Show: 5
Title: Witness Loudly
Category: Drama / Solo Show / Spoken Word / Storytelling / Historical content / Political content
By: Kind Fool Theater
Created by: Kyle B. Dekker
Location: Strike Theater
Summary: A solo show about one person's experience as a neighborhood witness during Operation Metro Surge.
Highlights: Kyle Dekker is a "goddamn American hero." Not because he served in the Marines (which he joked was mostly a desk job), but because he was one of thousands of Minnesotans who took to the streets, armed with a whistle and a cell phone, when our cities were overrun by armed federal agents terrorizing neighborhoods. It's hard to believe Operation Metro Surge was six months ago, at times it feels like a bad dream, but it changed us forever, and inspired at least three Minnesota Fringe shows this year. And as Kyle explains in his show, terrorization of American citizens and legal residents by ICE has not ended, not here and definitely not around the country, it's just changed forms and become less ever-present. Kyle talks about joining his neighborhood watch group last December under the apt code name "Ginger Mountain," connected via Signal chat, and as someone who watched from the suburbs, it's fascinating to hear the about the organization that went into these groups, all over the cities, connecting strangers, creating community, protecting neighbors. Using his own photos and videos captured during that time, screen captures of social media and news stories, as well as recreation of live chats (with recorded audio of voice actors Derek Lee Miller, Allison Vincent, Jennifer D'Lynn, Quincy Anderson, and Jei Herald-Zamora), he puts us right in the middle of the action, and it's at times terrifying. But the show is also hopeful, proving that one person, when joined with others, can make a difference. The show is a little unpolished, with some technical difficulties on opening night, but it's raw and real and affecting, an excellent chronicle of that time in our community, when the world discovered just how strong Minnesotans are. And we have Kyle, and many others like him, to thank for that. He's donating all proceeds from the show to Indigenous Roots, a "community arts and activism hub" in his East Side St. Paul neighborhood (you can donate here).
