If there’s one company on this list that needs absolutely no help from me in generating buzz and crowds, it would be Melancholics Anonymous. This nod is, like at least one entry on my top 10 list every year, way overdue, something that inspires responses like “Well, duh, of course” or “Wait, they’ve never been on your list before, how did that happen?”
Joan of Arc for Miss Teen USA
Melancholics Anonymous
Venue: Rarig Thrust
Show Description:
A South Dakotan beauty pageant goes off the rails when Joan of Arc suddenly appears 588 years after her execution with a new mission from God: to be crowned Miss Teen Queen USA.
Melancholics Anonymous, a Minnesota Fringe success story, return to the festival for their 7th consecutive year. Founded at the 2019 festival by two artists at St. Olaf College, the company has become champions of new work and home to 10 core multidisciplinary artists. Having earned five Golden Lanyard awards for previous shows such as “A Girl Scout’s Guide to Exorcism,” the Melancholics will present their biggest romp yet with “Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA.” Prepare for a divine comedy as Midwestern pageant queens come face to face with Jeanne d’Arc.
A glitzy new satirical romp! Inspired by films including “Drop Dead Gorgeous” and “Miss Congeniality,” “Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA” is a fiercely feminist skewering of the pageant industry and a love letter to the ultimate teenage girlboss in history.
(Think TLC's “Toddlers & Tiaras,” but all grown up with excessive glitter and angst and a holy goose.)
“Shall I rise from the dead, and come back to you a living woman?
…Must I burn again? Are none of you ready to receive me?”
- Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Genre & Content:
Comedy, Drama, Original Music, Puppetry, Historical Content, LGBTQIA+ Content, Political Content, Religious Content
Warnings: Adult Language, Blood, Crude Humor, Loud Noises, Violence
How it happened that they’ve never been on this list before I can explain. Melancholics Anonymous’ aesthetic and mine don’t always align. I saw them for the first time during the virtual Fringe in 2020 and that kind of put me off their work until a friend was in their show “Five Lesbians Eating A Quiche” (which was also weird but very well done so it didn’t fully put me off in quite the same way). And then for things like “A Girl Scout’s Guide To Exorcism” and “Beanie Baby Divorce Play,” they definitely didn’t need me in the audience, they were packing the place all on their own. I recently saw their production outside of the Fringe of “Bart and Arnie” and quite liked it.
There’s been a lot of crossover between Melancholics Anonymous and Threshold Theater over the past year or so. Timothy Kelly was easily the brightest talent in Threshold’s annual Coming Out Cabaret and fundraiser last fall. Claire Chenoweth served as intimacy/fight coordinator on Threshold’s recent production of my play “Spellbound.” And Threshold Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove is in the Joan of Arc cast so… all kinds of good reasons for me to see it - that is, if I can get a ticket. And if I can’t, good for them, it means yet again, they don’t need any help from me. But they’re on the Top 10 list anyway.
And here’s their trailer for the show:
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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