Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Machinal"

Day: 10

Show: 36

Title: Machinal

Category: Dance / Drama / Mystery / Physical Theater / Literary adaptation / Political content

By: Combustible Company

Directed by: Renee Hatton

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A 60-minute adaptation of the 1928 play Machinal, about a woman caught in the machine of life.

Highlights: This is a brutal look at the drudgeries of life, work, parenthood, and marriage, and the limitations of women's choices, written almost a hundred years ago but still very relevant today. I saw Clevername Theatre's production of this play a couple years ago, and this shortened version covers the full story of a woman who marries her boss, and then kills him. In fact, I think one hour of this brutal and absurdist story is enough, it's heavy and dark, but beautifully done. As per usual with Combustible, it's visually stunning, using precise movements to represent the machine of work, with silver hoops and silver metal chairs as set pieces creating a consistent look. A hoop hanging on a trapeze rack is used in a couple of scenes to beautiful effect. They also use music well, with some lovely and haunting a capella moments, and appropriately chosen songs of the period like "O Death" and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair." The talented young cast is comprised of U of M students or recent grads, Anna Pladson as the woman with ensemble members Alvaro Araque, Ella Eastman-Kiesow, Ella Hendrickson, Gavin Wells, Lily Jones, Matthew Wilhelm, Michael DiPrima, Nitalia Michelle, and Vincent Strunk. It's a dark and ugly story, beautifully and powerfully told. And although Fringe is over, they have three more performances this weekend at St. Croix Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "1 Hour Left to Live: A One Puppet Show by That Felt Good"

Day: 8

Show: 28

Title: 1 Hour Left to Live: A One Puppet Show by That Felt Good

Category: Comedy / Improv / Musical Theater / Original Music / Puppetry / Storytelling / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content / Religious content

By: Sockpop

Directed by: Phoebe Bottoms and Matt Olson

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A puppet named Pal has one hour left to live tells his life story to a priest in the form of improvised scenes.

Highlights: I don't think I've ever seen puppet improv before, and it's pretty adorable. But also weird and funny. The furry pale blue puppet Pal is puppeteered by Jim Hensen Co. trained Pheobe Bottoms, and expresses an amazing array of emotions, making him very human-like and endearing. On his deathbed, Pal tells his life story to a priest (Victor Gonzalez), which we see play out in improvised scenes based on a few audience prompts, telling us about his childhood and failed relationships (performed by improvisors Eric Heiberg, James Moore, Philip Simondet, Meg Trowbridge, Zelia Gonzales, Chris Rodriguez, Steph Callaghan, and Patrick McIntyre). There's also a stand-up set, I'm not sure why, but the guest stand-up at the performance I attended, Jamie Carbone, was very funny. Finally, after Pal breathes his last puppet breath, the audience votes on where he goes next, and the sadistic audience voted for hell. So then we got to follow Pal into hell, with more improvised scenes and some of the characters from his life coming back. It's a unique premise for an improv show, and a fun twist. Last show Saturday at 7, and That Felt Good also performs Friday nights at Bryant Lake Bowl.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Tapeze - a la seconde"

Day: 6

Show: 20

Title: Tapeze - a la seconde

Category: Dance / Physical / Theater / Kid friendly / Non-verbal

By: Twin Cities Trapeze

Created by: Katie Kimball and Cathy Wind

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A combination of tap dance (as well as some ballet and contemporary dance) and trapeze.

Highlights: I heard about Tapeze at last year's festival but wasn't able to see it, so I'm glad they're back. I needed a dance fix halfway through the festival and this was it, and served as a great palate cleanser. This show is a delightful combination of multiple artforms, performed by a huge cast of varying ages and body shapes and sizes, all sharing the joy of movement. The Southern Theater is probably the only venue that would work for a trapeze show, but it was empty at the beginning and I kept wondering where the trapeze would come in. After a few dance numbers, the company assembles the trapeze out of many metal pipes lying around the space. They could have set it up before the show, but it's thrilling (and a little scary) to watch them set it up in front of us. The dance numbers alternate with the trapeze numbers, and sometimes both artforms combine and play off of each other. These are seriously talented artists, but they don't take themselves or the show too seriously, there's a lot of humor and playfulness in it. The large and talented and enthusiastic company is led by tap dancer Cathy Wind of Keane Sense of Rhythm Tap Company and trapeze artist Katie Kimball of Twin Cities Trapeze. Both of these organizations also offer classes so you can join the fun! But until then you can watch them do it in their final two performances.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "BE NOT AFRAID"

Day: 6

Show: 19

Title: BE NOT AFRAID

Category: Comedy / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Original Music / Physical Theater / Storytelling

By: Third Space Theater

Created by: Mariabella Sorini & Alex Church

Location: Southern Theatre

Summary: A struggling North Dakota farm family is threatened by the construction of nearby oil rigs, as they're visited by angels and devils.

Highlights: This is the only dramatic play I've seen at Fringe so far, and feels much more like a one-act play than a Fringe show, not surprising for Third Space Theater. It's an original play written by Mariabella Sorini (who also stars in it) and Alex Church (who also directs, with Stephanie Kahle), and everything about is thoughtful and polished and gorgeous. The story is centered around Micah (Mariabella) and Jordan (Ben Qualley), living on and trying to save his father's farm despite the nearby fracking and the usual environmental issues. Jordan's cousin and his friend are crashing on air mattresses in their living room, Peter (Logan Lang) trying to work and make money for his daughter, Mason (Sebastian Grim) only out for momentary "fun." Neighbor Sam (Tamira Rashid) is desperate after her horses are lost, and beset by strange occurrences that are killing livestock. There's a sense of familiarity among this group of people, like they've known each other forever and we're just getting a peek into their lives. Once Micah is visited by a scary angel (Em Adam Rosenberg) she starts to prepare for a fire and/or some other catastrophe, removing pesticides and gas for the generator despite Jordan's insistence that they're needed. The catastrophe does eventually come, and it tests everyone. The Southern is the perfect backdrop for this story, with its weathered brick walls full of history. A couple of ladders, sawhorses, wooden poles, and lines of laundry hung between them create the stark farm landscape. Lighting changes from full blackout to a red glow to bright lights, and the sound design is haunting, with music and effects. All of this helps to tell this earthy and otherworldly story about a community, the land, and the dangers of industrialization. The movement and physical theater pieces are beautiful, particularly the silent wounded deer (embodies by Mary Lofreddo), perhaps representing our wounded earth. This is definitely one of the most polished and professional shows you'll see at Fringe.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Small Minded"

Day: 5

Show: 18

Title: Small Minded

Category: Clowning / Comedy / Magic / Physical Theater / Solo Show / Storytelling / Audience participation / Shakespearian elements

By: Tyler West

Created by: Tyler West and Cleo DeOrio

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A solo storytelling show by an actor with dwarfism, about his career, the roles he's forced to play, and how it intersects with disability.

Highlights: Currently on a break from touring with Water for Elephants (which stopped in Minneapolis earlier this year), touring artist Tyler West brings his funny and moving show to the Minnesota Fringe. It's an eye-opening story about an actor with dwarfism. With the exception of the actor referred to in the show as Deter Pinklage, actors with dwarfism often play the clown, the fool, the entertainment. Tyler talks about his personal journey through life and performing, finding comfort on the stage where people are supposed to be looking at him and laughing, as opposed to the stares and cruel comments on the street. In his BFA program, he wanted to play serious roles, but was only offered the role of the fool or the jester. He moved to NYC and found work in cabarets and variety shows, playing into the comic role, and studied clowning, which he utilizes in this show to great effect, with physical comedy, pratfalls, juggling, and a delightful entirely silent sequence as a cop who playfully terrorizes the audience. But through the writing of Dr. Erin Pritchard, "a leading academic expert in the field of dwarfism and a passionate advocate for disability awareness and inclusion," he comes to realized that "midget entertainment" is not unlike minstrel shows - Black people performing in blackface for White people's amusement, little people performing comedy for able-bodied people's enjoyment. He descends into a fever dream, where he is confronted with Oompa-Loompas, Munchkins, Ewoks, Yoda, and the Seven Dwarves, but ends the show by noting little people with serious accomplishments, doctors and lawyers and scholars, whom most of us have never heard of. Small Minded is funny, moving, educational, and well-constructed with a great use of props and costumes (directed and co-written by Cleo DeOrio). This is the reason that Fringe Festivals exists, for artists who are pigeon-holed into one thing to have an opportunity make their own art, play the roles they want, and tell their own stories in their own voices.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"In The Backroom" by Michael Torsch at the Southern Theater

The Minnesota Fringe Festival schedule was just announced, but if you want a preview of the sort of adventurous, inventive, outside-the-box art you will see in August, check out In the Backroom by Michael Torsh at the Southern Theater this weekend. A new show on a holiday weekend? That's right, and that's intentional. From the press release: "This performance considers the complicated nature of celebrating America's 250th anniversary, the effects of imperialism on the individual, and how we might eulogize all those killed during wartime. By constructing an environment to collectively meditate on our societal grief, In The Backroom is an antidote to the unrestricted hypernationalism propagated by the current administration." Since I will be off the grid at a lake this weekend, I attended the final run-through of the show before performances begin tonight, and it was all of those things and more. It's very meta and fourth-wall breaking, thoughtfully constructed to bring together many different ideas, cleverly uses recorded video and projections, and is incredibly thought-provoking without providing any easy answers. If you saw Michael's Fringe show last year, All Your Shimmering Gold, it's a similar vibe. If you're in town this weekend and feeling conflicted about America's 250th birthday and the way it's being celebrated, sold, and marketed, this is the show for you. There are 7pm performances Thurs-Sat, with a 4pm show on Sun, and it's only 70 minutes long so you can get back to your barbeques and fireworks.

"Kiss of the Spiderwoman" by Teatro del Pueblo at the Southern Theater

The 1993 Tony-winning best musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, with music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret) and book by playwright Terrance McNally, was just made into a movie starring Jennifer Lopez. What's better than seeing an acclaimed musical on the screen? Seeing it live on stage! And now finally I had the opportunity to see this rarely done musical, thanks to Teatro del Pueblo. I don't know if the timing with the movie was intentional or coincidental, but this story of two men imprisoned by a fascist regime, one of them escaping into the fantasy world of his beloved movies, couldn't come at a better time. Featuring a talented cast and impressive design in the gorgeous Southern Theater, this is a rare opportunity to see Kiss of the Spider Woman live on stage as it was meant to be, and "celebrate Latine voices, queer identity, and the power of resilience!" Continuing through November 23 only.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "Death! A Musical"

Day: 10

Show: 34

Title: Death! A Musical

Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Original Music / Kid friendly

By: Gabriel Shen | Twin Cities Youth Theatre

Created by: Gabriel Shen

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A musical about a 13-year old girl who dies and goes to the afterlife, written and performed by middle schoolers.

Highlights: This is the kind of show that makes adults wonder what they've been doing with their life, because soon-to-be 8th grader Gabriel Shen has written music, book, and lyrics (the latter two with Francis Shen) for a musical, which they also directed, play a role in, and operate the sound board for. Pretty impressive, and very promising for the future of #TCTheater. In the musical, Alana (an endearing Vivienne Steele) finds herself in the afterlife, and wants to return to life. She finds a clause in the fine print of the contract that says she can do just that if she completes seven random and pretty easy to accomplish tasks. So she does that, which results in the end of death. Sounds great, doesn't it? But these precocious kids remind us that what makes life so precious is that our time is limited, and "Life Without Death" is no life at all. Pretty profound stuff. All of the kids in nine-person cast are so talented and cute, and the onstage orchestra is also made up of talented young people, led by musical director and orchestrator Angela Steiner (because arranging their original score for a 10-piece orchestra is a big ask for a 7th grader, even a super talented one). It may sound trite, but children really are our future, and the future looks bright. Kudos to these young people for making adventurous art in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, for which they won the venue award (most tickets sold) thanks to their supportive families and community. 

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "Fangs and Bangs (and Sangs)"

Day: 7

Show: 24

Title: Fangs and Bangs (and Sangs)

Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Storytelling / LGBTQIA+ Content

By: Special When Lit

Written by: Nissa Nordland

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: #TCTheater fave Nissa Nordland enlists some of her talented friends (different every night) to read some of the "sexy vampire tales" that she wrote as a teenager.

Highlights: Nissa has written a lot of shows for Fringe and the TC Horror Festival, and this is like her origin story. Turns out she has always been interested in writing sexy, scary stories, and she has her journals and a floppy disc full of stories to prove it! She's an endearing host as she explains the concept of the show and then gets vulnerable, reading her journal entries full of her innermost teenage thoughts. A slide show of yearbook photos, journal entries, and sketches support her storytelling. She sings a couple of late '90s / early aughts songs accompanied by musicians (Nicholas Nelson and Keith Hovis at the show I attended), but the highlight really is the reading of a vampire story about a redheaded teenaged vampire named Lennox and her romance with a vampire hunter named Noah. The story is continuous throughout the five shows, so you'll need to go back if you want to find out how things turn out. Reading the story on the night I attended were Amber Bjork, Derek Lee Miller, Brettina Davis, and Duck Washington, who came prepared for the steamy scenes. And the section of the story that I saw got pretty steamy! It's very funny watching these actors read Nissa's teenage dreams, but it's even more fun to watch her react with a combination of sheer delight and utter horror.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "That Which Is Green"

Day: 6

Show: 20

Title: That Which Is Green

Category: Comedy / Drama / LGBTQIA+ Content / Political content / Religious content

By: Michael Rogers

Created by: Michael Rogers

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: Two friends named Kevin walk into the woods to visit their favorite tree, only to find it has changed, or maybe it wasn't so great to begin with.

Highlights: This is a show about a tree that isn't really about a tree at all. Kevin (Michael Rogers) has a love/hate relationship with this "tree," but just can't quit it. Kevin (Alex Van Loh) supports his friend but is tired of the push and pull. The tree is dying, and Kevin #1 is devastated, but also wants to burn it down. They decide to spend the night by the tree to see if it's better in the morning, and we flash back to a couple of scenes from each of the Kevins' early experience with the "tree" accompanied by a parent, and meeting each other while singing a hymn in the "tree" service. They've been friends through everything, and though the "tree" is no longer serving them, it's hard to let go of the past and the traditions you were raised in. The show makes good use of the gorgeous Southern, as the Kevins walk up and down the aisles, the hymn harmonies ringing out beautiful and clear in the space, the stage empty except for the trunk of a tree with a neon green light in the center of it. This is a sweet and lovely little show about friendship, and faith, and questioning, and finding your way in the world.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "In The Garden Of American Heroes"

Day: 5

Show: 17

Title: In The Garden Of American Heroes

Category: 

By: Wheeler in the Sky

Created by: Andrew Erskine Wheeler

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: General Custer is stuck in purgatory and lamenting not being included in the "Garden of American Heroes" being built for America's 250th birthday next year (that's a real thing).

Highlights: This is the third of Andrew's original solo historical pieces that I've seen, and like 2019 Booth's Ghost and 2022's WHOOSH! (a revised version of which is part of History Theatre's upcoming season) it's thoroughly researched, thoughtfully constructed, incredibly relevant to our current times, and performed with 100% commitment. All of these works examine controversial figures from America's history, and don't ask us to sympathize with them, but maybe perhaps understand how they came to be and how that's paralleled in things we're seeing happening today. We have to understand our history in order to not repeat it, and that's what this show does for Custer. To try to describe this show would not do it justice, it feels like a fever dream through this particular segment of American History. As Custer, Andrew speaks directly the audience, running through the aisles, disappointed in his exclusion from the Garden ("how bad do you have to be to be rejected by this administration?!"). He comes out dressed in Custer's full regalia, gradually shedding layers and arranging them on the floor, like the remnants of a life. This Custer does not apologize or ask for our forgiveness; he admits that he was motivated not by any sense of duty to his country, but by the love of killing. It's harsh and brutal, and endlessly captivating. As usual Andrew's prop work is detailed and thoughtful, with a saber, a spear, a wig head that holds those flowing blond locks. The lighting is almost like a character in and of itself, sometimes garishly bright, sometimes flashing, sometimes soft, Custer reacting to each change. The story starts and ends with his death in battle, and leaves us disturbed and questioning just what is an American Hero?

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "OPERA PUNKS"

Day: 3

Show: 9

Title: OPERA PUNKS

Category: Comedy / Improv / Musical Theater / Opera / Physical Theater

By: Kelly Shuda

Directed by: Kelly Shuda

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: Non-narrative musical improv.

Highlights: Non-narrative meaning instead of creating one cohesive story (like, say, the Shrieking Harpies), they create a bunch of short individual songs that may have some relation to the others but not clearly. In other words, it's just like a regular improv show, except that every word is sung, which makes it so much more impressive! Music director Kelly Shuda plays a wide variety of music, from opera to metal and everything in between, and this talented cast (Alsa Bruno, Isabella Dunsieth, Julia Weiss, Michael Rogers, and Nora Nelson) just goes with it, making up a new song that suits the musical style. They take a few suggestions from the audience, but it mostly just comes out of their weird and creative minds. They harmonize together very well both musically and improvisationally. I'm not even going to tell you about the songs I heard because they're so brilliantly bizarre, and you'll hear something totally different but just as bizarre! This show is pure entertainment, and this troupe (including Kelly who plays keyboard, guitar, and other instruments so enthusiastically) is so much fun to watch.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"ORLANDO: A Rhapsody" by Vinora Epp at the Southern Theater

In her directorial debut ORLANDO: A Rhapsody, Paris-based theater artist Vinora Epp talks about growing up in a theater, and the wonder and joy that brought to her childhood. The theater that she speaks of is one that's familiar to many in #TCTheater - Tony-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune, which sadly closed its doors in 2008 just two years before I started this blog. Vinora saw her father Steven Epp, now Co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company, play Hamlet when she was seven years old, and was so taken by it that she wanted to play Hamlet too, unfazed by the fact that she's a girl and typically girls don't get to play Hamlet. Thus began a lifelong exploration of gender and storytelling, culminating in this piece that she co-wrote and performs with her father. Combining the writing of Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and personal stories, the daughter-father duo weaves a compelling and fluid narrative. ORLANDO: A Rhapsody performs at The Southern Theater on off days (typically Sunday through Tuesday) of The Moving Company's lovely original piece at low tide (performing Wednesday through Sunday). There are a couple of days with performances of both shows, which would make a nice double feature.

"at low tide" by The Moving Company at The Southern Theater

I love The Moving Company, but they make my job very difficult. Because mere words cannot describe the magic that they create on stage. I didn't fully understand everything that was happening on the Southern Theater stage last night, but I found myself inexplicably moved by the combination of words, silence, movement, performance, sound, and lighting. I guess that's why they call themselves The Moving Company; they move people, and isn't that what art is all about? So I can't tell you exactly what you'll see if you go see at low tide (and you should), and what you see may be different from what I saw. But I can guarantee that you will be moved, and transported into another dimension for about 80 minutes.

"Rhinoceros" by Pangea World Theater at the Southern Theater

"I am not capitulating!" The final line of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist masterpiece Rhinoceros, and in fact the entire play (written in response to the rise of Fascism in pre-WWII Europe), have never felt more relevant. I first saw this play in early 2017 as a response to the first Trump presidency (7th House Theatre's "pop up production"), and again the following year at Theatre in the Round. It felt so timely and urgent then, but here we are eight years later, and everything is so much worse. All around us people are turning into rhinoceroses, falling in line, and trampling over the things we hold most dear. Millions of Americans protested across the country in the "Hands Off" protests last weekend, and Pangea World Theater is doing their part by mounting a production of this important allegory. With a strong ten-person cast, it's well-staged at the gorgeous Southern Theater, and feels like it was written for this moment. A handful of performances remain over the next two weekends - click here for info and tickets.

"Romeo & Juliet" and "Beauty & the Beast" by /novel/ at the Southern Theater

A new company is bringing us a new twist on two classic love stories. Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet and the French fairy tale turned Disney movie Beauty and the Beast don't seem to have much in common, but this double feature by /novel/ draws surprising and satisfying parallels between the two stories. And the best part is that if you see them both, after the tragedy of Romeo & Juliet the doomed lovers are reincarnated as Beauty & the Beast in a story that's all about transformation and truly seeing each other, with a chance for a happy ending. Both stories are told with a minimalist and modern style that may look familiar; this production marks the #TCTheater return of New Epic Theater's visionary Artistic Director Joseph Stodola, now based in Brooklyn and credited as Joseph Williams. Like all of New Epic's work, these two plays are gorgeous and tragic, but with a little bit of joy as Beauty finds her Beast prince. This is a short run and I caught it on its final weekend, so only three performances of the pair of plays remain. You can see them individually, but I recommend seeing both because this is definitely a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each piece stands on its own, but seen together creates a much deeper experience. Click here for info and tickets (note: if you're seeing both plays, you can purchase them individually, or as a package that includes drinks and bites during the 30-minute intermission between plays).

"Homo Dramaticus" by Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater at the Southern Theater

Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater are combining their resources and talents for their new production of Homo Dramaticus, a series of three short plays by Argentinian playwright Alberto Adellach. Written in response to the Dirty War in Argentina (disclaimer: pretty much everything I know about Argentinian politics is from the musical Evita), these plays are a bleak look at the war and violence in his world, and in ours. They're written in the absurdist style, which means they're not so much narrative stories as a series of characters, scenes, images, feelings. It's beautifully acted and directed, and gorgeously designed. And while I didn't always understand what was happening, this production succeeds in evoking feeling of grief, horror, and dismay at the violence that seems to be intertwined with all of human history. This short run concludes on Sunday, with just three more performances at the Southern Theater.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Peña Flamenca - La Corrida (Bullfight)"

Day: 5

Show: 17

Title: Peña Flamenca - La Corrida (Bullfight)

Category: Musical Theater

By: Flamenco X

Directed by: Marie de los Reyes

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A series of flamenco dances accompanied by live music.

Highlights: Where else can I see flamenco dancing other than the fringe festival?! I'm sure there are places, but none that I frequent. To be honest, I only saw this show because the one I was planning to see in this slot dropped out and the local Spanish and Latin dance company Flamenco X bravely agreed to fill the slot the day before the festival began. I'm glad I saw it; the dancing is fantastic, and unlike anything I've seen! The slow seductive movements followed by fast movements, with beautiful arm and hand movements, is a thrill to watch. Especially when they stamp on a wooden plank with a satisfying percussive noise. Four dancers (Marie de los Reyes, Gaël Poretti, Nan Marie Zosel, and Rafaela Del Sol) present a variety of dances, some sexy, some funny, some folk dances, and there also was a young woman doing some jaw-dropping acrobatics (unclear is that's part of the flamenco tradition). The first few dances were to recorded tracks, then guitar player David Elrod came out and played for the dancers, with Marie singing on some songs in addition to dancing. While the individual performances are great, the production is a bit rough. Between scenes there was lots of awkward silence as we waited for the next scene to be set up and for the dancers to change from one gorgeous costume to the next. The amiable host Nan covered for some of it with her charming and disarming banter (including telling a Lena and Ole joke after encouraging us to yell Olé), but there's too much dead space within the show. A rough production but mesmerizing dancing I probably wouldn't see anywhere else.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"devoured: notes on love and enmeshment" at The Southern Theater

devoured: notes on love and enmeshment is a meditation on codependency through three queer intimate relationships. Weaving text and movement, it explores complicated relationship dynamics between people who are struggling to love and be loved, but can't help but hurt each other in the process." This description of the new play by Playwrights' Center's Many Voices Fellow Liqing Xu is apt, but doesn't cover how beautiful, funny, and moving it is. Over the course of 70 minutes, we see three different relationships play out, with no happy ending in sight. But perhaps a bit of personal growth. There are only three more chances to see this fascinating, innovative, and thoughtful new work at the Southern Theater.

"C.L.U.E" by Collide Theatrical Dance Company at the Southern Theater

For their 30th production, Collide Theatrical Dance Company is remounting/revising their 2015 original dance musical C.L.U., now with one letter added to be C.L.U.E. It's a parody of the classic board game (which I spent many hours playing as a kid) and the movie based on it (coincidentally, a new non-musical stage version will be at the Orpheum next week). While the mystery part may be a little thin, the dancing and performances are incredible, and the show is overall a whole lot of fun. Collide lives at the intersection of theater and dance, and as a primarily theater reviewer, it's fun to have an excuse to see some dance, especially when it tells a story in a theatrical way. Embrace the mystery and enjoy the dancing of C.L.U.E. at the Southern Theater (the best venue for dance) now through March 10.