Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites from Years Past

Here's a list of links to all the posts about returning favorites in the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival (alphabetical by show title):

After the End - One T Productions (Scot Froelich, Sheree Froelich) 

Apologies for the Late Reply - Ben San Del 

Bay Creek - Derek Lee Miller

Be Not Afraid - Third Space Theater (Alex Church) 

Buckeroohaiku's Reverse Armando - Button Productions (Ryan Klima) 

Bury The Leads - Special When Lit (Nissa Nordland, Sam Landman)

Cyrano - Small Waves 

Doozy - Dolly Who (Destiny Davison) 

The Importance of Living - Mermaid Productions (Ariel Pinkerton, Tim Uren)

Latin Papi - CuerpoxCuerpo - Gabriel Mata 

The Local Music Scene - JimJam Media (Philip Simondet)

More Better Stories - American School of Storytelling 

Quadrilogy, a Sabathani Benefit Game Show Extravaganza! (Mahmoud Hakima)

A Revolution Highly Favorable - Maximum Verbosity - phillip andrew bennett low 

Road Trip! - Chris Davis 

Silent Movie! - The Improv Movement Project (Mark Benzel, Sean Dillon, Victoria Pyan)

Small Minded - Tyler West 

Soap Prov: Show of 10,000 Secrets (Jex Arzayus, Mahmoud Hakima)

Sound and Noise and Bodies - Octoberdandy Productions (Jen Scott)

the statue of liberty is nora in a doll's house by henrik ibsen - SUPERMOON (Caleb Matthew Byers, Claudia Errickson, Mads Plonski, Michael Torsch 

Stories from the Trauma Dump (Jex Arzayus, Allison Broeren, Shanan Custer, Mahmoud Hakima, Rev. Matt Kessen, Nissa Nordland, Ariel Pinkerton, Duck Washington)

Tech - Mike Fotis 

Witness Loudly - Kyle B. Dekker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Derek Lee Miller - Bay Creek

Horror is not my thing, so it is a high compliment that for Derek Lee Miller, I will sit through a solo horror show.

Bay Creek

Description: 
Four generations of smugglers from the river bottoms of Pike County, IL deal with their legacy of violence and crime, and the terrifying entity they accidentally smuggled over the veil from the other side.
Venue - Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Content Warnings - Horror, Solo Show, Storytelling
Genre and Content - Adult Language, Drug Content, Loud Noises, Violence
Ages 16 and Up

The press materials add:

“‘Bay Creek’ is an original solo horror show by Derek Lee Miller set in the playwright's actual home county in Illinois, based in part on family stories and local legends. It explores Mississippi River culture, smuggling, and the cycle of violence within families through a supernatural thriller. The show premiered at the Green Bay Fringe, where it won the Boomerang Award, and ran in the Twin Cities Horror Festival. Cherry and Spoon described it as "a good old-fashioned ghost story, brilliantly written and performed," and The Stages of MN said, "Miller is never less than completely hypnotizing."

The More Information tab for this show page says, among other things:

“Bay Creek is a work of fiction, but Pike County, Illinois is a real place. I'm from there. No, it's  not anywhere near Chicago. According to family lore, my great-grandfather really did smuggle liquor across the Mississippi River. There are signs on some river bridges really warning that smuggling cigarettes across state lines is a crime. There really was a very public shooting in a cafe in Pittsfield back in the '50s. My dad really did once tell me "There's bodies buried out in those fields they'll never find." My mom says she really has seen ghosts. A lot of people in Pike County will tell you the same. That being said, this play is entirely a work of fiction. Really.

To get a flavor of the kinds of supernatural stories people down there tell, I would recommend reading ‘Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois’ by John W. Allen, but I fear I may be one of the few people left with a physical copy.”

Derek landed at the top of pre-Fringe Top 10 list back in 2006 alongside the rest of his compatriots in Perpetual Motion Theater Company when they performed their play “The Depth of the Ocean” (aka, that Fringe show on a life raft in the lap pool of a YWCA - which is now closed, but that’s the pandemic’s fault, not the Fringe’s :)

In discussing Derek’s solo show "The Banana Wars," I once posted, “[Derek] still makes me feel like an unread philistine most of the time but he doesn’t judge so it’s fine.”  People who are smarter and more multi-talented than I am both intimidate and fascinate me.  I like watching them cook.  And Derek’s been creating great theater, on his own and in collaboration with bunches of other talented stage artists, for quite a few Fringes now.  You don’t have to take my word for it, just peruse his bio…

"Derek is a long-time Fringe performer now on his 22nd year in a row at Minnesota Fringe, where he has been an actor, writer, designer, musician and whatever else needs to be done to make the show happen. You may have seen him at Fringe 
with Sandbox Theatre in “June of Arc” and “Marie-Jeanne Valet, Who Defeated la Bete du Gevaudan;” 
with Transatlantic Love Affair in “Ballad of the Pale Fisherman,” “Ash Land,” “Red Resurrected,” “These Old Shoes,” “105 Proof” and “5x5;”
with The Winding Sheet Outfit in “Blood Nocturne,” “You Are Cordially Invited to the Life and Death of Edward Lear,” “Stabby Stab Stab,” “Årsgång” and “The Spirit Moves You to Color the Unseen,” 
or in his solo shows “Know Your B-Movie Actors” and “The Banana Wars.” 
You can also catch him again at this year's festival in “A Confluence of Magical Arseholes”

Originally from Pike County in west central Illinois, Derek earned a BFA in acting from Millikin University, and has been a resident of the Twin Cities since 2003. 
He is the former Artistic Director of Sandbox Theatre 
and a founding ensemble member of Transatlantic Love Affair. 
He also illustrated the children's book ‘The Princess in the Clouds.’
You can see more about what Derek has gotten up to in the past at derekleemiller.com
and if you want to know what he's doing when he's not on stage, you can follow along as he continues to build an overly-complicated cabin in the woods at The Birchlands”

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

 

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Special When Lit - Bury The Leads

This is another one of those “two favorite artists in one” kind of production situations at the Fringe.

First there’s Special When Lit, Nissa Nordland’s entity for producing the shows she creates.

And the other half of this improv duo for "Bury The Leads" is Sam Landman, who was memorable as Colonel Sanders in Special When Lit’s “Finger Lickin’ Good” when they landed on my pre-Fringe Top 10 List in 2022.

But Sam was also on a pre-Fringe Top 10 List himself back in 2010 with his hilariously inappropriate comedy “A Sad Carousel” which spawned an equally amusing sequel last year, “A Sad Carousel 2: The Timely Death of Herschel Douscheberg.”

Meanwhile last year, Special When Lit took a break from the horror genre to revisit Nissa’s teenage years in high school, which I guess is another kind of horror for some of us, but she naturally created a very weird and funny show  called “Fangs and Bangs (and Sangs)” revisiting her journals and sexy vampire fan fiction writing from the time, with music numbers and special guests to help her do “dramatic” readings.  Great fun.

Nissa and Sam have been working on this new long-form improv concept over the past year but I haven’t yet had a chance to catch it in action, so I’m very happy they’re bringing it to the Fringe so I can finally get my butt in the theater to see it.

Bury The Leads

Description: 
Meet Clyde & Faye, two character actors navigating an industry of auditions, rejections, bit parts and false starts. Sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy, it's improv so grounded, it seems scripted.
Venue - Mixed Blood
Content Warnings - Adult language, Crude Humor, Sexual content
Genre and Content - Comedy, Drama, Improv, Audience Participation
Ages 16 and Up

The press packet has some great detail about the genesis of the project:

“Two character actors navigating the business of show and life in a unique long form improv format. 

It all started with an unsuccessful film audition. Afterwards, Sam & Nissa commiserated about being consistently cast in character roles. So, they developed an improv set that focused on them as the leads, despite not being traditional leading actors. While this show leans into the ridiculous aspects of show business, audiences say that there’s a relatable quality of striving to be the main character yet never achieving it. If that sounds melancholy, that’s why this structured, long form improv is unique. It’s not always meant to be comedic in the same way life isn’t meant to be.”

And as usual both artists’ bios are informative as well as entertaining to read:

"Nissa Nordland
Faye/Co-creator/Producer
Nissa Nordland (she/her) is an actor, writer, improviser, producer and musician in the Twin Cities. She is the Artistic Director of Twin Cities Horror Festival; founder of Special When Lit; company member of Theatre Pro Rata; member of the Playwright's Cabal, alum mainstage cast member/writer of the Brave New Workshop and co-creator of improv duo Bury The Leads. She's received honors from the Atlanta Fringe Festival for Writing and has been a Finalist for the McKnight Fellowship in Playwrighting (2023, 2024 & 2026). Nissa is represented by Ruggiero Models and Talent as on-camera talent. Her recent Minnesota Fringe credits include: Xena & Gabrielle Smash the Patriarchy (writer/Gabrielle), Finger Lickin' Good (co-writer/chicken ensemble/producer), Stabby Stab Stab (writer/co-producer/Morgan), and Fangs and Bangs (& Sangs) (writer/producer/performer). In the acting world, Nissa has been compared to lots of redheads, including Alyson Hannigan, Lucille Ball, Jessica Chastain, Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) and the nude oracle from 300. Nissa thinks Anne Hathaway is overrated. 100%. You can’t convince her otherwise. She's not sorry. You hate her now. Don’t debate her at Fringe Central tonight. Nissa can also be seen in the August 6th performance of Stories From the Trauma Dump.

Sam Landman
Clyde/Co-Creator
Sam’s one of those annoying performers who bops between “legitimate” theater and improvisational “make-‘em-ups.” He’s acted with many companies over the years, including Yellow Tree Theatre, History Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Sandbox Theatre, Theatre Pro Rata, plus a bunch of other theaters with the word “theatre” in them. On the improv side, he’s been cast in the long-running, two-act show, Family Dinner for several holiday seasons, first at HUGE, then at the Brave New Workshop. Sam has also been in a few improv shows at Strike Theater, specifically “Holiday Office Party” and “Wish You Were Here,” a show about grief. All of these acting experiences have prepared him to create (and perform in) an improv format like Bury The Leads. Actors he’s usually compared to are Richard Dreyfuss, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Wilford Brimley, and the kid from “A Christmas Story.” In terms of an overrated actor, he’s sticking with his stock answer: Sinbad.”

It sounds like this is just the kind of real, human comedy I’m going to enjoy, so I’m very much looking forward to it.

 

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

  

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - The Improv Movement Project - Silent Movie!

The Improv Movement Project (all movement, no words) was created by Mark Benzel and Sean Dillon

Benzel was in the previously mentioned “Clown Funeral” last year, while Dillon was in my pre-Fringe Top 10 last year presenting another improvisational concept alongside Michael DallaValle in “Final Dress.”

Victoria Pyan is another a member of the IMP ensemble, and her theater company Little Lifeboats was in my pre-Fringe Top 10 back in 2015.

The IMP cast of improvisers also includes John Hilsen (Music Director and Musican providing the musical accompaniment to the proceedings) and Mandi Bedbury, Rachel Buhman, Evie Digirolamo, Elizabeth Dunn, Luke Fanning, Gregory Parks, and Erin Sheppard.

My response to their 2024 show “Collidescope” was “super inventive improv with no words, just musical accompaniment; very physical group of improvisors; extremely amusing, even if there were a handful of times I had no idea what was going on :) - 4.5 stars”

So the idea of a silent movie framework is pretty much perfect for these folks.  

Silent Movie! in Actual 3-D
Description:
What happens when you get a group of physical improvisers to make a movie – but without the sets, lights, costumes, props, crew, dialogue . . . or movie. A new genre-smashing cinematic epic each performance.
Venue - Barker Center
Content Warnings - Gun/Weapon Usage, Violence
Genre and Content - Clowning, Improv, Comedy, Drama, Original Music, Physical Theater, Non-Verbal
Ages 7 to 11 and Up

The press packet materials provide a bit more information:

“A new/spontaneous/physical/speechless "cinematic" journey created live on stage each performance.

The award-winning Improv Movement Project's company of clowns, dancers, mimes, acrobats, improvisers, and movement-theater mavens is turning its eyes toward the movies! Starting from a randomly-selected mash-up of genres, they'll use their bodies to give us everything we love about the cinema: The epic stories! The jaw-dropping action! Even the inspired camera work! It's all improvised -- created collaboratively in real time -- without a single spoken word, and set to a musical score created at the very same time!”

Their More Information tab on the show page also has some helpful background about who they are:

“The Improv Movement Project was founded by Sean Dillon and Mark Benzel in 2023, on the conviction that bodies — all bodies— are capable of beautiful, profound, hilarious communication that too often gets drowned out on stage by the primacy of the spoken word. So we've made it our mission to help the Twin Cities theater and improv scenes become more body-centric through performing and teaching word-free improvisation. We are joined in this work by a standing, moving, expanding company of artists drawn from a variety of performance disciplines — among them improv, dance, mime, clown, acrobatics, aerial silks, and devised physical theater.

Our inaugural production Collidescope was a last-minute add and a Golden Lanyard winner at the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival, declared "Fringey AF." We collaborated with Strike Theater on The Walls in the 2025 Twin Cities Horror Festival, and have enjoyed performing at a variety of venues across the Twin Cities and beyond.”

I’m super curious to see how this concept plays out.

 

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

 

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Octoberdandy Productions - Sound and Noise and Bodies

Octoberdandy Productions is Jen Scott, and last year she landed on my pre-Fringe Top 20 list by gathering a handful of her clowning, improv comedy friends and together they created “Clown Funeral,” which is exactly what the title says, a funeral for a clown, attended by clowns.  If you had the pleasure of seeing it, as I did, then you know how delightfully odd it was.  If you didn’t see it, you really can’t imagine just how strange the ceremony was.  My 5-star online mini-review barely scratches the surface but it gives you a taste:

“red noses for all! 4 distinctive clowns, a lecturing banana, a dolly cart that is also Dolly Parton, a corpse with a surprise, a reading of a will as insult comedy, audience singalongs, the most amusing funeral I've had the pleasure to attend (HONK!); 5 stars”

This year, Jen returns to the venue of Theatre in the Round with a multi-disciplinary solo show called “Sound and Noise and Bodies” and it may have more genre tags in its description that it does details about the show itself :)

Description: 
Fringe veteran Jen Scott presents a one-person storytelling show, a music-show, a bit of a clown show, all about being human and maybe being heard.
Venue - Theatre in the Round (TRP)
Content Warnings - Adult Language, Other Divisive Content
Genre and Content - Clowning, Comedy, Drama, Improv, Original Music, Solo Show, Spoken Word, Storytelling, Audience Participation, Historical Content
Ages 12 to 15 and Up

Fear not, there’s a bit more detail on the show in the press packet for clues:

“Local performer, producer, musician and Fringe veteran Jen Scott has been creating work in the Twin Cities for over 25 years. She's worked in improv, interactive theater, scripted theater, children's theater, informal science education, and writes a song a week under the 'band' name Penny and the Bandits. In 2011, she married, and was lucky enough to start a family, with a deaf French scientist... and what does that mean? 

Jen jumps from autobiographical stories to characters to original music, puzzling around what it means to be heard, seen, and hopefully understood. Sound and Noise and Bodies is at times funny, sweet, sad, heartfelt, and dumb in the best way.”

That’s really all I need to know.  I’m there.

If you need further convincing, here’s Jen’s bio, and that of her director Levi Weinhagen, another regular on pre-Fringe Top 10 lists of the past - who of course has his own separate show, which is mentioned here and I’ll get to in another post :)

“Jen Scott
Creator, Writer, Songwriter
Jen Scott (she/her) is a Twin Cities based theater maker and teaching artist. She's worked as an actor, improviser, performer, playwright, director, storyteller, talk show host, producer, and musician. She's taught theater and art making for a long time, and has a special love for the Twin Cities improvised theater scene. She’s a COMPAS teaching artist, has been an artist-in-residence at Pillsbury House + Theater, and also has taught for HUGE Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Park Square Theatre, the Brave New Workshop, and others. She performs regularly around the Cities, from everything to storytelling shows to improv shows to dressed as a giant penguin for Art Shanties. You can also catch Jen and her millions of 2 minute songs at pennyandthebandits.com. Jen also produces Bring Your Kids, a comedy variety show for kids and their grown ups. All of this and more can be found at octoberdandy.com.

Levi Weinhagen
Director
Levi is a longtime theater maker, comedy writer, improviser, performer, producer, and teaching artist. He’s a Brave New Workshop alum and co-founder of Comedy Suitcase, a Twin Cities-based theater company dedicated to making smart, emotionally grounded comedy for audiences of all ages.  Over the years, Levi's created original theatrical work, podcasts, essays, workshops, and performances that explore identity, relationships, parenting, justice, vulnerability, aging, masculinity, and the absurdity of being human. His work has ranged from performances for preschool audiences to facilitation with educators, community organizations, and leaders.  Levi has a show in the Fringe! He and his wife, Laura Zabel, created Empty Nest, a live comedy show about marriage, parenting, identity shifts, aging, and transition — an attempt to find humor and tenderness inside major life changes.”

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

 

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Mike Fotis - Tech

Speaking of improvisation, here’s yet another great reason to get out to Strike Theater and see a show this Fringe season (I’ve already covered two other, very different, great reasons to go, and this show just adds to the pile of great stuff we have in store at Strike)

Once again, as with last Fringe’s 5-star improvised one-act comedy Rec League, and 2024’s Camp Out, and 2023’s The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers, Mike Fotis has gathered a crew of the very best improv comedians - Rita Boersma, Amber Bjork, Shanan Custer, Tim Hellendrung, Anna Hickey Fotis, Nels Lennes, Jim Robinson, James Rone (and Mike Fotis himself, of course).  With Mike directing, the group has been playing around with yet another concept for an improvised one-act, this time diving into the bowels of the theatrical creation process itself.

As the show image says: Tech: The Show Opens Tomorrow - It’s Not Looking Good.

Description: 
This year's Fringe show opens tomorrow. The props are assembled. The actors have memorized (most of) their lines. The director has blocked the show. There’s only one thing left to do…TECH THE SHOW.
Venue - Strike Theater
Content Warnings - Adult Language
Genre and Content - Comedy, Improv
Ages 16 and Up

Some further amusing context from their show page:

“What happens when everything you're working on falls apart? Does it even matter? What keeps us creating art as we move through adulthood? ....It's sure as fuck not the money.  An improvised one act devised to feel like a documentary live on stage.”

Theater people will probably laugh the loudest, but I know next to nothing about baseball, camping or creating a television miniseries and I laughed my butt off at Fotis’ last three shows listed above.  I’m expecting everyone will get plenty of guffaws out of this Fringe show, whether you’ve ever set foot onstage or backstage or not.

Very much looking forward to it.  There are few sure things at a Fringe, but a Mike Fotis show has to be on that short list.  Fotis has been too prolific an artist for anyone to have caught every single thing he’s ever done on stage, but from a few years before Mike landed on my pre-Fringe Top 10 list back in 2007, I’ve tried to catch as many Mike Fotis productions as I can, because I need the laughs, and I appreciate his jaundiced eye for the absurdities of life, and his open heart toward the flawed human beings we all are, just trying to get to the other side of whatever we’re currently stuck in the middle of.

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

 

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Mahmoud Hakima (3 of 3) - Soap Prov: Show of 10,000 Secrets

Post #1 was about Mahmoud Hakima as producer

Post #2 was about Mahmoud Hakima as storyteller.

And the last of this little trilogy of posts is about Mahmoud Hakima as an improviser.

This Fringe show is also the return of last year’s pre-Fringe Top 10 artist Jex Arzayus, this time unscripted rather than scripted.

Soap Prov: Show of 10,000 Secrets

Description: 
An improvised soap opera inspired by audience suggestions. Our cast will create a show filled with your favorite soap opera tropes: steamy affairs, family betrayals, love triangles, seduction, and so much more!
Venue - Rarig Xperimental
Content Warnings - Adult Language, Sexual Content
Genre and Content - Comedy, Drama, Improv, Physical Theater, Audience Participation, LGBTQIA+ Content
Ages 16 and Up

I have seen a Soap Prov outing before, during the closing weeks of HUGE theater as a venue in Uptown (RIP)

The group also has a trailer of the concept for a sampling of the kind of thing they’re up to:


Mahmoud is part of the troupe in this go-round, along with Jex, Rachel Buhman, Alexis Camille, Wesley Erickson, Laura Hild, Ora Hues, Simone LeClaire, Danielle Lynch, and Robby Miller.

While I also enjoy the fun of soap opera seriously, it is also quite easy to lampoon, so the Soap Prov improvisers have a lot of fertile ground to till here.  I’m curious to see what they’re up to this time, and whether we get a sprawling soap opera across all five performances, or a self-contained melodrama in each one.  Either way, should be amusing.

 

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

 

  

Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Mahmoud Hakima (2 of 3) - Stories From the Trauma Dump

Post #1 was about Mahmoud Hakima as producer

This post is about Mahmoud Hakima as storyteller, and part of an all-star line-up of storytellers to boot.

Phoenix Theater this year is once again a venue for independent Fringe producers but they have a unifying theme. 

“Effecting Social Metamorphosis



This production is a part of the Social Butterfly Project, an IP collaborative promoting Mental Health Awareness.


Working within the framework of the MN Fringe Festival, August 6-16, 2026, Social Butterfly Project aims to connect audiences to a variety of mental health experiences, both on and off the stage. With the help of Fringe Producers and Mental Health organizations, we look to build an environment that engages visitors emotionally, providing experiences to include shows, activities, resources, and support, in order to encourage new perspectives, grow empathy, and provide awareness and support on mental health issues.



Mission statement: The Social Butterfly Project believes that art encourages empathy and empathy encourages change. Our mission is to engage audiences with diverse voices on a variety of social topics, using theater as a catalyst to inspire new perspectives and transform the world.”

For this entry, host Jena Young, under the banner of 7 Stories Tall, has assembled quite the team of rotating storytellers:

Stories from the Trauma Dump (A Comedic Take On Mental Health) – 7 Stories Tall
Description
A collective storytelling show featuring local artists sharing humorous tales around mental health. Personal or fantastical, these stories aim to share experience and possibly find catharsis through comedy.
Venue – Phoenix Theater
Content Warnings – Abuse/Physical Violence, Adult Language, Crude Humor, Drug Content, Mental Illness, Sexual Content, Suicidal Ideation/Self-Harm, Violence, Other Divisive Content
Genre and Content – Comedy, Spoken Word, Storytelling
Ages 18 and Up Only

“7 Stories Tall is very excited to produce Stories From the Trauma Dump. Each show will feature a handful of storytellers, hosted by Jena Young. Each show has a different mix of storytellers, and times can rage anywhere from 50-60 minutes. 



Content Warning: Each show is likely to contain difficult and possibly triggering topics including abuse and/or violence of various kinds and degrees. We urge each individual to gage their own needs. You are welcome to leave and re-enter; we ask that you be mindful of other in the audience as you are able.”

You can see the full day to day lineup on the More Information tab of their show page, but honestly, you could pick any day’s lineup and random and get a fantastic roster of storytellers, including Mahmoud Hakima, of course, but also:

Jex Arzayus (about to be name-checked in the 3rd Mahmoud Hakima-related post coming up, and a returning favorite from my pre-Fringe Top 10 list just last year)

Allison Broeren (already name-checked in a post for another show this Fringe as a returning favorite)

Shanan Custer (another returnee from pre-Fringe Top 10 Lists past, this time 2014, guaranteed laughs and heart no matter what she’s doing or who she’s collaborating with, which I have gone on about at length year after year after year)

Rev. Matt Kessen (the monster scientist who never fails to be erudite, sardonic, and dryly hilarious, part of my pre-Fringe Top Ten list in 2023)

Nissa Nordland (about to be name-checked in an upcoming returning favorites post for the Fringe this year, another pre-Fringe Top 10 entry for 2022 through their horror/comedy group Special When Lit)

Ariel Pinkerton (also already name-checked in a post for another show this Fringe as a returning favorite)

Duck Washington (also already name-checked in a post for another show this Fringe as a returning favorite)

And that’s just the people I know in this roster of storytelling heavyweights.  There’s also Houa Moua and 
Rian Vellichor.

Given this cast of characters, it seems impossible there’s going to be anything but great performances, no matter which day and time you choose.  A great reason to get out to the Phoenix, perhaps more than once this Fringe just for this show alone, much less all the other shows on the schedule for this venue.

 

Interested in hearing about other artists I recommend based on past outings in the Fringe? Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.