Magic / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Storytelling / Audience participation / Shakespearian elements

By: Tyler West

Created by: Tyler West and Cleo DeOrio

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A solo storytelling show by an actor with dwarfism, about his career, the roles he's forced to play, and how it intersects with disability.

Highlights: Currently on a break from touring with Water for Elephants (which stopped in Minneapolis earlier this year), touring artist Tyler West brings his funny and moving show to the Minnesota Fringe. It's an eye-opening story about an actor with dwarfism. With the exception of the actor referred to in the show as Deter Pinklage, actors with dwarfism often play the clown, the fool, the entertainment. Tyler talks about his personal journey through life and performing, finding comfort on the stage where people are supposed to be looking at him and laughing, as opposed to the stares and cruel comments on the street. In his BFA program, he wanted to play serious roles, but was only offered the role of the fool or the jester. He moved to NYC and found work in cabarets and variety shows, playing into the comic role, and studied clowning, which he utilizes in this show to great effect, with physical comedy, pratfalls, juggling, and a delightful entirely silent sequence as a cop who playfully terrorizes the audience. But through the writing of Dr. Erin Pritchard, "a leading academic expert in the field of dwarfism and a passionate advocate for disability awareness and inclusion," he comes to realized that "midget entertainment" is not unlike minstrel shows - Black people performing in blackface for White people's amusement, little people performing comedy for able-bodied people's enjoyment. He descends into a fever dream, where he is confronted with Oompa-Loompas, Munchkins, Ewoks, Yoda, and the Seven Dwarves, but ends the show by noting little people with serious accomplishments, doctors and lawyers and scholars, whom most of us have never heard of. Small Minded is funny, moving, educational, and well-constructed with a great use of props and costumes (directed and co-written by Cleo DeOrio). This is the reason that Fringe Festivals exists, for artists who are pigeon-holed into one thing to have an opportunity make their own art, play the roles they want, and tell their own stories in their own voices.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Bury The Leads"

Day: 5

Show: 17


Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Audience participation

By: Special When Lit

Created by: Sam Landman & Nissa Nordland

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: An improvised show about two character actors Faye and Clyde as they go through their life of auditions and rehearsals and other theatery things.

Highlights: Fringe vets Nissa and Sam have been performing this show about two character actors, perhaps inspired by real life, at Bryant Lake Bowl and other venues, but this is my first time seeing it. Their experience with these characters shows, as it feels like we're picking up with them in the middle of their lives. The show is improvised around a structure of various scenes - self-tapes, auditions, rehearsing an intimacy scene (based on audience suggestions), life outside of the theater at the office or the mall, and Fringe specific scenes of Fringe Central (the after-hours hangout) and attending a Fringe show, when they come out into the audience and take a seat. But Sam and Nissa don't just play Clyde and Faye, they also morph into other characters in the stories - actors, coworkers, casting directors - sometimes going back and forth within a scene. They're both great and natural improvisors, and work well together to create a picture of these two people and their theater lives, with a sweet friendship between them. Each scene is noted with words projected on a screen so we know where we are, and the interstitial music (recorded by Sam and Nissa) is delightfully silly. This is improv at its best, by two experienced performers.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "the statue of liberty is nora in a doll's house by henrik ibsen"

Day: 5

Show: 16


Category: Comedy / Drama / Musical Theater / Physical Theater

By: Supermoon

Created by: Supermoon

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: Henrik Ibsen's ground-breaking 1879 play A Doll's House, in which a housewife leaves her family to find herself, with Nora played by the Statue of Liberty.

Highlights: On one level, this is a great and fun and very Fringey version of a classic play, using live film projected onto a screen, and actual dolls acting out some of the scenes. On another level it's a startling and disturbing commentary on the state of our country, as we watch Lady Liberty literally dismantled before our eyes. I'm not entirely certain how those two things fit together, but I will be ruminating on it for a while. Mads Plonski plays Liberty/Nora, beginning the show standing on a platform clutching a copy of A Doll's House, her raised arm holding a corded light. Then she descends from her pedestal (much as Nora metaphorically does in the play), and the story begins, with all of the major plot points of the story playing out in abbreviated form (Nora forged her father's signature to take out a loan to save her husband's life, and is now facing scandal because a woman is not allowed to take out a loan), with Michael Torsch as her husband Torvald and Caleb Byers as the banker about to explode the scandal. A camera is trained on the stage, with the live feed projected on a screen, including close-ups of dolls that enact some of the scenes, the actors speaking in exaggerated doll voices. We also occasionally see images of the Statue of Liberty in pieces and behind scaffolding during installation, which curiously was less than ten years after A Doll's House premiered. In addition to the use of lighting and live film, there's also an interesting use of music and sound, with Josh Leininger providing a live score on electric guitar, and Mads singing the Lana Del Ray song "Arcadia." As usual from this team, this is a thoughtful, thorny, weird, funny, absurd, engrossing piece of theater.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Monday, August 10, 2026

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Casa Bde-Maka-Ska"

Day: 4

Show: 15


Category: Comedy

By: Snikt! Bamf! Thwip!

Written by: Duck Washington & Tim Wick

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A parody of the 1942 film Casablanca, set in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge.

Highlights: I've never seen the movie, but it's so pervasive in our culture I have a vague idea of the story. There's a guy named Rick who owns a club, a pair of star-crossed lovers, a piano man named Sam, and a war. Those elements are all present here, but played for comedy. As Gregory Parks, who plays Sam, notes in the post-show speech, what we went through during Operation Surge was not funny, but comedy and parody is one way to process the trauma and be part of the resistance. So in this story we have tons of Minnesota references (because it's not Minnesota Fringe without a lutefisk joke), and we have Rick (Samuel Poppen) who owns a bar and is in love with Ilsa (Bridget Foy, with a '40s movie look and sound), her husband Ole (Pher Sturz), a corrupt cop (Kelvin Hatle), the frustrated piano man (Gregory Parks), and a villain named Noem (Molly Zupon). The plot plays out fairly similar to the movie (I gather), and the allegory works nicely. The costumes are a mix of modern, vintage, and local, with a recurring bit about the (not so) mobile piano, and the "play it again Sam" song being Prince, natch. For a more gritty and realistic look at Operation Metro Surge, see Witness Loudly and Minnesota is the Shire, but it also feels good to process our recent trauma through laughter.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "A Confluence of Magical Arseholes"

Day: 4

Show: 14


Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Original Music / Historical content

By: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Created by: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: The bizarre true story of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, whose most famous member was the Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

Highlights: Leave it to Winding Sheet to find yet another weird story from history, and turn it into some very clever and inventive theater. Although a little sillier and goofier than their previous work (as on-stage director Amber Bjork says, it's a "boy show"), this show is a delight. The fourth-wall-breaking we're-putting-on-a-show spirit is as charming as ever, with Amber running around, breaking into the action, or watching with glee or frustration. After directing us to "the good seats" before the show, she enlists this troupe to tell the story, a story of "a supper club for dilettantes." They "try their best" at Irish accents to play Yeats (Mark Benzel), his rival the foul poet Aleister Crowley (Michael Rogers at his best rock star), the Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne (Boo Segersin), other members of the order (Dan Linden, Heather Bunch, Kristina Fjellman, and Megan Campbell Lagas), and Yeat's drinking buddies who served as the band (Derek Lee Miller, Sam Landman, and music director Joshua Schwantz). The loose plot involves a fight between Yeats and Crowley, and Yeats trying to get Maud to marry him (which she pleasantly rejects every time), but mostly it's just a whole lot of nonsense exploring this weird and ridiculous thing that really happened. There is original music, cleverly appropriate graphic Ts, and lots of golden things. It's a silly, fun, joyful, meta, hilarious, ridiculous, wonderful show.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Minnesota is the Shire, or Fair & Back Again"

Day: 4

Show: 13


Category: Solo Show / Storytelling / Historical content

By: Seán McArdle / Hero Props

Created by: Seán McArdle

Location: Barker Center

Summary: A solo storytelling show about how Minnesota is like Tolkien's Shire (Hobbit country), specifically in the scouring.

Highlights: OK, I went to this show because I've loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings for 40 years, but I left again being moved and inspired by my fellow Minnesotans. Prop master Seán McArdle loves LOTR even more than me, and in this well-constructed show, which he primarily reads from a lectern decorated with LOTR and protest memorabilia, he first tells us about his love of all things Tolkien, even painting maps on the walls of his high school classroom for his senior project. He compares the Minnesota State Fair to the Shire, primarily in the prevalence of food and drink and the opportunity to have many meals. But then he comes to the main thesis, that Operation Metro Surge was like "The Scouring of the Shire," a story at the end of The Return of the King in which the Hobbits return home to find that Saruman has turned the Shire into a fascist state (which was omitted from Peter Jackson's adaptation, which Seán says is its biggest flaw). He draws the parallels in a really convincing and moving way, even if you don't know LOTR. He shares social media posts and videos that he made during the time of the Surge, and his contribution of making and distributing many many whistles for people like his friend Kyle Dekker who were out on the streets (see Kyle's show Witness Loudly at Strike). He teaches us a few words of Elvish, and points to the three beacons of hope in LOTR (Aragorn, Gandalf, and Sam) for inspiration. I last read the books in 2020, after returning from my second visit to New Zealand on March 11, to find that the world I knew was completely changed, and found great inspiration in revisiting my favorite story during that difficult year. Tolkien famously hated allegory, as Seán said, but it's hard not to see parallels to our own world when reading these books. This show is a beautiful and moving thesis defense that has 100% convinced me, and a uniquely comforting way to help process our recent collective trauma and find inspiration to keep fighting.


at Bilbo's house in Hobbiton, Leap Day 2020

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Vintage Tunes, Modern Gal"

Day: 4

Show: 12


Category: Comedy / Original Music / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Audience participation

By: Plucky Rosenthal

Created by: Plucky Rosenthal

Location: Rarig Kilburn Arena

Summary: A solo "musical comedy variety act" about a plucky ukulele player looking for a band.

Highlights: Chicago-based touring artist Plucky Rosenthal (a last-minute add to the festival) is obviously a pro at this; she had the relatively small Sunday 4pm audience in the palm of her hand, and singing at the top of our lungs by the end. Plucky is just that, both in the "spirited and brave" definition, and in the fact that she plucks and strums the ukulele, which she tells us is the best instrument (not the first time I've heard that in this festival). And if you think that's a corny joke, wait until you see the show! She enlists us in her silly rhymes, and frequently breaks the fourth wall to comment on or react to the show and the audience, in the most charming and disarming way. The loose plot, between clever and quirky original songs, is that Plucky is a bit of a loner, who wants to find people to be in a band with her. She calls her favorite radio DJ on her vintage phone, whom she listens to on the vintage radio sitting on the vintage side table, only to be told to "not quit her day job." So she finds a book with "six easy steps to start a band," which she does, to unexpected effect. The lesson she learns in the end, culminating in the finale singalong, inspired me to buy my first button of the festival. Because it's true, nobody really knows what they're doing in life, but it's better with music and laughter and friends. This is a clever show by an artist who doesn't take herself too seriously, but is seriously talented, with some gentle audience participation and fun prop work.