"Family Dinner" streaming live on YouTube every Saturday from Huge Theater

Everyone's favorite improvised holiday* show returns this year! But instead of parodying that awkward in-person holiday dinner with family and/or friends, this year Family Dinner is parodying that awkward holiday zoom call with family and/or friends - what could be more perfect for 2020?! A new dinner is streaming on Huge Theater's YouTube page for the next three Saturdays at 8pm. I watched it last Saturday night (bonus: if you're a morning person like me you can watch it in bed and not have to worry about staying up past your bedtime) and it's just as hilariously awkward as always. The show is free to watch, no need for tickets or reservations, but if you watch it please do consider donating $10 or $15 or more to support these artists through this extended intermission.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2020: "OMG!"

Location: Digital Hub Live

Length: 50 minutes

Title: OMG!

By: Taj Ruler and Emily Schmidt

Summary: A couple of people read actual journal entries from their childhood, followed by improvised scenes related to them.

Highlights: I watched the August 4 episode, with journalers Suzie Juul and Cristi Runpza, and improvisers Rita Boersma, Casey Haeg, Joy Dolo, Sarah TL (per zoom, didn't catch her name). Suzie and Cristi read about the typical childhood drama of boys, secret clubs, and friends on vacation. The improvisers then riffed on those ideas with funny and wacky results. It's horrifying, nostalgic, and hilarious to remember being that young. Each night features a different cast, hosted by Taj and Emily, with future live shows on August 6, 8, and 9 at 7pm. You can also watch all past shows on Emily's YouTube channel, with any donations going to different non-profits.

Read all of my Nightly Fringe mini-reviews here.

Read all of my Digital Hub mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "Lakes 4"

Day: 5

Show: 19

Title: Lakes 4

Category: Comedy

By: Schmidtshow Productions

Written by: Emily Schmidt

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: In a play on the movie Oceans 8, half as many women from the land of 10,000 lakes plan a heist: to steal the cherry from the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry statue.

Highlights: This show wins the prize for most Minnesota references per minute. It's not the Fringe if you don't see at least one show that loving mocks Target, Perkins, traffic, and everything else we love (or hate) about our fair state. Emily Schmidt's clever and funny script delivers on that front, as well as creating a fun and fringey show. Suburban wife and mom Bridget (Samantha Baker Harris, who also directs) feels like she's lost that sense of adventure from her youth, and is bored sitting around the house with husband Dan (David Kappelhoff) all the time, so she decides to pull a heist just to prove that she can. She enlists her friend Grace (Jen Scott), their fitness coach Cheryl (Maureen Tubbs), and her friend Pam (Casey Haeg), an ace LuLaRoe saleswoman. They meet at Perkins to plan the heist, where waiter Jaden (ball of energy Aaron Vanek) overhears them and wants in. Of course the plans go awry, but the point is that Bridget rediscovers her inner spirit and sense of adventure. The cast is fantastic, the jokes are fast and funny, and the star of the show is the Cherry and Spoon. How could I not love it?!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Couple Fight II: Friends and Family"

Day: 6

Show: 28

Title: Couple Fight II: Friends and Family

Category: Comedy

By: Weggel-Reed Productions

Created by: Anna Weggel-Reed

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A return of last year's hilarious Couple Fight, with all new real-life fights between funny people who love each other.

Highlights: This is another simple premise that works. Fringe favorites reenact a real-life fight they had with a loved one - spouse, parent, friend, sister. Created by Anna Weggel-Reed, directed by Tom Reed, and written by the cast, it's the first Fringe show that brought me to tears of laughter. Sisters Angie Martin and Casey Haeg fight about nothing and everything, the way sisters do. Improv buddies Andy Hilbrands and Katy Kessler fight about (what else) the election. Lacey Zeiler fights with her 3-year-old daughter Lila (hilariously played by her husband John Zeiler) about bedtime. Married couple Rachael Davies and Andy Kraft fight about football, and who's more of a man. BFFs Sulia Altenberg and BriAnna M. Daniels fight about race (awkward!). Friends Anna Weggel-Reed and Richie McLarn fight about smoking on the U of M campus. And last but perhaps best, Emily Schmidt and her mother Pat reenact a scene at Target when Emily was a precocious 7-year-old. It's nicely put together with intro and ending scenes that include a snippet of all fights, and each scene is introduced like a boxing match (perfect for the in-the-round setting). And then little Lila shows up for the curtain call and steals the show.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Snow Country"

Day: 2

Show: 7

Title: Snow Country

Category: Comedy

By: Minnehaha Productions

Written by: Carmen Angelica and Emily Schmidt

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A flight from Minneapolis to Lansing on the (fictional but I wish it existed) Snow Country Airlines - "you can travel without leaving home."

Highlights: Madeline (Casey Haeg) needs a new start after her fiance leaves her, so she takes a job as a "comfort consultant" on Snow Country Airlines. We witness her first flight as she meets her new coworkers - flight attendants flirty Trudy (Shanan Custer), stern Gretchen (Heather Meyer), and mentor Carol (Maureen Tubbs), and the bromance pilots (Tom Winner and Eric Webster). Madeline learns to "be the underwire" and stand firm with problem passengers. That's about all that happens, but the entire cast is fantastically funny, there are plenty of local references, and airline travel is so accurately represented it almost made me nauseous. This is a cute, fun, and entertaining show written by and starring a bunch of funny women (and a few men).