Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "This"

Day: 8

Show: 26

Title: This

Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Storytelling

By: Tim Uren

Created by: Tim Uren

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A solo storytelling show about life in the theater and comedy world.

Highlights: I found this show to be surprisingly lovely. It's fun to get insight into the world of an artist (it's not as glamorous as it appears), but even if you're not an artist, the show is full of relevant material about life: anxiety, addiction, relationships, careers, memories vs. experiences, existential dread. Tim has constructed the show as a series of chapters, walking us more or less chronologically through his life, in a very personable and engaging way. From his hit comedy show Look Ma No Pants in the shadow of the Scrimshaw brothers, to being fired from his dream job at Brave New Workshop, to designing board games (which, honestly, I didn't really get, not being a game person of the video or board variety). It's really about his love of theater, and our love of theater, and being present together in the same room in the very special way that theater requires. The title comes from the first word Tim spoke as a child, when he didn't know what he wanted, just "this" or "this" or "this." But he comes around to discovering that this, here, now, is the only thing we have. Tim's final show is this Sunday, and you can also see him with his theater company Ghoulish Delights or as a part of The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society which performs regularly at Crooners, information about both can be found here.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"Bonehouse / Outsider" by Ghoulish Delights at The Crane Theater Studio

And now for something a little spookier, Ghoulish Delights is presenting a pair of short plays about two lonely individuals who are trying to escape. But don't worry, this isn't Twin Cities Horror Festival (although it is in the same venue - The Crane Theater's intimate studio space), so there isn't any blood or gore. But there is well-crafted storytelling, like a ghost story you'd tell around a campfire, that'll send chills up your spine. At just about an hour runtime, and a 7pm start time, stop by the Crane for some chills and thrills before going about your evening plans. If you can shake it; these two pieces cast a dark and contemplative spell that's a little hard to shake when you escape out into the still light evening, which these two protagonists were unable to do. Bonehouse / Outsider plays Thursdays through Saturdays until May 25, which a post-show discussion with the playwright of Bonehouse after the May 24 performance.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "5 Prisoners"

Day: 10

Show: 38

Title: 5 Prisoners

Category: DRAMA / HORROR / SCI-FI

By: Ghoulish Delights

Written by: Pat Harrigan, John Heimbuch, Ariel Pinkerton, Tim Uren, and Duck Washington

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: Five short stories about prisoners that are either weird, funny, or terrifying, or some combination thereof.

Highlights: This was a fun show because each piece was just about 10 minutes long, performed by the same ensemble cast (Tim Uren, Duck Washington, Ariel Pinkerton, Boo Segersin, and Gregory Parks). Prisoner could be literal or figurative in the stories. In a historical piece, a woman is arrested for performing male roles in theater. In a horror piece, a woman donating plasma is inducted into a cult. There's a sci-fi piece in which a man is turned into a random number generator, a dark and disturbing piece about torture, and a fantasy piece about an astronaut captured by aliens. The five pieces vary in tone, cleverly utilize the same few set pieces, and allow us to watch actors playing different characters in the space of an hour. Well-acted, well-written, and an interesting concept - the mini-anthology.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"The Tourist Trap" by Ghoulish Delights at the Crane Theater

If you're excited about the Twin Cities Horror Festival, which just announced the lineup for its 12th season this October, you might want to check out The Tourist Trap at The Crane Theater (which will also host TCHF). Ghoulish Delights is remounting their 2014 Minnesota Fringe Festival hit (which I didn't see), and it feels very much like an appetizer for the 11 days of onstage horror that is TCHF. Frequent readers of this blog may recall that horror isn't my favorite genre, so some of the blood and violence was a bit much for me, but what I do love is this talented cast, the creepily effective storytelling of this show, and the exploration of small town life and our obsession with cults and serial killers. If you're looking for a little fantastical horror to take your mind off the very real scary things in our world, The Tourist Trap is the show for you (continuing through May 20).

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "The Screaming Skull"

Day: 8

Show: 30

Title: The Screaming Skull

Category: Drama / Horror / Literary Adaptation

By: Ghoulish Delights

Directed by: Tim Uren

Location: Rarig Center Thrust

Summary: An adaptation of the 1908 short story "The Screaming Skull" by Francis Mario Crawford, in which a sailor is haunted by, well, a skull that screams.

Highlights: Directed and adapted by Tim Uren, Eric Webster plays the role of the sailor, having a conversation with a friend (whom we don't see). He begins by very calmly and matter of factly telling the story of the previous owners of the house where he now lives, a doctor and his wife, both now deceased. The doctor was found dead on the beach holding a skull, which the sailor suspects is the skull of his wife whom he possibly killed. The skull occasionally screams, as such things do, but the sailor seems to have it under control, no longer sleeping in the bedroom where the skull resides. But he becomes more and more unhinged as the night wears on and he continues to drink. This play is super creepy and will send chills down your spine, thanks to the most horrifying scream you've ever heard, provided by Katharine Glover, part of the live sound effects team including Tim Uren and Shanan Custer (filling in for Joshau English Scrimshaw) who also create other creepy sounds of an old house by the sea at night during a storm. Eric gives a very convincing and terrifying performance, which combined with the sound and lighting effects (see trigger warning below), create some deliciously spine-chilling storytelling.

Trigger warning: the flashing lights to simulate a fire are similar to strobe lights, especially when all other lights are turned out. I spent the last 20 minutes with my hands over my eyes peaking through my fingers. If you're a person prone to migraines or sensitive to flashing lights, you should think twice about seeing this play.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Prescription: Murder" by Ghoulish Delights at the Phoenix Theater

Lieutenant Columbo, as personified by Peter Falk, is one of the best TV detectives of all time. The original series ran for seven season in the 1970s, two more in the late '80s, with specials continuing through 2003. Columbo, with his trench coat and cigar and "just one more thing," is a TV icon. But did you know that this detective series actually started as a play (as most good things do)? The creators of the TV show, William Link and Richard Levinson, first wrote a play about the disheveled detective who always gets his man, a play that was then turned into a TV movie that became the pilot for the long-running series. And the rest is history. Now, thanks to Ghoulish Delights, you have a chance to revisit that history and see Columbo's origins on stage at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown: a must see for Columbo fans and fans of retro thrillers.