Fringe 2026 - Returning Favorites - Lady Z Productions - Underserved: Recipes for Resilience

So, just yesterday I discovered this one has been transformed quite suddenly into a completely different show.

When I first pulled show information off the Fringe website and began my research for the upcoming festival, Lady Z was presenting “The Queerest Midwest Bake-off: A Murder Mystery.”  In scrolling the show listings you may recall its image of a coroner’s outline of a now removed human corpse on the ground, but drawn in sugary frosting instead of chalk.

This was a show with a different playwright, and a cast of a half dozen people.

Not sure exactly when the change happened, but it only manifested itself yesterday when I was checking in to do a bit more research ahead of jotting down this very blog post.

Now it’s

Underserved: Recipes for Resilience

Description
A baker racing against the clock to finish one final bake discovers that the most important ingredients aren't flour and butter—they're the stories that people refuse to let disappear.
Venue - Rarig Xperimental
Content Warnings - Adult Language
Genre and Content - Comedy, Drama, LGBTQIA+ Content
Ages 16 and Up

Creator (and driver behind all of Lady Z’s productions) Maureen Bourgeois, is now the only person listed on the Cast and Crew page.

So… I guess it’s a one person show she wrote and is performing now?  The synopsis only mentions a single character, though they may also be manifesting the voices of others.

Precious little information on the show page other than that, but it’s not surprising given the last minute nature of the change.

I’m sure there’s a story here I’m not privy to, but kudos for pushing ahead despite setbacks just days before the festival opens.  (Recipes for resilience, indeed.)

At least they’re in the Rarig complex, which a large part of the audience for the West Bank venues passes through on a regular basis, so they stand a better chance of being seen despite the sudden shift in plans.

 

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. And here's links to the 2026 versions of my pre-Fringe Top 10 list and Top 11 through 20 for the 2026 festival as we ramp up toward the start of the Fringe on August 6th.