Fringe 2009 - Top 10 - #3 - June of Arc

"He was always there. Such a gentleman. So clean."

If you held a gun to my head and I could only see 10 Fringe shows, what would they be and why?

#3

Sandbox Theatre

June of Arc

Take a peek under the apron of the paragon of motherly virtue - June Cleaver! Go beyond the Jell-O and pearls to reveal her shield of cookie-plated resentment. Love, resentment, comedy, aviation, snickerdoodles: this show has it all. With live-action 1950s commercials!

You will never see June Cleaver in the same way again.

This a first-time appearance for Sandbox Theatre in the Fringe and I'm very excited. Like Bedlam Theatre and their production of "Terminus," Sandox has all kinds of goodwill from me as a theatergoer still carrying over from "War With The Newts" a couple of years back. It was deeply cool, and a lot of fun. That, and the beautiful "What Remains" are two things I evaluated for the Ivey Awards, and so sadly, I don't have anything public printed about them. But I liked them a hell of a lot. Other things that Sandbox has been up to that I've seen include Zelda Wonderland, Koogoomanooki, and The Horse, The Bird, The Monkey & The Dancer.

Pretty much every time I think I know what they're going to do, I'm wrong. So I just stop trying to predict, sit back, and enjoy. They're always full of surprises.

Their Fringe ambassador in the company this time out is probably Derek Miller, who as part of Perpetual Motion Theater Company produced some of my favorite Fringe shows in recent memory, including the "Fringe show in a pool" - The Depth of the Ocean, and last year's scrappy semi-musical One Night Only With Mike Mahoney.

This time out, June Cleaver and 1950s TV ads get the treatment.

(Now, I'm a little behind in my viewing, but I have at least seen season one of "Mad Men" - so I think I've got this 50s advertising plus cookie-plated resentment of the 50s housewife patter down. But again, I'm probably wrong. So we'll just see what they've got up their sleeve.)

With Heather Stone as June, Ryan Hill as Ward, Derek Miller as Wally, and Matthew Glover as The Beaver, we're sure to be in for it. Whatever it is. Can't wait to find out.

Hmmm... this quote in their press blurbs sounds familiar...

"A work-in-progress from Sandbox still beats many theaters' efforts on established scripts... Once you see one Sandbox production, you're hooked for the next."
-mnartists.org on The Horse, the Bird, the Monkey and the Dancer

Oh yeah... now I remember...

What can I say? It's still true.

Their website - www.aboutthisplay.com

Their show page

And of course, their Fringe-For-All preview...