Putting together my Fringe schedule has been a more challenging puzzle in recent years, partly because my brain still thinks it’s planning for two. But I don’t have to take into account the distance between venues in quite the same way anymore, because I’m not taking my mother’s rate of speed walking into the equation anymore. Or rather, I shouldn’t be. Because I’m on my own. So I think part of my brain is also stalling, not wanting to engage. But the festival is upon us, so I need to get planning (and have been, nearly done plotting out the opening weekend at least).
Opening night on Thursday 7/31 actually turned out to be simpler than expected. Even though literally every slot holds a brand new show because I’ve seen nothing yet, I did have a show I wanted to anchor the evening on. I really wanted to see A Good Cancer To Have. And then it turned out, oh, I want to see all the other shows at that same venue that night, so why don’t I just stay put? Ease into the Fringe, and save the running around for Saturday and Sunday, when I’ve got my Fringe legs under me.
A Good Cancer To Have is at Mixed Blood at 7pm on Thursday 7/31 - first on my returning favorites list.
I’ve already mentioned two other new pre-Fringe Top 10 shows, both of which also happen to be at Mixed Blood and take place right after A Good Cancer To Have:
8:30pm - The Kendra Plant Variety Hour: Good Things Edition! with Special Guests (#4 out of 10)
10pm - La Tunda: A Reimagining of a Colombian Folklore (#7 out of 10)
But what starts the night, you ask?
How am I beginning the Fringe theater marathon of the next 11 days at 5:30pm on Thursday 7/31 at Mixed Blood Theater?
Why, with farts, of course.
A Completely Serious and Not At All Comedic Review of Farts, Flatus, and Flatulence, aka The Fart Show
Kyle B. Dekker
Created by A Sixth Grader
Venue: Mixed Blood
Show Description:
Professors Poot and Toot, who are completely serious and not at all comedic scientists welcome you to a completely serious and factual presentation of flatulence in both biology and its practical uses.
Malcom Dekker has long watched his father create shows for the Minnesota Fringe and beyond. After viewing a series of shows one staurday afternoon, young Malcom asked his father if they could create a show for Fringe about the history of farts. This has been brewing for a while and it's about to erupt.
Physical comedy and immature humor created by a 6th grade child. Fartastic fun for all ages.
Genre & Content:
Clowning, Comedy, Physical Theater, Audience Participation
Warnings:
Crude Humor, Loud Noises
According to the bios on their Fringe show page:
Malcolm Dekker, creator of the show, aka Professor Toot, has been attending shows at the Minnesota Fringe since he was 18 months old. He loves physical theater and comedy so much his giggles have been heard from the audience many times at Fringe Venues. After seeing three shows one Saturday at the 2023 Fringe said he wanted to do his own show about "The History of Farts, and it should have classical music in it." Two years of pitching ideas and two shots at the Fringe Lottery and Malcom's vision has arrived on stage! This is Malcolm's stage debut. Malcolm loves Lego, physics, and video games. He will be a 7th grader in the Saint Paul Public School system this fall.
Kyle B. Dekker, Malcolm’s father, was on my pre-Fringe Top 20 list in 2023 after impressing the hell out of me (pardon the pun) with his fantastic solo show the year before, He-Man Is The Devil and Other Satanic Panic Tales. Kyle, aka Professor Poot, gets a ton of extra points in the parenting department for encouraging the creativity of the next generation.
As an example of their show’s fervor for the classics, for their Fringe preview, Professors Poot and Toot accompanied Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (which most of us just know as “that song from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the countless parodies that followed) on whoopee cushions:
(I love that the spellcheck function on my computer insisted, “You’re spelling whoopee cushion incorrectly, it’s whoopee, not whoopie.”)
This show will be a delightful way to begin my Fringing adventure this year.
Good luck following the fart show, Sam Sweere.
Here’s some handy links to my Fringe Top 10, Top 11 to 20 and Returning Favorites lists for this year, as well as all the coverage of this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival.
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