"Immaculate Heart" by Freshwater Theatre at the Crane Theater

In their new original play Immaculate Heart, Freshwater Theatre thoughtfully explores issues surrounding faith (specifically, Catholicism) and sexuality (specifically, the last and often overlooked letter in the LGBTQIA alphabet - asexuality). Playwright Ruth Virkus has created a world and a situation that feels real and very human, and the three-person cast brings truth, vulnerability, and humanity to their roles. As a recovering Catholic, I'm familiar with the struggle between seeing the good that the church has done and the solace it is for so many people, and the many ways it falls short in the modern world with its intolerant and exclusionary doctrine. This play and its characters embody that struggle very well, as well as shed light on a lesser known aspect of the spectrum of sexuality.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2019: "A Man's Guide for Appropriate Behavior in the 21st Century"

Day: 4

Show: 15

Title: A Man's Guide for Appropriate Behavior in the 21st Century

Category: SPOKEN WORD / AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION / HISTORICAL CONTENT / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: One T Productions

Created by: Scot Froelich

Location: Augsburg Studio

Summary: A panel discussion on various issues around the topic of masculinity.

Highlights: The title of this show is a little misleading. It sounds like it could be a gross comedy, but rather it's a serious discussion of issues that are greatly affecting the health and safety of all of us in today's world. Each of the five shows has a different topic and different panelists (see the show website for details), but may change due to events of the day. I attended what was supposed to be a discussion on "Gender, sexuality, and intersectionality," but since there were not one but two mass shootings in the days prior, the discussion veered more towards violence as a result of white male patriarchy. Moderated by Scot Froelich with panelists Lisa Stratton, Erica Fields, Taiyon J. Coleman, Marcela Michelle, and Andrea Jenkins, all activists and experts in their fields varying from law to literature, it was an incredibly powerful, sobering, enlightening, inspiring, depressing discussion. The panelists got into some pretty serious stuff about the ingrained racism and sexism in our society, in our systems, in ourselves, much of which we don't even know how to talk about. But I take a little bit of hope in the fact that at least somebody somewhere is having these discussions. There are only two discussions left, and I hope you go to one or both of them. This may be the most important and necessary show in the Fringe this year, that feels so much bigger than theater or entertainment. I hope these discussions continue beyond and outside of the Fringe in some way, even if just in our living rooms.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"The Drowning Girls" by Freshwater Theatre at the Crane Theater

Three victims of an early 20th Century English serial killer have their say in the haunting play The Drowning Girls, receiving its regional premiere with Freshwater Theatre. Based on a book about this true story, The Drowning Girls examines the life of these three women, their hopes in marrying a seemingly charming man, and the dire consequences when it's revealed he's a con man and serial marryer/murderer, after their money only. The play is ingeniously staged with three onstage bathtubs, shower-heads periodically pouring water into them, the three hardy actors working in water and wet clothes for the entire 75-minute show (which probably explains why the theater was toasty warm, a nice treat on a cold late winter day). The short run closes this weekend - just two remaining performances; click here for more info on how to see this fascinating, gripping, and well executed story.

Fringe Festival 2017: "A Mermaid Abroad & A Fish Out of Water"

Day: 10

Show: 42

Title: A Mermaid Abroad & A Fish Out of Water

Category: Something Different

By: Mermaid Productions

Created by: Ariel Leaf, Scot Moore, and Ben Layne

Location: U of M Rarig Center Xperimental

Summary: A series of travel stories, from funny to profound and everything in between.

Highlights: This show is like listening to your friends tell travel stories, if your friends were good storytellers with great life experiences to pull from. The storytellers are Ariel Leaf, best known for her Mermaid show (which I sadly have never seen), and Scot Moore, who shared his beautifully tragic (or tragically beautiful) travel story in last year's Break Your Heart (one of my faves of the 2016 Fringe). They take turns telling stories and interacting in a conversational, natural way. We hear about Ariel's travel fling gone wrong, Scot's one perfect night of connection, Ariel's struggle with finding a place to pee (my greatest travel fear), Scot getting high in a shopping mall in Canada, and that glorious feeling of returning home. I could have listened to Ariel and Scot tell their travel stories for another hour or two. And now I want to plan my next trip and have a few adventures of my own.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Break Your Heart"

Day: 3

Show: 13

Title: Break Your Heart

Category: Something Different

By: One T Productions

Written by: Scot Moore

Location: Intermedia Arts

Summary: A show about love, the endings and the beginnings and the part in between.

Highlights: This one-man show (written and performed by Scot Moore, with direction by Ben Layne) is quintessentially what the Fringe is about, quintessentially what theater is about. An artist takes a life experience, the good and the bad of it, and turns it into art that's both a personal catharsis and something that entertains and touches the audience. On what was supposed to be an 8-week trip around the world with his girlfriend, Scot instead encounters heartbreak and a solo journey to amazing and unexpected places, both geographical and emotional. In addition to being beautiful personal expression, the piece is also really well constructed (including actual scientific citations!). The technical elements are spot-on: well-chosen music (from guitar pieces by Scot's friend Geordie Little to Bonnie Raitt's classic "I Can't Make You Love Me"); projected images, maps, text, and videos; and a trippy video animation that's mesmerizing (by Tim D. Tapp). Video interviews with friends on the topic of love and heartbreak make this bigger than just one person's experience. I exited the theater feeling like I'm seeing the world differently now, and I don't think that feeling will go away for a while. That's the best possible result of theater.