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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 10

Show: 38

Title: Foshay! You Know The Tower - Now Hear The Story

Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Historical content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

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 10

Show: 37

Title: FAST Death of a Salesman

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Leave Room for Jesus"

Day: 10

Show: 34

Title: Leave Room for Jesus

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 9

Show: 33

Title: The Importance of Being Eternal

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 9

Show: 32

Title: Who We Are: Stories from the Surge

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Too Fat To Run"

Day: 9

Show: 31

Title: Too Fat To Run

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!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 9

Show: 30

Title: Too Much of a Good Thing

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Is That Why?"

Day: 9

Show: 29

Title: Is That Why?

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

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

Day: 8

Show: 28

Title: 1 Hour Left to Live: A One Puppet Show by That Felt Good

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.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.