"Preferred by Discreet Women Everywhere" by Freshwater Theatre at the Crane Theater

This fall, Freshwater Theatre is featuring new work by women artists, and they couldn't have picked a better time. In rep with a short play festival called "The Feminine Surcharge," they're presenting a collection of three short plays set in a women's bathroom. A place where many of us spend a considerable amount of time. While my visits to the restroom are usually less dramatic than these, it certainly is a place for drama, for strangers coming together, for friends having intimate conversations, for women hiding from undesirable people or events outside the bathroom door (true confession: I've been known to spend a longer time than necessary in the bathroom when events are awkward or boring or uncomfortable). Ruth Virkus' three plays under the title Preferred by Discreet Women Everywhere explore these ideas. The result is funny and real and poignant, and feminist. An all-female cast and creative team shouldn't be as rare and novel as it is, but you can witness it now through October 28 at the Crane Theater in Northeast Minneapolis.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Couple Fight II: Friends and Family"

Day: 6

Show: 28

Title: Couple Fight II: Friends and Family

Category: Comedy

By: Weggel-Reed Productions

Created by: Anna Weggel-Reed

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A return of last year's hilarious Couple Fight, with all new real-life fights between funny people who love each other.

Highlights: This is another simple premise that works. Fringe favorites reenact a real-life fight they had with a loved one - spouse, parent, friend, sister. Created by Anna Weggel-Reed, directed by Tom Reed, and written by the cast, it's the first Fringe show that brought me to tears of laughter. Sisters Angie Martin and Casey Haeg fight about nothing and everything, the way sisters do. Improv buddies Andy Hilbrands and Katy Kessler fight about (what else) the election. Lacey Zeiler fights with her 3-year-old daughter Lila (hilariously played by her husband John Zeiler) about bedtime. Married couple Rachael Davies and Andy Kraft fight about football, and who's more of a man. BFFs Sulia Altenberg and BriAnna M. Daniels fight about race (awkward!). Friends Anna Weggel-Reed and Richie McLarn fight about smoking on the U of M campus. And last but perhaps best, Emily Schmidt and her mother Pat reenact a scene at Target when Emily was a precocious 7-year-old. It's nicely put together with intro and ending scenes that include a snippet of all fights, and each scene is introduced like a boxing match (perfect for the in-the-round setting). And then little Lila shows up for the curtain call and steals the show.

Fringe Festival 2015: "Couple Fight"

Day: 9

Show: 43

Title: Couple Fight

Category: Comedy

By: Weggel-Reed Productions

Created by: Anna Weggel-Reed and Tom Reed

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: Six funny real-life couples reenact a funny real-life fight.

Highlights: What happens when two funny people get married, and then they fight? Judging by Couple Fight, it's hilarious, at least it is to those of us watching, and probably also to the couple once they move beyond the moment. Such is the simple premise of this show that features five married couples and one pair of BFFs. John and Lacey Zeiler fight about him faking a stroke in Vegas to help him win at poker, and not telling her about it beforehand so she could play along. On one of their first dates, Maggie and Marissa Sotos argue about whether a book is a hamburger or a hot dog (first of all, it's a book, second of all, it's obviously a hot dog). Emily Schmidt and Maureen Tubbs' disagreement about the rules of Pictionary turn a fun girls' night into a dramatic scene (I'm with Maureen on this one, you gotta have rules). Laura Zabel and Levi Weinhagen fight about whether Laura's suggestion for a sketch is funny (for the record - it is!). Lizzie Gardner gets mad at Bobby when he farts in the middle of a deep conversation. And finally, Anna Weggel-Reed gets upset that husband Tom (played convincingly by Adam Hummel because Tom was too busy directing) doesn't properly celebrate her on her birthday. The rest of us non-comedians only wish we could fight this funny!

Fringe Festival: "Mainly Me Productions' Our American Assassin; Or You Can't Handle the Booth"

Day: 3

Show: 9

Title: Mainly Me Productions' Our American Assassin; Or You Can't Handle the Booth

Category: Comedy

By: Malcolm & Jorge

Written by: Josh Carson

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A comedy about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as told from the perspective of the actors in the play he was attending when he was shot, and their attempts to bring the assassin - a fellow actor! - to justice.

Highlights: Bottom line - this show is hilarious and you will laugh much and often. It's extremely tongue-in-cheek, with lots of jokes about actors and the theater profession. The show moves at such madcap speed that I'm certain I missed some of the jokes, and didn't quite follow all of the plot points. But don't think too hard, just go along for the ride, it's great fun. The cast is excellent, starting with the trio of actors - Josh Carson (who also wrote and directs the piece) as the not-so-humble actor, Shanan Custer as an actress at the end of her career who takes on one last great role, and Andy Kraft as the aspiring actor who impersonates Booth. Also great are John Zeiler as the theater owner's brother and several other characters, in a multitude of accents, and Lacey Zeiler playing such distinct characters that it's hard to believe they're played by the same person. Smart, clever, funny, with wonderfully exaggerated performances and physical gags, this is a fun one.