Minnesota Fringe Festival 2021: "Campsite"

Day: 5

Show: 13

Performance Type: In Person

Location: Boom Island Park (outdoors)

Length: 40 minutes

Title: Campsite

By: Lady Z Productions

Summary: Four friends, old and new, go on a camping trip.

Highlights: Boom Island Park is a gorgeous location that's perfectly fitting for this story that takes place in a campsite in a park. They perform in a shelter with a fireplace in the middle (unlit, because summer heat), and it's easy to imagine that this is the place where lifelong BFFs Terry (Colin Healey) and Jimmy (Maureen L. Bourgeois, who also created and directed the piece) are camping with their friend Allison (Leah Indrelie) and new friend/set-up Debby (Sarah Catcher). Not a whole lot happens in the show, there's a lot of talk about setting up campsites, tomorrow's plans, and what a great guy Terry is. Turns out Jimmy and Allison are conspiring to set their almost-40 friend up with Debby, which makes for a lot of awkwardly sweet moments. The storytelling feels very casual and naturalistic, almost improvised at times, with multiple conversations occasionally going on at once. It's a sweet little inconsequential story about friends, and the free snacks are great!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "The Story of You and Me"

Day: 1

Show: 2

Title: The Story of You and Me

Category: Drama

By: Lady Z Productions

Created by: Maureen L. Bourgeois

Location: SpringHouse Ministry Center

Summary: A site-specific story of a relationship, in which we literally and emotionally journey with Vincent and Juliana from childhood friendship, through teenage courtship, and on to the challenges of marriage and parenthood.

Highlights: Four different actors play Juliana, and three play Vincent, as they age from children (the charming youngsters Kiera Burke, William Rubesch, and Elizabeth Rubesch), to teenagers (Rachel Chevremont and George Petermeir), to adults (Bailey J. Hess and Aaron Henry). At times the older version of Juliana or Vincent is watching their younger selves and commenting, almost like a memory play. We follow the play to different locations within the SpringHouse Ministry Center, although mostly in one room (with tall ceilings that create echoing sounds, which makes hearing the dialogue difficult at times), with one scene in a second room. I would have liked to see more use of the space available than just these two rooms, and there were some logistical challenges in the first performance (the audience wasn't quite sure what to do at times) that will likely be worked out as they gain more experience with the piece. The play is strongest when it focuses on the relationship between Juliana and Vincent, which is compelling and feels real.