Fringe 2022 - Returning Favorites - Mason Tyer and Andrew Rosdail

Peace Retreat – New Endeavors - Andy Rakerd

Marital woes + armed assassins = a lousy vacation. Secrets are revealed and tension builds to a violent conclusion in this dark comedy from the producers of The Buttslasher, and Love and Persuasion.

Neil Gaiman’s “The Wedding Present” - Lampstand of the Covenant Productions - Brian Farrey-Latz

Newlyweds Gordon and Bryce receive a mysterious wedding gift: a written description of their married lives that tells the story of a different Gordon and Bryce, living parallel and tragic lives...

Here’s a good example of why it’s helpful to post a listing of the cast and crew of your Fringe show, even if it’s just a list of names and you don’t have anything fancy like character names or bios to go with them.  I’m more likely to put something on my schedule if I know someone involved with the show.  If I don’t know a friend is doing a Fringe show, that extra incentive isn’t there.  For instance, back in 2018, two actors named Andrew Rosdail and Mason Tyer workshopped a scene from a script of mine for a new play showcase.  Thereafter Mason was the driver behind a weird but charming little Fringe show that same year called “Cyrano On The Moon” - it was on my pre-Fringe Top 20 list and I liked it so much I went to see it twice.  This year Andrew Rosdail is in the cast of Neil Gaiman’s “The Wedding Present” and directed a second Fringe show, Peace Retreat.  And the fight choreographer for Peace Retreat is… Mason Tyer.  See how that works?  Small world.

I was already leaning in the direction of The Wedding Present because it was in the LGBTQ+ content group of shows for this year’s Fringe.  Though I like the idea of a gay twist on a story that was originally written as straight, I was a little concerned about whether or not the writer/director had permission to do such a thing.  But their preview cleared that up:




And if I was in the mood for a hostage situation, the preview for Peace Retreat definitely filled that quota for the evening at Fringe previews:

 

(You can click on the following links to see a set of links to the full Top 10 list, the Top 11-20 list, a list of returning favorites, and the full coverage of the 2022 Fringe on this blog.) 

(Side note: Also during Fringe season, Minnesota has a primary election coming up on August 9th.  Early voting options are currently available.  You can also check out what's on your ballot ahead of time on the Minnesota Secretary of State website, as well as other voting services and information.  In Minneapolis, not only do we have the Governor and Lt. Governor on the ballot, but there's our U.S. Congressional Rep., our MN State Senator, the MN Secretary of State and MN Attorney General, as well as our County Sheriff and County Attorney, and two members of the Minneapolis School Board.  These are the people who decide what laws we live under and how they get enforced.  These are the people who decide whether or not we have voting rights.  These are the people who decide how our kids learn.  This is how we change things.  Personally, I'm alternately furious and despairing that my goddaughter and her little sister now have fewer rights over their own bodies than they did a month ago - there are things we can do, voting in the primary (and the general election) is one of them - here's a place you can go to do more.)