"Afterlife: The Experience" by Sparkle Theatricals at the Wabasha Street Caves

I know Sparkle Theatricals for their dance and movement-based shows, but they also produce more immersive, experiential work. My first experience with the latter is their current production, Afterlife: The Experience, running for one more night only at the Wabasha Street Caves. I'll admit, part of the draw was to see the Caves, built into the sandstone bluffs on the Mississippi River across from St. Paul originally as storage, and later turned into a speakeasy during Prohibition with rumored visits from some of the era's most notorious gangsters. Now it's an event center, and a very cool theater venue. The conceit of Afterlife is that we're all (recently) dead, and our souls have arrived at the Caves on our way to somewhere else. A number of previously departed souls are there to guide us on our way. I found it to be overall a unique, interesting, and fun experience, although parts of it were a little too interactive and participatory for this introvert (I don't want to be part of the storytelling, I want to be a witness to it). A mix of theater, storytelling, party games, food and drinks, and dance, you have one more chance to enter the Afterlife on October 25.

"The Room with Closets" by Sparkle Theatrical at the Southern Theater

Immediately after seeing Sparkle Theatricals' original new work The Room with Closets, I posted on my Insta story: "I'm not sure what just happened, but it was exquisite. I feel like I was in a dream." This is one of those theater experiences that is so mesmerizing, that so fully and specifically creates a world through words, movement, music, and visuals, that it absolutely casts a spell over the audience. A spell that's hard to shake when you step out of the theater and back into harsh reality, like waking up from a dream that you don't fully understand but that created such lovely feelings you want to go back to it. It's also the kind of show that's really hard to describe; words fail. I'll do my best, but I encourage you to go see it for yourself. It's a beautifully unique piece, and the creators (theatrical director Jon Ferguson, choreographer Alejandra Iannone, technical director Rick Ausland, and this beautiful six-person ensemble) obviously put a lot of thought and care into every detail. See it at the gorgeous Southern Theater (a space that enhances every performance there) through this week only!

Fringe Festival 2016: "A Pie. A Duck. And a Shoe."

Day: 4

Show: 21

Title: A Pie. A Duck. And a Shoe.

Category: Something Different

By: Sparkle Theatricals

Created by: Alejandra Iannone and Rick Ausland

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: An old-fashioned variety show featuring comedy, magic, music, dance, and puppetry.

Highlights: I didn't see a pie, but there is a duck and a shoe. This is a refreshingly old-fashioned variety show, just a bunch of diverse acts meant to entertain. The evening is hosted by the very funny comedian/magician David Harris, who does short pieces between introducing the acts. Featured acts include passionate R&B singer Nick Jordan accompanied by Luke Darger on keyboard; a charming shadow-puppet show of "The Ugly Duckling" performed by Neal Beckman, Alejandra Iannone, and Joann Oudekerk; everyone's favorite tap-dancer Rick Ausland of Buckets and Tap Shoes; and rapper Carnage the Executioner who, despite the frightening name, is actually quite friendly as he teaches the audience how to beat box. A simple concept, nothing flashy, but a variety of entertaining acts.

2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival Must-Sees

Well friends, it's that time of year again. Time to shirk all responsibilities of adulthood, abandon your friends, family, and pets, and binge on theater for 11 days straight. That's right, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the largest unjuried theater festival in the nation, is upon us. This year's festival includes 168 shows less than an hour in length showcasing the best (and occasionally the worst) that this theater/art/dance/comedy community has to offer. I've steadily been increasing my Fringe consumption every year from a mere ten shows in 2011, my first year of Fringing, to a high of 44 last year. The maximum number of shows that any one person can possibly see, while still obeying the rules of the space-time continuum, is 56. That means seeing a show in every timeslot available. I thought it might be fun to see if I can in fact see 56 shows during the Fringe Festival. Just once, to see if it can be done, and then I'll likely never do it again. And let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, I better do it now while staying up past 11 pm for 11 nights in a row is still (barely) within the realm of possibility. I've run seven marathons, so obviously I like giving myself crazy challenges, just to see if I can do it. And also because it's fun, right? Keep reading for a list of some of the shows I'm hoping to see, and why.

Minnesota Fringe Festival: Five-Fifths of Titanic at Illusion Theater

Hey theater friends, did you know that the Minnesota Fringe Festival is less than three months away? I don't know about you, but I'm excited for 11 days of theater binging, standing in lines, eating trail mix for every meal, and little sleep, especially after attending the annual Fringe fundraiser Five-Fifths. The subject of this year's show, in which a popular movie is split into five parts and re-imagined by five different theater companies, is the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic. Confession: when it came out I was in my early 20s, so pretty much the target audience, and I unironically loved it. I bought the soundtrack and may even still have the VHS tapes (kids - VHS tapes are how we used to watch movies at home before DVDs or Netflix were invented). Now of course I can see that Titanic is an overblown melodramatic mess, but a part of me will always have a soft spot for this make-believe doomed romance set admidst a real disaster. Last night's Fringey interpretation of the movie represented everything we love about the Fringe, and set the stage for another great festival to come!

Fringe Festival 2015: "Parent Observation Day"

Day: 6

Show: 26

Title: Parent Observation Day

Category: Dance

By: Sparkle Productions

Created by: Alejandra Ianonne and Rick Ausland

Location: Ritz Theater Proscenium

Summary: A children's ballet class prepares to dance for their parents.

Highlights: This show is super delightful as eight adult dancers (Albert Conteh, Ashley Akpaka, Brittany Marie Wilson, Daniel Bergmann, Heather Pallas, Joann Oudekerk, Neal Beckman, and Nick J. Meyerson) play the child dancers who are just as scattered, exuberant, awkward, and joyous as any child in a dance class. Teacher Miss Tiffany (an appealing Emily Bridges) attempts to keep the kids on track as she leads them through various exercises and rehearses the big dance itself, ending in a performance for parents. I've neither been nor had a child in dance class, but I've seen enough Facebook videos to know that this show is pretty on the mark. It's a pretty simple concept for a show, but it's so much fun to watch these big kids play and dance around stage with a childlike enthusiasm as their adoring yet exasperated teacher looks on.