"Family Dinner" and "The Mess" at HUGE Theater

Have you heard the news? HUGE Theater has moved into a new space, and not only that - they own it! For more about the significance of an artist-led organization owning their own performance space, listen to Episode 2.7 of the Twin Cities Theater Chat podcast, in which we interview Executive Director Butch Roy. For a virtual tour of the new space, including classrooms and behind the scenes, watch this YouTube video in which John Gebretatose, Director of Diversity & Inclusion, shows bloggers Kendra from Artfully Engaging and Rob from The Stages of MN around the space. Or better yet - go visit HUGE in person! They've moved just a few blocks north on Lyndale and across the street (tip: plenty of free street parking on Aldrich, one block west of Lyndale). The new HUGE feels more spacious - from the lobby to the performance space, with more improvements coming soon, including a bar and risers to improve sightlines in the audience. HUGE currently has shows Wednesdays through Saturdays, with three-show line-ups on Fridays and Saturdays. I made my first visit to the new HUGE last night to see my all-time favorite improv show Family Dinner, which continues every Saturday through the end of the year. See the full schedule here and make your plans to see some improv this holiday* season.

"Family Dinner" and "The Mess" at HUGE Improv Theater

Family Dinner is my favorite show at HUGE Improv Theater in Uptown. It comes around this time every year, with shows on Fridays and Saturdays all through November and December, most of which sell out. Now in their eighth year at HUGE, it's basically the Guthrie's A Christmas Carol (as creator Molly Ritchie said). I attended with my Twin Cities Theater Blogger friends old (Minnesota Theater Love, Twin Cities Stages, Bite-Sized Beet) and new (The Stages of MN, The Global Dig, and Millennial in the Mezzanine), and a good time was had by all. HUGE is a great option for a fun outing this time of year, or any time of year. Buy tickets for one show only, or save on a two- or three-show pass. And you will want to get your Family Dinner tickets in advance - they will sell out.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "Lakes 4"

Day: 5

Show: 19

Title: Lakes 4

Category: Comedy

By: Schmidtshow Productions

Written by: Emily Schmidt

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: In a play on the movie Oceans 8, half as many women from the land of 10,000 lakes plan a heist: to steal the cherry from the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry statue.

Highlights: This show wins the prize for most Minnesota references per minute. It's not the Fringe if you don't see at least one show that loving mocks Target, Perkins, traffic, and everything else we love (or hate) about our fair state. Emily Schmidt's clever and funny script delivers on that front, as well as creating a fun and fringey show. Suburban wife and mom Bridget (Samantha Baker Harris, who also directs) feels like she's lost that sense of adventure from her youth, and is bored sitting around the house with husband Dan (David Kappelhoff) all the time, so she decides to pull a heist just to prove that she can. She enlists her friend Grace (Jen Scott), their fitness coach Cheryl (Maureen Tubbs), and her friend Pam (Casey Haeg), an ace LuLaRoe saleswoman. They meet at Perkins to plan the heist, where waiter Jaden (ball of energy Aaron Vanek) overhears them and wants in. Of course the plans go awry, but the point is that Bridget rediscovers her inner spirit and sense of adventure. The cast is fantastic, the jokes are fast and funny, and the star of the show is the Cherry and Spoon. How could I not love it?!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Snow Country"

Day: 2

Show: 7

Title: Snow Country

Category: Comedy

By: Minnehaha Productions

Written by: Carmen Angelica and Emily Schmidt

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A flight from Minneapolis to Lansing on the (fictional but I wish it existed) Snow Country Airlines - "you can travel without leaving home."

Highlights: Madeline (Casey Haeg) needs a new start after her fiance leaves her, so she takes a job as a "comfort consultant" on Snow Country Airlines. We witness her first flight as she meets her new coworkers - flight attendants flirty Trudy (Shanan Custer), stern Gretchen (Heather Meyer), and mentor Carol (Maureen Tubbs), and the bromance pilots (Tom Winner and Eric Webster). Madeline learns to "be the underwire" and stand firm with problem passengers. That's about all that happens, but the entire cast is fantastically funny, there are plenty of local references, and airline travel is so accurately represented it almost made me nauseous. This is a cute, fun, and entertaining show written by and starring a bunch of funny women (and a few men).

Fringe Festival 2015: "The Mrs."

Day: 9

Show: 39

Title: The Mrs.

Category: Comedy

By: Schmidtshow Productions

Written by: Emily Schmidt

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A new reality show called PolyGIMME A Break features four very different women married to the same man, who mysteriously goes missing.

Highlights: I really enjoyed this show that centered on these four fabulous women - Samantha Baker Harris (as the new wife), Rita Boersma (the child-bearing wife), Shanan Custer (the working wife), and Maureen Tubbs (the first wife). Polygamy is something that's so foreign to most of us, it's ripe for comedy, and Emily Schmidt's script delivers. When the husband (Nate Morse), the center of their spokes, disappears, the truth comes out about who these women are, why they chose to enter this family, and what they want in life. Not only is it funny, but it's touching too, and I found myself empathizing with these very different women and wanting things to work out for them. On a related note, I think I need to watch Big Love again.