Fringe Festival 2016: "Lazy Eyed Geek"

Day: 10

Show: 47

Title: Lazy Eyed Geek

Category: Drama

By: The Theatre Cosmic

Created by: Brandon Taitt

Location: Strike Theater

Summary: A solo storytelling show by a man born with one blind and "lazy" eye and a love of Star Trek.

Highlights: Perhaps what the Fringe does best is give artists a platform on which to tell their story. In this case the artist is Brandon Taitt, who tells his story with honesty and without artifice. From being born to a teenage mother, his multiple surgeries that failed to correct the strabismus he was born with (a word that reminds me of that line from Spelling Bee, another example of popular culture's unfairly comic portrayal of people with a lazy eye), his many problems with bullies in school, the comfort he found in the world of Star Trek and Spock in particular, the death of his grandmother, and through adulthood and the birth of his own perfectly healthy child. Lazy Eyed Geek is funny, relatable to anyone who's ever felt like an outsider, with a full circle ending of healing.

Fringe Festival 2016: "The Gun Show"

Day: 10

Show: 42

Title: The Gun Show

Category: Drama

By: IDIC Theatre Works

Directed by: Kevin T. Houle 

Location: Strike Theater

Summary: A series of stories about guns, and a plea for more conversations in the middle.

Highlights: Playwright E.M. Lewis speaks very plainly, directly, and conversationally about her experiences with guns, both the good and the bad. Growing up in rural Oregon, her family always had guns and she herself learned to shoot from her soon-to-be husband. She also tells a story about when she was held up at gunpoint while working in a book store, as well as a personally devastating experience that forever changed her life. "She" is played by Aaron Konigsmark, who, even though he's telling someone else's story, imbues the stories with emotion and humor. There are some statistics, visual aids in the form of political cartoons, and framed family photos and memorabilia packed away in a cardboard box. It's a powerfully written play, well executed by the cast and creative team, one that hopes to start a real conversation that isn't just two opposing sides yelling at each other, a conversation to work towards our common goal of ending gun violence. (The creators recommend Everytown For Gun Safety as a resource.)