"The Lady Demands Satisfaction" by [un]qualified theatre at University Baptist Church

Another new #TCTheater born out of the Minnesota Fringe Festival continues to make great work outside of Fringe. [un]qualified theatre's super fun and playful adaptation of The Invisible Man was one of my favorite shows of 2023. Now they're bringing that playful silly vibe to the play The Lady Demands Satisfaction. This 18th Century farce was written in this century, so it feels both period and modern. Co-Artistic Directors Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan and Kiko Laureano serve as director and associate director, respectively, and have made a fun scrappy little show, performed in a church basement. They read this play during the pandemic and wondered why no one was doing it here, so they decided to do it themselves. That's the great thing about this theater community, that a group of young artists can put on a show with a much lower budget but just as much entertainment value as the big theaters in town. Unfortunately this is a super short run, with only two performances remaining at University Baptist Church in Dinkytown (go early to navigate construction, traffic, crowds, and parking).

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Playing Dead"

Day: 5

Show: 16

Title: Playing Dead

Category: Comedy

By: Kari Heistad

Written by: Kari Heistad

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A woman and her two daughters gather to prepare for her mother's funeral, when one of the daughters seems to be possessed by the dead woman's spirit.

Highlights: Grief does strange things to people. In this family dramedy, it makes a granddaughter pretend to be possessed by her recently deceased grandmother's spirit. Or maybe she really is possessed, or maybe she's having a nervous breakdown, or maybe she's just an eccentric actor (she also occasionally channels Lady Macbeth). Either way, the play explores mother/daughter and sister/sister relationships in a funny, real, and relatable way. The three women tell stories, bicker, and make up after a health scare. Written and directed by Kari Heistad, the talented three-person cast feels like a real family, with all the love and frustration that comes with it. #TCTheater veteran Meri Golden (you can see her play the title role in Theatre in the Round's King Lear this fall) is wonderful as the family matriarch, Laura Carlson is a hoot as the eccentric daughter and her grandmother, and Natosha Guldan is convincing as the serious stable daughter who feels like she's taken for granted. With more set pieces than usual at a fringe show, we feel like we're in this homey living room for all the fun family dysfunction.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.