Out of Towners - Hazy Shade Productions - Scarborough Fair

This musical comedy features the sassy melodies (and harmonies) of Simon and Garfunkel. With little more than a guitar and an egg shaker, these spiritually-driven travelers warm hearts and melt faces.

"You might see us bathing in your fountains, dancing with your homeless people, riding on the backs of your Vikings."

It's a one-joke premise, but it's a funny joke, and there's music.

The two men, Scarborough (Matthew Frazier-Smith) and Fair (Brendan Johnson), are your typical hippie acoustic guitar folk music types.  They clearly have issues with each other, which keep bubbling to the surface.  And they're extremely earnest in their song delivery, complete with "meaningful" gestures and facial expressions for emphasis. Plus they're actually quite good at the whole Simon & Garfunkel cover band thing.  Nice harmonies.  And you can only clown around with something like this if you've got your act down to begin with.

If you need a break from the rock musicals and the show tunes and you wouldn't mind a laugh at the expense of characters who take themselves way too seriously, Scarborough Fair would be a nice pause in the mad rush and spectacle of the Fringe.

They've got the closing slot at 10 at Theatre In The Round tonight, Thursday 8/2 (right after the raucous - and highly recommended - Class of 98 - so you could make it a twofer).  They've also got shows this Saturday, 8/4, then Tuesday 8/7, and next Friday and Saturday, 8/10 and 8/11.

Out of Towners - Left Right TIM - Summerpocalypse: Colorado Improv

Fast-paced, high-energy improv comedy using audience suggestions. LRT brings its patented brand of improv to Minnesota for the first time. Relationships are explored, worlds discovered, and fun had by all. 

 If you want to kick off your Fringing with some improv in the very first slot, I think these are your guys. Left Right TIM are here from Boulder, Colorado, at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage. They've got the Thursday, 8/2 kickoff slot at 5:30 and based on what I saw the Out of Towner showcase last night, their show Summerpocalypse: Colorado Improv promises to be a lot of fun.

Of course, since it's improv, it'll be a completely different show every time, but these guys all know what they're doing. They came out and took one word called out by an audience member - "monkey" - and they were off to the races. There were cops and mad scientists and monkeys, of course. And then, most delightfully, there was a giraffe onstage driving a car getting pulled over because, well, he was a giraffe driving a car.

How to make a giraffe - One guy pushed the guy in front of him to bend over and he hopped on his back and then another guy walked up behind them both with arm extended in the air to provide the rest of the long neck and pivoting head. And even though it was clearly still just three guys piled on top of one another, their movement set off this memory in my head of all those documentaries with a giraffe running across the open plains of Africa.  Uncanny.

And they just did this. Instinctively. They all just work as a seamless team and then we're left with a monkey and a giraffe sharing a jail cell together and the monkey asking, "So, what are you in for?" Along the way there was all kinds of cheeky references to gene splicing and genetic mutations and animal/human racism and... these guys think so fast on their feet it's kind of scary. But damn funny.  (Frankly I'm envious.  How fun must it be to be able to create art with your friends like that, to be that in sync with other human beings you like hanging out with?)

Now I'm going to have to find a way to work them into my schedule. I enjoyed the goofiness of their publicity picture. Having spent a couple of summers in Boulder working for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival back in my grad school days, I have fond memories (and also family) in Colorado. And I love me some improv. So I was already leaning their way. Their quick-witted showcase presentation sealed the deal.

They have shows this Friday and Saturday, 8/3 and 8/4, as well. Then Tuesday 8/7 and Friday 8/10, too. Definitely worth checking out if you need a good laugh, and some good improv comedy.

Out of Towners - Les Kurkendaal - A One-Way Ticket To Crazy Town

Les' mother is suffering from dementia and doesn't remember who he is. She remembers the rest of the family, just not him. So Les is going to tell his mother stories and hope they will jog her memory

Mom doesn't really consider Les an out-of-towner, since every time she's in town to visit me for the Fringe, Les is always here, too.

Les is blessed with some major Fringe Lottery good karma.  The ping pong balls always seem to go his way.  And I can't complain.  Both Mom and I love seeing Les perform, and just hanging out with him in general.  In fact, when Les saw me after the show last night, his first thought was not of me but upon spying me he immediately asked, "Where's Mom?!"  Right behind me, of course, so they had a fun little reunion.

Oh, his show.  You want to know about his show?  It's more vintage Les, which is to say the man has an enviable skill for taking his life and finding that key story around which to create a show.  In this case, it's Les dealing with the fact that his mother no longer knows who he is.  My own mom is caretaker to my 99-year-old grandma (her mom) and so the family knows where Les is coming from.  Grandma still knows who the key people in the family are, but the memory bank is shot for the day to day stuff.  When people ask about grandma, Mom will joke, "She'll be 100 in March, if I let her."  Given the daily challenges, I was wondering if this Les show would hit a little too close to home.

But it's Les, which means the key ingredient in any survival recipe is humor.  The guy just knows how to tell a story.  With Les, you're in good hands.  We're catching him in performance on Tuesday to help close out Mom's last day of Fringing, but he has a performance today, Thursday 8/2 in the 5:30 kickoff slot.  Les, now as ever, comes very highly recommended.

The 5 Returning Fringe Acts I'm Most Looking Forward To Seeing

I've referenced 4 out of the 5 shows on this list in other posts related to their Fringe-For-All previews, but just for a handy reference, here are the five returning Fringe acts that spent time in Top Ten lists of mine in previous years that I'm most excited about seeing again this year (as is Mom, they're all on her schedule this week before she heads back to Pennsylvania).

They are:

1 - Ash Land - Transatlantic Love Affair - Rarig Thrust (pre-Fringe Top 10 2010 edition) 

Their Fringe-For-All preview reminded me all the reasons why.







2 - Sin Eater - Present State Movement - Intermedia Arts (pre-Fringe Top 10 2010 edition)

Her Fringe-For-All preview, ditto.

And I've been saying to friends who try and pin me down, if you see only two Fringe shows this year, they should be Ash Land and Sin Eater.  (I, of course, recommend and will see many more.  But if pressed, that's my short answer.)


3 - Nightmare Without Pants - Joking Envelope - Rarig Thrust (pre-Fringe Top 10 2005 edition)

For all the reasons listed about Joseph Scrimshaw's extremely funny Fringe-For-All preview, and because he gave the most amazing performance I saw by a human being last year, under the worst of all possible circumstances.




4 - Fear And Trembling - Maximum Verbosity - HUGE Improv Theater (pre-Fringe Top 10 2007 edition)

For all the reasons I mentioned in his Fringe-For-All preview.







5 - An Agony of Fools - Ben San Del - Southern Theater (pre-Fringe Top 10 2006 edition)

No journey of self-discovery. No deep reveal. Only a slight chance of dancing. Cleanse your palate with a new comedy hour from the creator of Minnesota Middle Finger and A Nice Guy's Guide to Awkward Sex.

No preview from Ben.  But with things like Middle Finger, Awkward Sex, and Animal Cracker Genocide  on his Fringe resume, I don't need much convincing, and neither should you.  It's smart, genial comedy whether he's serving it up in scripted form or as part of his stand-up act.  Mom and I were happy to see him last night hanging around the Out of Towners' showcase, and looking forward to seeing more of him in performance.

Fringe Shows I'm Seeing With Mom - Thursday 8/2 Edition

Mom arrived yesterday afternoon, in time for some dinner and her annual tradition of catching the Fringe Out of Towners' showcase on Fringe Eve (more on that in a bit). She realized that she'd been so preoccupied packing and traveling that she'd pretty much forgotten to eat most of the day, and the day before. Quick! Pizza at Green Mill! Ah, that's better.

I also had done literally no scheduling for her week here yet, so over dinner we sat down and mapped it out.  I'd done my homework, of course.  I could talk knowledgeably about all our options.  And Mom has a number of favorites she's gathered in her years of Fringing.  So between the two of us, we made short order of our scheduling challenge.  "Oh, I don't want to miss that person."  "When else are they playing, I want to be sure we see that one." "Can we do that commute in just a half hour?" As every year, there are still some things Mom's not going to get to see that bum her out, but everything we are seeing she's very excited about.  And after she heads home to Pennsylvania, I'll still have five days left of Fringe to catch more of the things we were talking about.

We'll make sure she's well-fed and fully energized today. A good night's sleep also helped. And we're starting our Fringing slow. No running back and forth all over town on the first day (we'll save that for the weekend :)

 Opening day, we're sticking to the Rarig Center.

5:30 - The Gay Banditos - The Mechanical Division - Rarig Thrust

I described this to mom and she started laughing almost immediately so that's a good sign.  Their Fringe-For-All preview was more foul-mouthed incentive, of course.





7:00 - Christopher Street: A New Musical (like the Fringe does old musicals) - Silver Slipper Productions - Rarig Proscenium

I know a few people in the cast of this one, as well as the director.  And of course "gay musical" is kind of redundant but after all the random bits of backstage information I've gotten on this one, I have to admit, I'm intrigued.  Plus, it's a gay historical musical, so see?  Totally highbrow.  Oh, if the phrase "orgy scene" is an enticement, you're welcome.  And yes, I'm going to see this with my mother.

8:30 - The Music Box - Graber & Napolitano Productions - Rarig Thrust

This partly a "Hey, we're here anyway" reason.  But also, after a super gay start to the evening, we'd like to bring it back to heteronormative reality with a slightly less edgy musical offering.  But also, I just got an email from these folks the other day and have you seen their trailer?  (Click on the Video tab of their show page) It's only 33 seconds long but what the hell was their budget?  It makes me feel sorry for everyone who just turned on their cell phone camera and shot their video trailer in their bathroom.  The two people in this thing are so pretty, it's practically a perfume commercial (except they have clothes on).  That's a damn good trailer.  I was already curious about this one, but now I'm really glad it happened to slot right in on the schedule.

10:00 - Ash Land - Transatlantic Love Affair - Rarig Thrust

Friends keep asking me for recommendations, and I could rattle off a list but if you ask me to keep it simple, I'll say "If you only see two Fringe shows this year, see Ash Land and Sin Eater."  (Need convincing?  Here's two preview writeups with handy extra links.)

Fringe Top 20 2012 Edition - If You Removed The Gun From My Head...

So, if you removed that hypothetical gun from my head and I could see ten more Fringe shows, what would they be and why?

11 - Studio Alethea Productions - Kafkaesque: A Musical Metamorphosis - Mixed Blood

A musical version of Kafka's Metamorphosis by a writer friend of mine.  It was in development during the year in our writing group and I'm really curious to see how it turned out.  Writer Nathan Schilz has some of the sharpest dramaturgical instincts I've run across in a while.  If anyone can make this freaky hybrid work, he's your guy.

12 - Snikt! Bamf! Thwip! - The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged) - Rarig Thrust

I could pretend I'm too high brow to admit to wanting to see this, but I'd be telling a huge lie.  Enjoyed their Fringe-For-All preview too much not to see the whole thing.





13 - Rebecca Kling - Storms Beneath Her Skin - Patrick's Cabaret

Her story fascinates me.  That's my reason.   (Update, just saw her at the Out of Towner's showcase.  She's great.  Looks like this show's going to be even better than I originally suspected.)




14 - Michael Venske Presents - Thumbs Up! - Patrick's Cabaret

When this popped up as a last minute addition, I said to myself, "Hey!  I know that guy.  And that script.  I helped dramaturg that script right before he headed off to the DC Fringe with it."  Looks like it did well, and now he's bringing it home.  I never saw how it turned out, so I'm very curious.  The idea behind the odyssey, a man honoring his father's wish to hitchhike cross-country and plant a little tree at the site where his parents first met, is lovely, and the journey itself kind of quirky.

15 - Billy Willy - The Billy Willy Show - HUGE Improv Theater

Here's an example of persistence paying off.  Billy Willy has sent me a couple of emails following up his original email to me and while I've been too swamped to answer all my Fringe emails this year, his resurfacing in my mailbox kept him in my mind.  Plus, gay stand-up comedian/country music fellow?  That combo's just enough to lure me into the theater to see what that looks like in performance.

16 - The Peanut Butter Factory - Joe Dowling’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet on the Moon, etc. - Theatre In The Round

For all the reasons I unexpectedly loved their wacky Fringe-For-All preview







17 - Freshwater Theatre - Going Down on the Queen of Minneapolis - Rarig Thrust

For all the reasons I like Freshwater and Ruth Virkus and company and what they do which I mentioned writing up their Fringe-For-All preview.





18 - Jay Gabler - Ivory Tower Burning - Bryant Lake Bowl

His Fringe-For-All preview wasn't necessarily the best advertising, but I'm still really looking forward to seeing how Jay dramatizes his subject. (Oh, and don't confuse this with the Fringe show Ivory Tower - I know, what are the odds, right?)



19 - ITO Productions - Love Labour Loss - Bryant Lake Bowl

Because I read another script recently by the writer Kyle Orf and it was really great - for the first 75 percent of the play.  It fell apart, spectacularly, in the home stretch but man, when it was good, It was really good.  This is a more personal tale, with a beginning middle and end based in reality, so I'm banking on him shaping it very differently from the other script I read, while still having his really distinctive style.

20 - Eat Street Players - Broken Memories - Gremlin Theatre

A young playwright, a scrappy community theater company supporting new writers instead of just rehashing some musty old script by a dead playwright.  I am frequently an easy mark for a pitch like this.  I got fed some background info on this and I wish they'd posted it on the Fringe site so everyone could see it.  Oh heck, I'll post it...

"LaDarrion Williams, a young writer from Arizona, finally had his play selected to be performed.  This is his story about himself and people he knew.  It is difficult to tell your darkest secrets to the whole world, but Ladarrion beautifully described in this Choreopoem all of the details of his Broken Memories.  He seems stronger and more mature after facing his past and writing it for us to perform.  He has so much support and love at home and they will be having a showing of Broken Memories as performed by Eat Street in his home town for everyone to watch.

More generally, about the true struggles teenagers have.  They are not small issues and can lead to death if not talked about and helped.  Broken Memories tells three different sides of a teenage life based on real stories and where no one stepped in to help these teens, but if they would have maybe there would have been a different ending to their stories.  People need to listen to their stories, stand up to make change and "start a riot" so everyone knows about it.

High school is difficult, but these three kids are dealing with their darkest Broken Memories of life at home, with boys, or the treatment they receive daily.  Kevin, Porcia  and Claudine's lives are falling down around them and they starting to spiral out of control.  Their inner furies have physically manifested themselves to push each student to the limits and in the end someone may be pushed over the edge.

A dramatic play with music, Broken Memories weaves instrumental and vocal music underneath movement and words to express the stories of its three protagonists.  An evocative journey.  Originally produced in the Eat Street Players Fresh Bites One Act Festival."

Fringe Top 10 2012 Edition - If You Put A Gun To My Head...

Every year at Fringe time, I clear out last year's pre-Fringe Top 10 list and make way for ten new names.  If you put a gun to my head and I could only see ten Fringe shows, what would they be and why...

1 - Katherine Glover - Dead Wrong - Patrick's Cabaret

I enjoyed her one of her previous Fringe shows, A Cynic Tells Love Stories, so much I've been waiting expectantly for whatever she did next.  While this show is the polar opposite of that other one in terms of content and style, it's still Katherine Glover, so she still tops my list.  As noted in the Fringe-For-All coverage, she's also part of the group of storytellers putting on Chorus: Voices After The Silence

2 - Dovetail Theatre Productions - Rip - Minneapolis Theatre Garage

For all the reasons I raved about Dovetail when I wrote up their Fringe-For-All preview







3 - Mainly Me Productions - Class of 98 - Theatre In The Round

For all the reasons I raved about Mainly Me when I wrote up their Fringe-For-All preview






4 - Segue Productions - Steel Kiss - Rarig Thrust

There were two things I worried about before I saw their Fringe-For-All preview, and they both had to do with a failure of nerve.  If there was violence would it be realistic (and if it was realistic, would I be able to bring myself to watch it)?  If there was intimacy, would they shy away from it?  The answers were yes (yes) and no.  Not only was the violence disturbing (and compelling viewing), the physical intimacy that contrasted it had real heat and not a hint of hesitation.  And while nudity's not always a plus, in this case it's certainly not a minus.

5 - Cities Classical Dance Ensemble - Isabella and The Lost Heart Adventure - Southern Theater

Because I enjoyed their dancing so much last year they ended up on my post-Fringe Top 10.  This time it's more a full narrative story than a collection of short pieces, but I'm just as intrigued with how they'll attack it.




6 - 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities - The Naked I: Wide Open (abridged) - Playwrights Center

Because I saw the unabridged version earlier this year in a sold-out run and it really enchanted me.







7 - The Winding Sheet Outfit - Birds of Passage - Rarig Xperimental

Because Amber Bjork, who heads up the Winding Sheet Outfit, has been a key part of why Carin Bratlie's company Theatre Pro Rata is as consistently great as it is (apart from Carin, of course.  Can't beat Carin).  If Amber's heading up a project, I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing it.


8 - ORL Productions - The Love Show! - Brave New Workshop

For all the reasons I enjoyed their Fringe-For-All preview so much.







9 - Yellow Bird Productions - Silence - Rarig Proscenium

Because it's a deaf musical.  A deaf.  musical.








10 - The Theater of Public Policy - Big Thinkers, Serious Issues, Improv Comedy - Brave New Workshop

Because I've been super curious how their mix of actual discussion of serious issues then turns into fodder for improv comedy.

Candide - Four Humors Theater

"Go where glory awaits you!"

A comedy concerning floggings, rape, justifiable homicide, ship travel, Jews, Christians, mass murder, death, desire, and the general joy and suffering one finds within this, the best of all possible worlds.

Playwrighting wunderkind Nick Ryan adapts the Voltaire classic, slimming it down to 45 minutes. Brant Miller surfaces for the second time in the evening, this time as the hapless victim of two newfound drinking buddies who then enlist him in their army. This ends up getting him flogged repeatedly when he's unable to deal with the noise from artillery practice. The comical flogging here took up about as much of the preview time as the gay-bashing in the Steel Kiss preview, prompting host Robin Gillette to remark at the end of the evening, "Thank you for attending this surprisingly violent Fringe-For-All." There's a reason that Fringe hits follow Four Humors around wherever they go. They're good at what they do, and what they do is smart comedy. Bonus points for now insuring that the most unlikely people will be added to the list of those who know the basic plot of Candide.

A few more in the "Not My Thing" category

Room For Cream - Emily Schmidt Productions

"Grace, what's your spirit animal?  It tells about how you threaten when provoked."

How do you like your coffee? Generibou barista Grace prefers a shot of sugar-free romance, a half pump of 5am and no creepy customers. She's not always so lucky. Hey, economy - thanks a latte!

She's so good with the satire of a dead-end service industry job at a coffeehouse chain that it was painful to watch. In the same way the British version of The Office was so deeply painful to watch that I literally let it play on the TV at the other end of the apartment while I did things like cleaning, so I could hear it, but didn't have to sit still and allow it to assault me head-on. Funny? Yes. The last thing I'd willingly make myself sit through. Unfortunately also yes. But if day job comedy is your thing, you probably won't find a funnier one at the Fringe this year.



Behind The Big Top - Travnastic Travesties

"Your breath smells like whiskey and shame."

A funny yet tragic play about an aging clown in the circus struggling to manage both his crumbling life and his insane co-workers.

The name makes you think it might be about transvestites. But it's about clowns. Washed up, alcoholic, manic depressive clowns. Two schlubby clowns taunt a third pretty boy clown. There's some good lines here, but just like the zombies and day job comedy, clowns kind of freak me out. And clowns acting as if theirs is a dead-end profession, like any other day job, depresses me, too. I'm feeling it more than just letting the comedy roll off my back, so enjoyment here escapes me. Again, if day job comedy is your thing, the clowns put a twist on it.



Aesop's Musical Foibles - Laughter Supplement

"I asked you to call me Lightning Jack!"

Poor Aesop can hardly think straight! His mind is crowded with stories and hysterical characters. Accompanied by rock and roll music, Aesop's fables are shared with the world, with a few twists along the way.

Oh dear. The costume bits for the animals are cute. The concept is clever. The small army of young performers in tie-dye T-shirts emblazoned with the show's logo dove in with all the energy and enthusiasm they could muster. But they were relying on a microphone that was either dead, or which they didn't know how to operate, and thus failed to project their voices much at all in the big musical number. Some of them musically were also really flat. All this will doubtless get worked out in the rehearsals they have left. It'll probably turn into a nice little family show when they're done. But I'm not their audience.



Hans The Obscure - Mindless Mirth Productions

"It seems to me like there's an awful lot of doofuses wandering the countryside."

Three little-known tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Witty suitors! Undersea kingdoms! The love that dare not cluck its name! Delightful, devilish, decadent fun!

I like Mahmoud Hakima as a performer a whole lot, so his involvement here makes me inclined to like the show. Also a big Hans Christian Andersen fan. It'll probably make for another fine family show. It got a lot of laughs, particularly when stuffed animal horses were tossed at the actors when it was time to go horseback riding. Personally, though, this style of storytelling isn't my thing.



Sneak Thief - International League of Diamond Thieves

"There's no such thing as two weeks' notice when you're being fired."

Two diamond-hungry thieves plan to steal the big kahuna. Starring Tim Hellendrung (MN Middle Finger 2011, Speech 2010) and Brant Miller (Mortem Capiendum 2008, Traveling Musicians 2009, Bards 2007)

Nothing at all wrong here. Brant Miller, Tim Hellendrung, both extremely funny guys, and both extremely funny here. However, watching a guy get fired, no matter how funny, is still painful for me to watch. Like the "Room for Cream" coffeehouse day job satire earlier in the evening, well-executed comedy of the humiliations of daily life can be enormously entertaining. I'm personally just a little too close to going under myself these days to get much enjoyment out of it. These men deliver the funny, however, so if you're looking for a laugh, this is your duo.



Coach - Charlzik Theatre Company

"Why do we keep having this discussion?"

He wants to coach. She won't let him. A hard-working father of three boys works with a Harvard fry-brain drop-out at a power plant about to close. It's about finding your life's passion at any cost.

A man wants to coach football. His wife won't let him. Gee, did a guy write this? Yup. I have a hard time having patience with a set up like this because it's clearly just convenient for things the writer wants to say, rather than looking like it's based in something like reality or character development. I have even less patience when no one onstage outside of the wife can bother to speak up so I can hear what they're saying. Meet me halfway, people. The problem here is I'm siding with the woman over the schlubs she has to deal with and want it to be her play, but we're supposed to think she's the obstacle. Sigh. Nobody keeps you from doing what you want to do, unless you let them. Pass.

Nightmare Without Pants - Joking Envelope

"All that matters is that you did your taxes wrong, and now scary things have to happen."

You're invited to Tracy's nightmare. She has 45 minutes to fall in love with a stranger in front of a live audience. If she fails, even scarier things will happen. A comedy about fear and pants.

Joseph Scrimshaw. All you need to know, right? This is also on my Top 5 list of returning acts I'm most looking forward to this year. I've been hard on Joseph Scrimshaw (maybe not so much in print, but in my mind) and I've been trying to figure out why.

Certainly some of it must be envy. The guy's ridiculously talented, enormously popular, and ceaselessly funny. All of his friends and family are equally talented and hilarious. He's making his living as an artist while I'm, well, blogging about other people's Fringe shows. But it's not easy, even if he makes it look that way. He is successful because he is relentless and hardworking and never settles for giving the audience less than his best. He's even got popular holiday and children's shows in his repertoire. Every year, every six months, heck, it seems like every other week, he's coming up with something new and entertaining and sharing it with the rest of us. It's exhausting finding new good things to say about him.

I took a couple of years off from seeing his stuff in Fringe because, honestly, he doesn't need me in the audience to sell more tickets. But just like he's a favorite of mine, he's also a favorite of Mom's, and he's got a cast so chock full of talent it's almost not fair to anyone else - Shana Custer, John Middleton, John Riedlinger, Anna Sundberg, and of course Joseph. Plus, that one thing I tend to carp about, this show actually looks like it's about something other than art or laughs. Taxes, love and fear.

Scrimshaw came out solo to pimp for his show in the preview. His character will be tormenting Custer's character who screwed up her taxes - and now she must pay, by falling in love with a stranger in front of a live audience in only 45 minutes' time. Scrimshaw knows how to work a crowd, even a reluctant audience participant, and he worked it here. I don't know where he gets this stuff, or how he pulls it off, but man, I'm glad he does. The Fringe would be a lot less funny without it. So yeah, see this one.

Steampunk Apocalypse - Far From The Tree

"You put our return address on my evil ultimatum?!"

Vampire Sorority Girls! Zombie Rats! Cat Ladies! NERDS! Captain Jessie and Sparks leap into the 21st Century to save the past and the future from Mad Prof. Zero and his Evil Minions in a wild comedy adventure!

I was going to try and write this one off in my initial scheduling, but the preview was so fun I'm torn. It was the zombie rats that did it. More high-minded insults, too, as the hero and villain traded barbs. It's all completely nonsensical, but that's the point. It's just meant to be fun and based on the preview it looks like it very much will be. Old school melodramatic adventure with a modern sensibility - and leading ladies instead of leading men in the roles of hero and sidekick. The fact that they don't take themselves too seriously is also a bonus. They didn't have a clear end to the scene, just the hoard of zombie rats chanting "Brains! Brains!" After that went on for a while the hero turned to the audience with a shrug stating, "That's all the lines they have." Laughter, the end. Nicely done.

Evil Dicks - Mumble Mumble Productions

"I didn't want to help change society.  I wanted to take it down."

Penetrate the minds of the wicked with this Rockstar Storyteller. Biographical truths about our vile side. Bombers. Killers. Children's literary heroes. Hoarders. Lovers. Can you relate? Are you an evil dick?

I love how I'm now encouraged to type the word "dicks" into the Fringe website search function, and this show is the only one that pops up. Handy. It's Allison Broeren, another storytelling favorite of mine (and mom's), so of course I'm going to be trying to fit this one into my schedule. I love this lady's way with language. She's doing something a little different this year (I know, risk taking as a theme at the Fringe, big surprise). Rather than it being all about Allison this time, she's trying to get inside the minds of some very twisted individuals. In the preview we got a little sampling of the Unabomber. Because it's Allison, and she's naturally very winning and approachable and fun to watch as a performer, it provides us with a way into these characters that we wouldn't otherwise have. It's a little unsettling to actually see things through the eyes of these messed up people, and start to think "Well, that doesn't sound so crazy…"

Jamaica Me Crazy - Tyehimba Leadership Center

"Uh oh, I think I hear a monologue coming."

Diane and Jade are opposites. A vacation in Jamaica seems the perfect way to warm their relationship. Or is it? While Jade waits at the airport, Diane is in bed. Will they make their flight? Or will they fight?

Sisters going at each other as only sisters can. This group was part of my pre-Fringe Top 20 list back in 2010 so it's nice to see them back. Completely different show than their last outing. More family friction than larger issues of faith, race and politics. Each sister does represent a certain type of success (or lack thereof) so there's still an exploration of the society in which they play a part. The thing that stuck out here was the use of music to comic effect. One sister's rant is overdubbed with an opera aria. A final catfight gets the accompaniment of the song "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting." So there's a welcome sense of playfulness here. Not sure it's top of my list this time around, but it looks like it might be fun.

The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged) - Snikt! Bamf! Thwip!

"I've read the script and that is amazing for two reasons - there's a script, and I read it."

The Shat, greatest of all living actors, must reconcile all of his roles as he fights a battle to save the most important man in the universe - himself!

In a Fringe drowning in horrible show titles and theater company names just begging to be used against them in reviews (restraint has been very difficult), here we have a title that makes me giggle every time. Tim Uren, god bless him, never met a Shat joke he didn't like, and he also gets to be the Priceline Negotiator. Windy Bowlsby enjoys playing with her phaser and doing her best Captain Kirk impression. Plus, not in this preview, they have Brandon Ewald as Young William Shatner, and Duck Washington gets to be TJ Hooker.  I was looking for a reason to rule this one out and I just can't do it. I grew up with re-runs of the original Star Trek on TV, before all the movies and next generations (yes, I'm horribly old). So my resistance to a concept like this is pitiably low. This will provide the kind of silliness I'm looking for to recharge my batteries after seeing more serious fare. I'm looking forward to it.

Their Century - Lucky Break Productions

"Being the youngest, I got everything hand-me-down.  If there was anything to hand down."

In 1906, a Russian teen left his home and settled in North Dakota, where he later got married and raised 11 children. David Schlosser brings you the story of this family's journey through 20th century America.

I'm torn here because David Schlosser, the writer/performer, is a friend of mine, and I've read the script in earlier drafts. I'm not sure I can be entirely objective about this three minute excerpt. The death of David's father got him thinking about family history, and all the things he never talked about with his father. Thankfully, his father had almost a dozen siblings (farm families were mighty big in those days), and so there were all kinds of brothers and sisters to speak with and try and reconstruct the family story. Any family spanning several generations is bound to bump up against the major currents of history, and this family is no different. David is playing all the roles here so part of the challenge is to make the characters distinct. Here in the preview we meet one of them. I'm planning to see the show, but I'm still wondering what it all adds up to. David's done his homework. The details are all there. It's the final shaping of the details into a larger narrative with a payoff that I'm looking for. But that's part of what Fringe is for, working through material in front of an audience and making it better. I'm rooting for this one.

An Answer For The Unknown - New Plastic Theatre

"Those dreams are not for you."

Dane, a man in mourning, accepts an online ad for a tour of hell. With the help and direction of a guide, he meets famous ghosts who make him understand important truths about death, dying, and the afterlife.

I suppose we should get all the "theater is hell" jokes out of the way now, right? You go ahead and think 'em up, get 'em out of your system. I'll wait. OK, on we go. The thing that was distinctive about this preview is the use of shadow work. Quick simple set-up with a sheet hung in front of lights, and then the use of body parts and cardboard cut-outs and even changes in color of light to play with our sense of perspective and reality. Considering all the ways this could have gone off the rails, this was a really impressive preview. Also, the skeleton face makeup on most of the actors was damn creepy. It's too bad we didn't get to see more of it now. But there's 45 more minutes in the show for that to happen. If you like your Fringe with a couple of shades of dark to it, this might be your ticket. I'm intrigued.

A Comedy of Edits - Callahan and Lingo

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd heard you say you've written a play."

Two writers enter the arena, but only one will emerge as the real artist. Rockstar Storyteller Allegra Lingo and Fringe newcomer Taylor Brorby battle it out in a game of wits and literary one-upsmanship.

Actually this time it's Brorby and Lingo. Taylor Brorby is stepping into Rob Callahan's half of the storytelling/comedy duo this time out, and Allegra Lingo wrote a play for them to perform. So everyone's stepping way outside their comfort zone on this one. Mom's a devoted Allegra fan, as am I, so of course we're going. But artists writing about art has never been a huge favorite of mine as a genre. Still, if anyone can make it work, it's Allegra. And Taylor looks like he's going to provide able backup. We'll see how this scripted battle of wits plays out.

All's Fair - Synapse Theater

"He's pretty harmless, really."
"She's not."

Find love at the Fringe! After her husband's death, Carol returns to the carnival where it all began, where past and present commingle to help her find her future. A heartwarming and touching world premiere.

This was sweet. A couple later in life looks back on the time they met while a younger couple reenacts that meeting. The whole "if we knew then what we know now" idea is in full effect here. It's funny and romantic. The only danger, of course, is since we know (or think we know) how the whole thing's going to turn out, it kind of sucks any suspense out of the proceedings. Of course, it's possible for a good script to still do that, and I don't see any evidence of this being a bad script. You're reading the blog of someone who always gets worried halfway through the musical 1776 because he's just not sure these guys will ever get that Declaration of Independence thing signed - even though he's clearly watching the musical in the country that was formed from the signing of that document. So I can be bamboozled even though I know better. And time spent with a pleasant romantic comedy has its charms. (And on further research, it turns out I know both the playwright and the director [some people are so shy], so that makes me even more inclined to trust the preview.)

Fruit Fly: The Musical - Jansonowicz Players

(Because Fag Hag: The Musical is so 1970s. And Queer Peer, let's face, was never going to catch on.)

"An autobiographical tale about a gay man and a straight woman."
"Can you tell which one is which?"

Can a gay guy and a straight girl - a fruit and a fly - "quit each other" to find true love? Find out in this brand-new musical filled with laughter, Sondheim references, and enough boxed wine to kill us all!

The performers here, Sheena Janson and Max Wojtanowicz (there he is again), are so relentlessly cute I find it hard to resist either them or their show. So I won't try. The "Two Peas In A Pod" number should have made me more than a little crazy (but see note above on cuteness). Also, the lyrics here are pretty darn clever. Cole Porter would feel right at home. You might even make Sondheim smile. Is this autobiographical musical pastiche going to amount to much? Hard to say. But I'd give them an hour to make their case, and try not to overthink it too much.

Going Down On The Queen of Minneapolis - Freshwater Theatre

"How's your cat?"
"Incontinent."

Or: The Final Voyage of Nokomis Construction. The employees of a failing construction company are trapped on a party boat. Forced to face their ridiculous demons, together they decide whether to sink or swim.

The Queen of Minneapolis is a charter ship. A ship going down, that can be figurative as well as literal. A forced company outing to foster "togetherness" quickly devolves into the usual office politics. A large number of characters are swiftly introduced in this preview.  I enjoy the work of a lot of people in the cast, and also like Ruth Virkus' work as a playwright. In addition, I'm fond of Freshwater Theatre's mission in general, nurturing new work of all stripes.  So while this kind of thing normally might not be my cup of tea, I trust the artists involved to put an original spin on it. They're not even asking for "a three hour tour" just one hour. What could go wrong?