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

Day: 4

Show: 14

Title: A Confluence of Magical Arseholes

Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Original Music / Historical content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 2022: "Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You"

Day: 4

Show: 15

Title: Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You

Category: DRAMA / HORROR / ORIGINAL MUSIC / PHYSICAL THEATER / HISTORICAL CONTENT

By: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Created by: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A beautifully haunting and hauntingly beautiful tale of a young girl in Sweden and her encounters with the supernatural.

Highlights: Over the last several years, The Winding Sheet Outfit has become my number one Minnesota Fringe company, and this show is a prime example why. No matter the (usually historical) topic they choose, the show is always beautifully and thoughtfully designed, scripted, and performed, in a way that casts an absolute spell over the audience. Here we have the story of Lajla (a childlike and empathetic Kayla Dvorak Feld), who loses all of her family in a plague and has to move in with the pastor and his wife. She misses her family desperately, and is accompanied by the spirit of a deceased friend (the always delightful Boo Segersin), thereby keeping a connection with the other side. The Årsgång in the title refers to a legendary Swedish practice of seeing the future by going for a walk in the woods on the longest night of the year, which Lajla experiences as she tries to straddle both worlds. The cast (also including Matthew Kessen, Derek Lee Miller, Kristina Fjellman, and Megan Campbell Lagas) earnestly and believably brings this story to life, both as humans and animals. The story is accompanied by lovely music played live by Amber Bjork and Joshua Swantz, mostly off stage but still a vital part of the show. The only set pieces in the intimate in-the-round space (TRP has become my favorite Fringe venue) are slender bare birch trees, and animal half-masks made of birch or some other natural material (both designed by Derek Lee Miller), and cast is dressed in simple period appropriate clothing of muted colors. All elements of this piece come together with such beauty, grace, and purpose to tell a cohesive and compelling story. I would love to see them remount this show in December as it definitely evokes that still winter feeling. Leaving the spell of this show to walk out into a cold, crisp, dark winter's eve would be a thrilling experience. Until then we'll just have to imagine the snow and the cold.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "Blood Nocturne"

Day: 10

Show: 36

Title: Blood Nocturne

Category: Drama / Horror / Musical Theater

By: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Written by: The Winding Sheet Outfit

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A retelling of the history/legend of Erzsébet Báthory, a Hungarian countess accused of murdering dozens (or even hundreds) of young women and girls in the early 17th Century.

Highlights: I had never heard of Erzsébet, but a quick read of her Wikepedia page reveals a horrifying tale of torture, mutilation, and murder. The Winding Sheet Outfit tells us Erzsébet's story from her point of view, as a powerful woman manipulated and falsely accused, although perhaps not totally innocent. The ensemble tells the story in a non-linear fashion, with charming and creepy original music. They often break the fourth wall, calling each other by their actual name when someone goes too far or suggests something not in line with the story they're telling. This device puts the audience at ease and reminds us it's just one interpretation of a story that can never fully be known. But it's a story that has much to tell us about gender, power, justice, and violence. Emily Dussault gives a strong and empathetic performance as Erzsébet, while the rest of the talented ensemble (Amber Bjork, Boo Segersin, Derek Lee Miller, Joshua Swantz, and Kayla Dvorak) play her helpers, friends, enemies, and alleged victims. Dressed in period clothing and playing period instruments, they work well together as an ensemble, using movement, music, and physical theater to create the world of Erzsébet against the perfect background of the Southern Theater. After seeing the play I'm not sure what to think about Erzsébet, but I know the situation is a little more nuanced and complex than what history usually describes.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.