Fringe 2004 Early Buzz - Top 10 - Knock!
 
If You Held A Gun To My Head (7 of 10)
...or If I Could Only See Ten Fringe Shows...
...what would they be, and why?

Knock!
Theatre Latte Da
Loring Playhouse

I just think Jim Lichtscheidl is one of the funniest human beings alive. And because he's funny, he's underrated. He's just as talented, if not more so, than some actors who deal mainly in dramatic roles. Theatres around town, like the Guthrie, hire him regularly (Pirates of Penzance, Six Degrees of Seperation) because of it.

(And I'd say all that even if he weren't the linchpin in the very first professional production of one of my plays back in the closing years of the 20th century.)

This creation of his is just another example of how inspired his work is. He's been honing this performance hybrid he calls "storieography" for a few years now in late night cabarets and fundraisers, developing snippets of what is now evolving into a Fringe-sized story. Now he has the team of Theatre Latte Da, led by Peter Rothstein, in his corner. This only increases my good opinion of the production's potential.

Storieography is basically performance (with very little dialogue) set to established pieces of music. For the Fringe, Jim is teaching the technique to a group of actors who will be on stage with him, telling the comic tale through primarily movement rather than words.

It promises to be a most entertaining evening. I can't wait.

Learn more about them at www.theaterlatteda.org

On this day in Fringe history, "People who scheduled this also scheduled" such shows as: Assassins, Look Ma No Pants, Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat, Whoppers, and These Pumps Are Killing Me. So...musical presidential assassins, improv and spoken word folks, Kevin Kling...ok, music, comedy, solo work, gotcha...female impersonator. Hmmm...(ok, I give - it's also music, comedy, and solo work, just with a man in a dress).

For a look a the rest of my evolving New Top Ten (If You Held A Gun To My Head and I could only see ten fringe shows, what would they be and why), click below:

Death Penalty Puppetry
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Metamorphoses
Philosophy: The Music of Ben Folds
The Judas Cradle
On The Beaded Fringe 2: Traveling In Hip Circles

Plus, 3 Sure Things (shows from artists on my top ten last year that are back again this year)

Plants and Animals
In Defense of Sin (My Friends' Best Stories)
Whoppers, from Kevin Kling

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