Fringe Day 8, Part 1 - August 13, 2004, 1:00pm

Before Dark
The Live Action Set with Theatrical Music Co.
Minneapolis Theatre Garage

I have to be honest. If I didn't already know three out of the four performers in this show, I might have been really uncomfortable. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. But I can understand why some folks in the audience might have been a little perplexed. Having a Bomb Builder listed in the program doesn't exactly put one at ease, for starters.

This show is sort of the polar opposite of the show this group presented last year at the Fringe, called Exposure. That piece was also original and thought-provoking and blended dance, performance, music and text in very interesting and unusual ways - but it stayed clearly on the performers' side of the fourth wall. There was no audience participation - or co-mingling of the acting space and the spectator space.

In Before Dark, there was no hiding behind the fourth wall that would protect the audience from direct contact with the actors.

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't a bad thing. Just very different from what I was expecting. Good for them - both for confounding me and for pushing the envelope and trying something new.

One isn't entirely sure the show has started at first. It might be a drunken homeless person who walked in off the street. You're relieved when you realize it must be an actor trying to engage you in conversation. (Because I recognized Galen Treuer, I was probably one up on most of the audience, but not for long).

Megan Odell, in bandito garb complete with a bandolier of bullets strapped across her chest, placed all manner of peculiar devices under various audience members' seats - to be recalled later in her battles her pirate nemesis Sweet Dickie (Treuer).

These two cross paths with a Working Mom, portrayed by Vanessa Voskuil, constantly struggling with a resistant tower of luggage items, and a Postman, portrayed by Noah Bremer, who lucklessly pursues her, and marks the change of seasons (culminating in a lovely winter snowfall at the end).

Recorded music, along with live music (and slides) provided by keyboardist Rebecca Disrud, is the accompaniment for this non-linear set of interludes - some of which build on one another to form an episodic story arc of sorts, others of which stand alone as mini-dramas of their own. One never knows what is just around the corner.

For instance, I certainly didn't expect Galen to draft me out of the audience, put me in a pirate hat and have me strut about, then suit me up in a too small pirate jacket and step into a large empty chest. There are certainly worse things to do than spend time with a dancer who looks like Galen, even with his off-kilter drunken pirate hair. After a little poking and prodding, I was handed an array of props - pirate flag to wave, pirate beer cozy, martini glass, toy panda, banana. Upon being asked to sit in the box, I started to wonder if they were going to close it on me. But it was basically just to get me out of the way as he and Noah danced about and did some spit takes with a bottle of wine. After a few minutes of this, the Working Mom came out, discovered me, relieved me of my pirate burdens and returned me to my seat.

Other audience members needed to toss the bomb-like devices from under their chairs on request, or relinquish their purses and wallets (all dutifully returned at the end of the show) - so in a way I got off easy? Maybe? Fourth wall, why have you forsaken me?

I may not always understand what they're doing, but it's fascinating to watch. It works on an almost subliminal level, beyond words. Just like last year, the final feeling one is left with is one of gentleness and reconciliation. That's OK by me.

The Live Action Set is already in collaboration with two other groups on two new projects. One coming up in late fall/early winter is with a music group called Spaghetti Westerns, if I remember correctly. Though I'm not eager to make another appearance onstage, I do trust them to take good care of me if I do, and to entertain and inspire me, regardless of where that fourth wall may be hiding.

Sorry I didn't find them earlier in the Fringe, so I could recommend them to more people, but I'm very happy I got to catch this next stage in their development.

To get on their mailing list to know what they're up to throughout the year, send a message to theliveactionset@yahoo.com

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)