Fringe Day 7: “The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children”

Some Fringe shows really don’t need reviewing, because they are pretty well guaranteed to sell out the entire run no matter what. The unusual thing about this show, however, is that it isn’t a big, flashy musical or a comedy by one of the known Twin Cities names. No, The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children is a…

Fringe Day 6: Consciousness, Clowns, and Classrooms

Like Liz, I felt the need to try something a bit different today. There were some highs and some lows of tonight’s selections, but it was an interesting smorgasbord! I first went to the Southern Theater to see Gray Matter, a dance performance choreographed by Zoé Emilie Henrot. I usually shy away from dance – not because I…

Fringe Day 6: “Something different”

This afternoon, my spouse pointed out to me that all of the shows we have seen together thus far have been categorized as “comedy” on the Fringe website. And so, determined to get out of our three-show-old rut, we went to see Standing on the Hollow, by Present State Movement, which is in the wonderfully ambiguous “something…

Fringe Day 4: “No Stopping, No Warping, No Dying”

Chicago-based 1UP Productions’ contribution to this year’s Fringe Festival is called No Stopping, No Warping, No Dying – a title which references one of the main characters’ philosophy in both life and video gaming. “No Stopping” takes place atop a giant Nintendo (that’s the original NES, mind you) and is played out by two actors playing “Player 1” (Charles Askenaizer)…

Fringe Day 3: Journeys Below, Around, and Across

To continue my weirdly thematic Fringe experience, today I saw three plays about the things you can learn when on a journey. From the underworld to ancient Greece to contemporary immigrants, the who and the where seems less important than the what: a lot of truths get revealed when you put yourself in a different…

Fringe Day 2: One-Woman Shows

Like Sophie wrote about her Fringe experiences yesterday, I did not intend to have a “theme day”, but I did: I wound up seeing two one-woman shows. However, I can’t really compare them, because the similarities kind of end there. Lord of the Files, written and performed at the Theatre Garage by Lesley Tsina, is a…

Fringe Day 1: “Katharina Von Bora”

Fringe 2013 has something for everyone! Katharina Von Bora, the story of the runaway nun and widow of Martin Luther, is the just the sort of play I would take my feminist grandmother to. Minnesota has its share of Lutherans, so I was not surprised to see that that the opening night was so well…

Fringe Day 1: Love Stories

Welcome to Day 1 of Fringe, where every show looks great and you haven’t yet memorized the pre-show announcements! This is the first in a long series of posts between now and August 11, so keep checking back as we see more and more shows. I don’t like to intentionally theme my Fringe viewing experience,…

Pride and Prejudice

by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Director Joe Dowling and the entire cast and crew of the Guthrie Theater’s Pride and Prejudice can surely be proud of their stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. The play is hugely entertaining, unexpectedly hilarious–while remaining true to the novel’s more thoughtful themes–and can…

QUEER!

Gadfly Theatre’s newest production, QUEER! starts out as a sort of “GLBT 101”, but eventually transcends that and becomes a touching piece about the realization that many of the challenges GLBT-identified folk face come from within the queer community itself. As a reviewer, I find this a challenging piece to write about, because I can…