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: "I Will Become The Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You."

Day: 8

Show: 27

Title: I Will Become The Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You.

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!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "The Temporary Tattoo Trio"

Day: 3

Show: 11

Title: The Temporary Tattoo Trio

Category: Comedy / Drama / Audience participation

By: an alleged Theatre Company

Written by: Jake Mierva & Danylo Loutchko

Location: Rarig Arena

Summary: Three best friends named Tyler have a temporary tattoo business, and things start to go awry when secrets are revealed.

Highlights: This is a simple premise that is brilliantly executed. We're just watching three friends put temporary tattoos on people for an hour while they talk about their friendship. If this sounds boring, it's not, it's very funny and engaging. The three Tylers (Danylo Loutchko, Jake Mierva, and J. McIntyre Godwin) are so committed to the bit that it feels like we're eavesdropping on one long conversation between actual friends. And all the while, they are actually applying temporary tattoos to audience members' arms, while continuing their conversation. Or even better, we sit in awkward silence while they fume and apply tattoos. And the Rarig Arena is the perfect (perhaps only) venue for this; the performance space becomes the entire theater into the rows of audience on either side of the stage, the Tylers sometimes taking a seat while they hold a wet washcloth on someone's arm for several minutes. Things get even more complicated with the arrival of the Tylers' friend Taylor (Sarah Halverson), their favorite lifeguard from their favorite place on earth - Wisconsin Dells. Will these secrets break up this bromance trio? We never really find out, but maybe friendships have to grow and evolve as we age, maybe we can't be applying temporary tattoos and going to Wisconsin Dells together forever. But it sure was fun while it lasted.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2021: "Open Your Eyes, Be Bully-wise!: An Anti-Bullying Spectacular"

Day: 4

Show: 9

Performance Type: In Person

Location: Phoenix Theater (indoors, masks required)

Length: 60 minutes

Title: Open Your Eyes, Be Bully-wise!

By: An Alleged Theatre Company 

Summary: An edutainment show about bullying, how to recognize it, and why you shouldn't be a bully.

Highlights: This is a ridiculous show, in the best way. Creators Jake Mierva, J. McIntyre Godwin, and Danylo Loutchko play characters with their same name, but hopefully are nothing like them. The show opens with a hilarious parody of YMCA, like an anti-bullying PSA. They then proceed to educate the audience about bullying, all while Jake and Mc are subtly, and then not so subtly, bullying Danylo. There is audience participation in the form of questions for the audience, confessions to Santa, and a beach ball Q&A about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are skits and ads for their sponsor HERTZ, which they transform into a handy acronym about bullying, and more songs. It's a lot of silly fun, with the performers fully committing to the concept and these over-the-top characters (smoothly responding to audience prompts), culminating in an important lesson learned by all.     

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.