Lost In Bear Country: Birth, God, Death… and the Berenstain Bears
Phil Gonzales/Raffish Ripoff Productions
Phil Gonzales invites the audience into his ADHD-addled brain as he randomly selects topics that could reconcile his sense of self with the history of a family of fictional bears. That makes zero sense.
Venue: Rarig Center Experimental
Tagged for: Comedy, Improv, Solo Show, Storytelling, Audience Participation, Political Content, Religious Content
Content Warnings: Mental Illness
This entry on the list is one of several this year where I came upon the show and the name of the artist and thought, “Wait? Haven’t I already put this person my pre-Fringe Top 20 list in the past? No? Well, that’s an oversight. On the list this year they go!”
Am I a big Berenstain Bears fan? Not really, but I don’t have anything against them, they seem innocuous and “children’s book”-ish enough to pass the time with.
Does the whole thing just seem weird in a fun way? Yes.
Phil posted a video trailer to give you a feel for what he’s up to. That should give you a hint as to whether it’s your kind of oddball Fringe outing.
He also developed the show with the help of his two daughters, and the amusing bios posted on their Fringe page also make me feel like I’m going to enjoy the results of the collaboration.
Finally, Phil makes a good case for the production on the Fringe page in the More Information section, so I’ll tag that onto this post to show you what convinced me to check it out:
"Lost In Bear Country" began life over eight years ago as the podcast Deep In Bear Country - A Berenstain Bearcast. In each episode, I more or less pick apart a different book in the Berenstain Bears series. As of this writing, I'm at around 400 episodes, so you can imagine the incredible amount of brain space I've dedicated to this one pop-cultural subject.
In 2019, I staged a solo show based on the podcast. It was titled "Deep In Bear Country" and covered the origins of the book series as well as some of the more bizarre and fanciful things I'd discovered over the first four years of the show. I also peppered in some personal biographical information for flavoring.
"Lost In Bear Country" is a bit of a follow-up to my first show, but not really. I'm a very different person than I was in 2019 and, certainly, than I was in 2015 when this whole mess started on, honestly, a dare. If my first show was an effort to force my madness onto an unsuspecting audience, this show is my effort to pull the audience into my madness and make them complicit.
----- What's With The Rating? ----
I know it says that the show is appropriate for kids 12-15 and up, but honestly I don't cuss any swears or talk about gross stuff like b**ts or d**g d**gs or anything. It's just that I don't know if kids younger than that will really be into what I'm going to be doing. I always say my show is "kid appropriate" but maybe not "kid interesting." I dunno, though. Do your kids like watching a 47-year-old man flail around and point a lot? Then, bring 'em! Oh, I will maybe talk about God or reproduction or politics or racism. So, consider that. But, there will be pointing! And, I use me hands a lot in a very inarticulate way. Like, they move around a bunch but don't contribute much. Just like me!
---- Audience Participation ----
As far as the audience participation stuff is concerned, LIBC is not one of those shows where I'm going to be all up in your face. I won't call on people or make you do the wave or anything like that. I'm definitely not going to ask a group question and then respond with "I can't hear you" and expect you to repeat your initial response only louder. I wouldn't do that unless I did do it but ironically. There might be some light volunteering, but nothing untoward. I don't care for audience participation, personally. But, I'm also a bit of a hypocrite so I'm going to have some in my show.”
Update, their Fringe preview:
Here's some handy links to this year's Top 10, and Top 11-20 Lists, plus the full list of all returning favorites at this year's Fringe, plus a link to all the 2023 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
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