Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "A Woman's Place is in the House"

Day: 6

Show: 22

Title: A Woman's Place is in the House

Category: Comedy / Spoken Word / Storytelling / Audience participation / Historical content / Political content

By: David Alan Berger

Written by: David Alan Berger

Location: Rarig Kilburn Arena

Summary: The first four women elected to Minnesota's House of Representatives time travel to the present to give us hope in these uncertain times.

Highlights: This was an appropriate show to see the day after Minnesota's primary election, which resulted in two female candidates for Senate and the two female candidates for Governor, meaning that Minnesota will soon have its first female Governor, and it's about time! It all started in 1922, just two years after women finally got the right to vote, when four women were elected to Minnesota's House. This play starts in 1923 when they're arriving to start their jobs - the young and slightly boy crazy union organizer Myrtle Agnes Caine (Olivia Dubiel), realtor Sue Metzger Dickey Hough (Amber Payne), farmer and teacher Hannah Jensen Kempfer (Rachel Ratkowski), and businesswoman Mabeth Hurd Paige (Megan Rowe). They're visited by a time traveler from our times (Ann Frances Gregg), who explains the dire situation we're currently living in, and invites them to travel with her back to the future, to inspire people in a rally just when we need it most. And they do just that, finding humor and camaraderie along the way. But the most inspiring part of the rally-within-the-play are the speeches by the guest stars - real female members of today's Minnesota House of Representatives, the enduring legacy of these four pioneers. The play is a little pedantic and on-the-nose, the effect of the women's visit a little too rosy, but I'm OK with that. In the end it's inspiring and educational, and like Aaron Sorkin's West Wing or The Newsroom, sometimes we need stories that are aspirational in a time when reality is stark. This play provides hope that a better future is in store if we work for it, a future in which women are in the House, and the Senate, and the Governor's office, and the White House.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Funny, Like an Abortion"

Day: 6

Show: 24

Title: Funny, Like an Abortion

Category: COMEDY / DRAMA / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: EnCompass Theatre

Written by: Rachel Bublitz

Location: Rarig Arena

Summary: In a dystopian world where even talking about an abortion can get you thrown in jail, two friends have a party to plan a do-it-yourself abortion.

Highlights: Unfortunately, this dystopian world isn't that far from our own. Maybe not here in Minnesota, where our constitution protects a woman's right to choose, but in many places around the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned. This show is disguised as a comedy, and a funny and entertaining one at that, but it's dealing with some very real and scary issues. Performers Olivia Dubiel and Stephanie Kahle believably play best friends, and when one of them gets pregnant (birth control is also difficult if not impossible to get), she invites the other over for a surprise abortion party. She has a few dozen gift bags, with a home abortion remedy in each (note: the performers make a point to say multiple times - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!). Each solution is worse than the last, as they contemplate various herbs and medications, as well as going to other countries. The two friends are in different places economically, and that is brought up as a very real factor in getting the care one needs. We never find out what happens to these two women; the performers break out of the story at the conclusion to recite some terrifying facts and stories about things that are happening around the country regarding laws, lawsuits, and personal experiences, sometimes just a few days ago. In times of turmoil, I always look to the artists to show us a way through. These young women are doing that just in talking about and dramatizing abortion rights, and reminding us that the fight is not over. Funny, Like an Abortion is a must-see both for entertainment value and for social advocacy reasons.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2022: "Stranger vs The Malevolent Malignancy"

Day: 1

Show: 1

Title: Stranger vs The Malevolent Malignancy

Category: COMEDY / SCI-FI / LITERARY ADAPTATION

By: The Feral Theatre Company

Written by: Braden Joseph

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A superhero story about what happens when the superhero has cancer and is suddenly mortal like the rest of us.

Highlights: This riff on the superhero story employs all of the tropes we love - saving the world, fighting evil, hidden identity, falling in love with the eager reporter - and adds a new twist. The story is told through a meeting of the superhero known as Stranger (Shain Longbehn) with his therapist Dr. Jarhead (Calista Robinson manipulating a large jar with a head in it, crawling around on surfaces with spider legs). The twist is that Stranger has malignant tumors in his bowels (voiced by Daniel "DK" Konold just off stage, like a devil on his shoulder). Stranger tells his story and we see flashbacks of his life leading up to this point, and a decision he has to make about whether to save himself, or save the world. Classic hero stuff. The cast (also including Teddy Lee, Eliana Meyerowitz, and Olivia Dubiel) is fully committed to the concept, and the script is full of references to science fiction and pop culture. A fun and clever whirlwind of a tale with some poignant rumination on mortality thrown in.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.