Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "A Monster Scientist and a Tattooed Anarchist Walk into a Bar"

Day: 4

Show: 12/13

Title: A Monster Scientist and a Tattooed Anarchist Walk into a Bar

Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Spoken Word / Storytelling / Historical content / LGBTQIA+ Content

By: Mermaid Productions

Created by: Rev. Matt and Ariel Pinkerton

Location: Comedy Corner - Underground

Summary: A double bill of Ariel Pinkerton's storytelling show Put a Needle in Me and Reverend Matt's Monster Science show, with a different topic at each performance.

Highlights: This independently produced show works a bit differently; it's actually two rotating shows, so you'll have to buy a ticket for each one separately. But it's worth it because both are great examples of what these two artists do so well. Ariel's new show (which premiered at Tuscon Fringe earlier this year) is the latest chapter in her very personal autobiographical storytelling career. While drawing from various periods in her life, this show mostly focuses on her most recent "mid-life crisis" involving a divorce, a pandemic, a new career direction, and a full back tattoo. Beautifully crafted and authentically delivered, as per usual, the show posits that maybe what people call a "mid-life crisis" is just reassessing where you are and what you want your life to be. Reverend Matt (aka Matthew Kessen) presents five different shows about various monster-themed topics. The one I happened to see was about evolution, which turned out to be a great (passive) choice. It wasn't just about evolution and the strange and interesting plants and animals that creates, but it's also about something called speculative evolution, which I didn't even know was a thing, but is quite remarkable. As per usual, Reverend Matt's presentation is thorough and detailed and wonderfully nerdy, complete with visual aids! I recommend seeing both shows back-to-back on Saturday or Sunday, and getting a bite to eat from The Corner Bar (which this intimate venue is below) between shows. Note: the Fringe website says you can order food and bring it downstairs, but some of the employees gave us different answers about that. Proceed at your own risk.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate's Midlife Crisis"

Day: 4

Show: 11

Title: Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate's Midlife Crisis

Category: Physical Theater

By: Hey Rube!

Written by: Marcus Anthony

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A comedic retelling of the life of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet.

Highlights: The story is told in flashback by Stede (Joshua English Scrimshaw) and Tristram Shanty (Natalie Rae Wass). Google tells me there is a fictional character named Tristram Shandy, it's unclear if the playwright was inspired by this character, or just the funny name - similar to Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon being unable to say Nabulungi, Stede calls Tristram by any number of words that start with T. From some unknown time and place in the future, Stede tells his story (with constant corrections from Tristram). We watch as Stede hires Tristram and his crew to be pirates, and go about doing piratey things, although Tristram insists they're not pirates. But all Stede wants is to be a pirate. He soon meets the real pirate Blackbeard (Madhu Bangalore), and all Blackbeard wants is to be a gentleman. They both get what they want, in a be-careful-what-you-wish-for kind of way. The play is constructed of many short scenes with blackouts in between, which isn't a bad thing, but when the audience decides it needs to applaud at every blackout, it disrupts the momentum and flow of the storytelling. (Note to audiences: you don't have to applaud every time the lights go out, often it's better for the story if you just hold the silence.) Despite these interruptions, there are some great performances, particularly Joshua as Bonnet, performing with his trademark physicality, literally climbing around the theater. The entire six-person cast, dressed in piratey costumes including tall boots and puffy shirts, is committed to the campy comedy tone of the piece, and there are some great fight scenes with imaginary swords. All in all it's a fun fringey romp.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Banana Wars"

Day: 4

Show: 10

Title: The Banana Wars

Category: Solo Show / Storytelling

By: The Miller Conspiracy

Written by: Derek Lee Miller

Location: Phoenix Theater

Summary: A remount of one of my favorite shows from the 2017 Fringe, this is a fascinating deep dive into the Banana Wars, that's really about so much more (militarism, capitalism, globalism, oh my!).

Highlights: This show is the reason the Fringe Festival exists. Most shows - dance, sketch comedy, drama, musicals, even clowning - have another performance home. But where else can someone give an hour-long history lesson about the banana that manages to also comment on the US military through history to today? What Derek Lee Miller has done here is, simply put, brilliant. It's like if John Oliver were to do a piece on the so-called Banana Wars, and at the beginning you think, "why is he talking about the Banana Wars?" And at the end you think, "OMG why isn't everyone talking about the Banana Wars?! Smedley Butler, people, Smedley Butler!!" Using a series of silent film placards, Derek walks us through these small, brutal wars (which I won't even begin to explain here, just go see the show), interspersed with personal remembrances, all to paint an ugly picture of greed and power. Smedley Butler, by the way, that guy with the funny name you've never heard of, was the most decorated Marine in history who at the end of his life spoke out against the US military. Like a speeding freight train, Derek barrels through history at a breakneck head-spinning fast-talking pace that makes 60 minutes feel like 10. This show probably won't make you feel good about the world or about being an American, but like a good John Oliver piece, it'll make you glad you know about the Banana Wars. And you'll never look at a banana the same way again.*

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

*Highlights borrowed from what I wrote about the 2017 production.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Camp Out"

Day: 3/9

Show: 9/27

Title: The Camp Out

Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Physical Theater

By: Mike Fotis Productions

Created by: Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Nels Lennes, Heather Meyer, Danna Sheridan

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: An improvised story of six friends who go on a campout to remember a deceased friend.

Highlights: Long-form is my favorite kind of improv, and this show is an example of why. Over the course of about an hour we watch these relationships develop in front of our eyes (although I'm not sure if characters and plots points are improvised and different every time, or just the conversation around them). And these six improvisors (Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Nels Lennes, Heather Meyer, and Danna Sheridan) are some of the best. The show starts with a couple actually setting up a tent on stage, which is a drama in and of itself! Friends start arriving, and we start to gather what everyone's relationships are. In the show I saw, the friends are there to honor their friend who died a year or so ago, and secrets (relationships, pregnancies) are revealed. It's so much fun to watch this group just be these people, talking and joking and snacking. It feels so real, like eavesdropping. When real life thunder was heard from outside the theater, they incorporated it into the show, starting to prepare for the rain. It's a well-done, smooth, and very funny improvised dramedy.

Update: I had an open slot in my schedule so I saw this one again, and it was completely different! Same performers, same concept of saying goodbye to a deceased friend (reading a letter from a family member and spreading their ashes in the park), but the characters and relationships were completely different. No surprise revelations, just being together and grieving. I cried from laughter, and a little bit at the real emotions.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Wind Phone"

Day: 3

Show: 8

Title: The Wind Phone

Category: Drama / LGBTQIA+ Content

By: Broken Wing Productions

Directed by: Nicole Wilder

Location: Campbell Plaza (outdoors)

Summary: Several individuals visit a wind phone to talk to their deceased loved ones.

Highlights: Based on the real-life phenomenon of the wind phone which began in Japan, the show explores themes of grief, loss, and healing. Four people visit the wind phone in a park in Minneapolis (not hard to imagine since that's where we are, the natural amphitheater set in a park on the U of M campus), with the park's caretaker Lana (Sheree Froelich) there to give advice, disinfect the phone between visits, and just chat. We meet MaryAnne (Boo Segersin) who needs to talk to her mentor with a problematic history, Carter (Anthony Sisler-Neuman) who visits annually to talk to his husband, and exes Peggy (Kira Pontiff) and Alice (Megan Kim) who are mourning the loss of Peggy's mother and their relationship. The show (co-created by Callie Aho and Sheree Froelich and written by Sheree) is basically a series of monologues, well delivered by the cast. Each story of grief is different but all are moving, and the show is not without moments of lightness and humor. The setting is perfect, and the cast can be heard despite fighting against ambient sounds of wind or passers by. They use the large performance space well, which contains both permanent sculptures and the set pieces and props for the show (designed by Andrew Lester). I love an outdoor show at Fringe, and this one fits the bill well. Get there early to sit in one of the comfy camp chairs, or sit on one of the two cement arcs.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Heart Ripped Out Twice And So Can You!"

Day: 3

Show: 7

Title: Heart Ripped Out Twice And So Can You!

Category: Clowning / Comedy / Solo Show

By: Linnea Bond

Created by: Linnea Bond

Location: Barker Center for Dance

Summary: A hilarious and heart-wrenching solo show about medical procedures, heartbreak, and the wonder of human existence.

Highlights: As advertised, this one ripped my heart out. But not literally, like what happened to touring artist Linnea Bond when she was diagnosed with two benign but fast-growing tumors, one on her brain stem and one behind her heart. As good artists do, she's turned an unimaginably painful experience into a thing of beauty, and a way to connect with the world. The show is structured as a timeshare presentation, complete with power point presentation, but what she wants us to buy into is human existence. As she describes the things that could happen (open heart surgery, infections, the person you love abandoning you), it doesn't sound very appealing. But by the end you're all in, and somehow the laughter at the way she tells her story in an absurdist clowning way has turned into tears at the unfathomable beauty of life. For someone who had severe health issues, Linnea's performance is incredibly physical, running around the stage, changing clothes, using silly puppets, traipsing through the audience. This is a well-honed professional show and she perfectly delivers, somehow getting us to laugh at her pain, until the breakthrough and the reveal of whom she's really trying to sell brings it all home. This is the kind of show that Fringe is made for, and so beautifully done.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Hugo and Maeve Join A Cult!"

Day: 3

Show: 6

Title: Hugo and Maeve Join A Cult!

Category: Comedy / Horror

By: Alex Stokes / Sky Blue Productions

Created by: Brendan Nelson Finn, Abilene Olson, and Alex Stokes

Location: Bryant Lake Bowl

Summary: Twenty-something friends Hugo and Maeve are seduced by chocolate into joining an Oompa Loompa cult in the bowels of the Mall of America.

Highlights: This is just good fringey fun. Liberally sprinkled with Minnesota references, cult references, and Roald Dahl references, it tells the story of these two friends who go to the mall for some Bubba Gump Shrimp and end up in wigs and cloaks, running for their lives. Exhausted from the forced labor of shrimp farming next to the Rainforest Cafe, they find an empty room and livestream their story in the hopes that someone will rescue them. They tell us the bizarre details of their cult, which really are no more bizarre than the real cults they bring to mind (NXIVM, Scientology, Heaven's Gate). Created and directed by Alex Stokes and performed by Abilene Olson and Brendan Nelson Finn (winner of the 2023 TCTB Award for best comedic performance), you're in good hands - these folks know funny. There's a bit of horror, and a fun voiceover cameo, but mostly it's just these two loveable idiots lamenting their fate. It's a short one at about 40 minutes, and I would have happily spent another 10 or 15 minutes with Hugo and Maeve in the basement of the Mall of America.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Dumb Waiter"

Day: 3

Show: 5

Title: The Dumb Waiter

Category: Comedy / Drama / Physical Theater / Political content

By: Jackdonkey Productions

Written by: Harold Pinter

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: A one-act play by British playwright Harold Pinter about two hit-men waiting to do a job.

Highlights: As I've written several times, I don't get Pinter. His plays are so bleak and often absurd, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of it. But maybe because The Dumb Waiter is not a full-length play (Pinter is easier to digest in small bites?), maybe because of Jackdonkey's excellent production, this is my favorite Pinter yet. It has a Waiting for Godot feel, with these two men sitting in a bare room (per the script they're supposed to be sitting on beds but per this Fringe aesthetic they're sitting on stools with a few props in a bucket, which works well), waiting for word from their boss about their next job. They have conversations about nothing (tea and snacks), and talk about past jobs that they can't forget. Ben (Dominic Schiro) is the calmer quieter one, reading a newspaper, while Gus (Robert Wood Frank) is a bit more restless, wandering around, leaving the room to make tea or use the bathroom, filling the silence with chatter. Both actors along with the director Zach Christensen are U of M/Guthrie BFA grads and continue a summer of excellent work by the Guthrie farm team. Everything is crisp, precise, and thoughtful, with the actors, particularly Robert, performing with interesting and specific physicality. The staging, lighting (by Matthew Walsh), costumes, minimal props, and use of the trap door as the dumb waiter are all so cohesive and well done. Fringe is a great place to see new work, but it's also a great place to see excellent new interpretations of established plays, and this is one of those.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "An Honest* History of Bullshit"

Day: 2

Show: 4

Title: An Honest* History of Bullshit

Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Historical content / Political content / Religious content

By: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International

Created by: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International

Location: HUGE Improv Theater

Summary: German comedian Paco Erhard returns to MN Fringe with a new show about, well, bullshit.

Highlights: Paco's 2013 show 5-Step Guide to Being German was one of the top-selling shows, and one of my favorites of the festival. His new show An Honest* History of Bullshit probably won't make my favorites list, but it was still very entertaining. The concept feels much looser than last year's, he only occasionally returns to the idea of bullshit (which he defines as people wanting to believe the stories in their own heads rather than the truth), using it as a very loose framework to tell a bunch of stories, some funnier than others. Like in his last show, he brings an interesting cultural perspective as someone who grew up in Germany, has traveled and lived all over the world, and now resides in LA. He makes jokes about Americans, Germans, and Canadians, talks about how there are certain jokes that work better in Europe than America, or vice versa, and the idea of stereotypes in general. It's a fun standup comedy show with a global perspective.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Holy O"

Day: 2

Show: 3

Title: Holy O

Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Solo Show / Audience participation / LGBTQIA+ Content / Religious content

By: Lauren Hance of Out of Mind Productions

Directed by: Amelia Peterson & Cathy Lam-Patrie

Location: Corner Coffee Uptown

Summary: A solo piece about a nurse who wants to become a nun, that is sweet and uplifting despite the heavy topics of religion, sex, trauma, and loss.

Highlights: Traveling artist Lauren Hance brings her hit show to Minnesota, and you should not miss the chance to see it. Performed at Corner Coffee in Uptown (an easy walk from any of the Uptown Fringe theaters), it's intimate and participatory, but not in a scary way. Vera (short for Veracity ) wakes up from a nap to see all of us sitting there, assuming we're saints. Because since moving next door to a couple of nuns, she's been having weird and rapturous experiences while praying. This leads her to want to become a nun, but she's not sure about giving up the things she'll need to give up. One of which is clothes, so she asks for our help deciding what to keep and what to give away. She offers three choices, each with a story, and someone in the audience chooses one, making this a choose-your-own-adventure type show that is never the same twice. Each story is about herself or someone she's met in her life or career as a midwife and later as a school nurse. Some are funny, some are tragic, all are affecting. Lauren is so good at what she does, taking whatever the audience gives her and making it part of the show. I'm typically not a fan of audience participation, but this works so well, and feels intimate and communal as she looks us in the eyes while telling these stories with real emotion (if you don't want to participate, don't sit in the front row or on the center aisle and don't offer a suggestion, and you'll be fine). She prays for the people whose stories she tells, and blesses audience members who help her, but not in a creepy preachy way, rather in a sweet and loving way that somehow makes you feel healed. Whether or not Vera decides to become a nun - you'll have to see the show to find out.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Show Me Your Wings"

Day: 1

Show: 2

Title: Show Me Your Wings

Category: Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Physical Theater / Puppetry / Storytelling / Audience participation

By: MaMa Faerie Productions

Created by: Rhiannon Fiskradatz

Location: Squirrel Haus Arts

Summary: A multi-media intimate interactive experience about wings, love, identity, and self-expression.

Highlights: In this very personal piece, singer/songwriter/artist Rhiannon Fiskradatz shares her story of becoming herself. She wrote a collection of songs during the pandemic inspired by the idea of wings, which is her personal inspiration in life. She shares several of these songs, along with stories of growing up and becoming the truly unique artist that she is today. Guided by conductor Shanan Custer, The experience starts in lobby of Squirrel Haus Arts (just a quick 10-minute drive from the Cedar-Riverside hub), which is filled with wings-inspired art. Then we follow her into the main performance space in small groups, each one with a short activity (mine was to pick up a book and find an inspirational quote). Then we all gather together for the performance, backed by a fabulous band and four-person ensemble (Marc Berg, Thalia Kostman, Lindsey Oetken, Josh Vogen). The audience sits on mismatched chairs or pillows on the floor, while an artist creates a painting live, and Rhiannon and the ensemble perform little vignettes, each one a story in itself (like the fierce Medusa song), with some really cool physical theater/movement/dance elements (choreography by Thalia Kostman). Rhainnon was given the name MaMa Faerie and it suits her - magical, earthy, airy, maternal, feminist, and eccentric (in the best way). This is a show unlike any other you will see at the Fringe - it's not just a show, it's an experience. On the way out you can take in the exhibits and sensory activities, or add your comments to questions on the wall. It's a lovely and magical community experience that should not be missed.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Peter Pan Cometh"

Day: 1

Show: 1

Title: The Peter Pan Cometh

Category: Comedy / Mystery / Literary adaptation

By: Clevername Theatre

Written by: Alexander Gerchak

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A mash-up of the classic children's story Peter Pan by J.M Barrie with Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh.

Highlights: For the third year in a row, Clevername brings us a mashup of a sweet children's tale with a dark classic play. In 2022 it was Winnie the Pooh and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, 2023 was The Care Bears with Mother Courage and her CHildren, and this year we have perhaps their most clever pairing yet: Peter Pan and The Iceman Cometh. I'm of course very familiar with the former, but not at all with the latter. A quick WIki read tells me it's a bleak existential tale of alcoholics who await visits by a salesman, who tells them they should all quit drinking, oh and by the way he killed his wife. Somehow, the story of a boy who refuses to grow up (inspired by Barrie's brother who died as a child) meshes brilliantly with this existential story of dying dreams. And as with their previous productions, it works because the cast is 100% committed to it, performing as if they're in a serious drama despite playing iconic children's characters high on pixie dust. Hook (Thomas Buan), Smee (Alec Berchem), and Tinkerbell (Isabelle Hopewell) are wallowing in a cove when Peter Pan (Nick Hill) appears in a suit, boater hat, and roll-y shoes, announcing that he's all grown up and they should all give up the dust and join him in London. But then the truth comes out about his life, and Wendy, and it's not happy. But it is very clever, smart, ridiculous, and well executed, with whimsical live glockenspiel music (played by Bradley Kallhoff), spot on character costumes, and some kind of blue sugary powder as the dust.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.