Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII Preview: 10/24-11/3

The Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII opens in just over a week and already there are a couple of performances sold out. So if you’re like me and want to see every production make sure to plan ahead so you don’t get left out in the dark. Because let’s face it, it’s kinda scary in the dark. The Country’s longest running horror theatre festival takes place over 11 days from 10/24 through 11/3 at the Crane Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. This year the festivities start a day early with a one night only performance of Leslie Vincent Presents: A Monster & Mayhem Cabaret which has already sold out! I look forward to the TCHF every year since I first covered it in 2019. If you like bumpities and spookables this is like a mini Fringe festival with shows that last an hour or less with a new one beginning every 90 minutes. One huge advantage TCHF has over the Minnesota Fringe is that it’s possible to see every one of the shows! Watch for my reviews throughout the festival and, if you see me there, be sure to stop by and say boo.

Here is the link to this years lineup and to purchase tickets: https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/tchf-xiii.html

Below are the shows in this years festival including descriptions and content ratings and warnings to help you make your show decisions.

Festival Shows

Leslie Vincent Presents: A Monster and Mayhem Cabaret

Leslie Vincent Presents

Murderinos and monsterheads unite for an evening of cabaret, camp, and costumes. Your host, local jazz chanteuse and former TCHF producer (A Morbid History of Sons and Daughters, Writer’s Room) Leslie Vincent, and her merry band will get you in the Halloween spirit with spooky originals and jazz standards as they were never intended to be sung. One night only!

Ratings:

Strong Language-2

Blood-2

Suggested Age: All Ages

Performance Genres: Music

Horror Genres: Comedy, Camp

The Wrench

Wheeler In The Sky

On its 30th anniversary, a group of New York’s most celebrated Shakespearean actors gather to memorialize the bloodiest theatre riot in American history: the Astor Place Riot. After the matinee performance of Macbeth, a horrible accident backstage leaves Lady M on her death bed. As the actors await news of her fate, they gather in the dressing room, amusing and consoling one another with theatre stories, each in turn confronting the bloody secrets of their past and horrors of the date 30 years ago which binds them all together: May 10th, 1849, The Astor Place Riot.

Ratings:

Strong Language-5

Blood-2

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theatre

Genres of Horror: Suspense

Warnings: Murder and Suicide

Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s

Love Drunk Life

It’s been 25 years since Debbie, Cara and Lucy have seen each other, and 25 years since Debbie has left her house. But don’t worry, Debbie’s hasn’t been alone, Debbie has her dolls. A high school reunion like no other, three friends try to make sense of strange occurrences throughout their lives, and figure out if an all consuming need to return to Debbie’s house has to do with that demon they tried to summon senior year.

Ratings:

Strong Language-5

Blood-3

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Camp Comedy

Warnings: Thunder and Lightning (Loud noise, strobe like effect)

The Alchemist’s Bargain

Phantom

A dark fable, performed entirely through blacklight puppetry, about a Hero’s journey to bring their Beloved back to life with the aid of a dubious Alchemist. The Hero must traverse treacherous lands and face dangerous foes to collect the ingredients needed to concoct the Alchemist’s elixir. How far are they willing to go to defy Death in the name of Love?

Puppeteer Performers: Thalia Kostman, Marc Berg, Josh Vogen, Kristina Jansons, Lindsey Oetken, Rhiannon Fiskradatz, Aaron Fiskradatz

Original Music Composed By: Steven Zubich

Stage Managed By: Kerry Landin

Understudied By: Amy Walus and Alex Yang

Ratings:

Strong Language-1

Blood-1

Suggested Ages : 10+

Performance Genres: Puppetry

Horror Genres: Dark Fantasy

Warnings: frightening moments, loud music

Doctor Clown

Dangerous Productions

Taking a uniquely Dangerous Productions approach, this cast of characters tackles the horrors of the American medical system. its a deeply bloody show with equal parts absurd comedy, slapstick and several gallons of blood spilt

Ratings:

Strong Language-2

Blood-5

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Comedy and Gore

Warnings: blood and guts

The Night Parade of A Hundred Demons (In Which the Honorable Reverend Matt Employs The Winding Sheet Outfit to Help Him Tell One Hundred Ghost Stories and Absolutely Nobody Gets What They Came For)

Monster Science Productions

Two great tastes that taste great together! Horror Festival favorites team up to tell 100 tales of horror mythology, over five distinct, themed shows, – “Shapeshifters,” “Demons,” “Undead,” “Outsiders,” and “Beasts” – each bringing their own inimitable style! And nothing goes wrong! NOTHING.

Ratings:

Strong Language-1

Blood-1

Suggested Age 13+

Performance Genres: Theater, Storytelling

Horror Genres: Comedy and Dread

Fractured Remembrances

Rogues Gallery Arts

Aster and her boyfriend have disappeared. After five days she is found, her boyfriend is not. She has no memory of what happened and begins suffering psychogenic blackouts when pressed about it. Aster’s world turns to chaos as her fractured memory betrays her. To learn the truth she must come face to face with horrors beyond her imagination.

Written, Directed, and Audio Designed by Duck Washington (All Your White Darlings, My Only Hope For A Hero, Charcoal Moon)

Starring: Angela Fox, Kyle Dekker, Jean Wolff, Tim Uren, Philip D Henry, Rob Ward, Elizabeth Douglas, Eric Thompson, and Ariel Pinkerton

Featuring: Maureen Bourgeois, Elizabeth Douglas and Eric Thompson

Stage Managed by Megan Slawson

Make-Up Effects by Kyle Dekker

Violence by Philip D Henry

Original Music by Dissociate

Costumes by CJ Mantel

Ratings:

Strong Language-4

Blood-4

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Psychological, Gore, Supernatural, Monster

Warnings: Loud Sounds, Assault, Depression

Ghostrunners

Spiral

Henry loves baseball but hates playing it. And watching it. Yet, his obsession over its rules, balance, and history lead him to create his own tabletop baseball simulation where rolling dice and complicated charts determine myriad, bizarre outcomes. When a player is murdered in the game, the search for the culprit turns a pastime into a nightmare.

Ratings:

Strong Language-3

Blood-3

Suggested Age 13+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Horror-Comedy

Warnings: Gunshots or sudden loud noises

Gh0stChaser04

A Murder of Crones

Do curses exist? Is the paranormal real? In 1904, two rivals try to uncover a series of mysterious deaths. In 2004, three strangers meet up to investigate a curse. Tonight they’re drawn together to answer the most important question: Is someone in here with us? From the team that brought you Girls in Bins.

Written by Rachel Teagle; Directed by Jenny Moeller

Featuring: Rita Boersma, Megan Kim, Heather Meyer, Mickaylee Shaughnessy, and Ben Tallen

Stage Manager and Gore Goblin: Shea Roberts Gyllen; Additional Special Effects: Victoria Pyan; Props Builder: Caden Wessner

Ratings:

Strong Language-5

Blood-4

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Supernatural, Gore

Warnings: Gunshots

The Regular

Occasionally Employed Productions

Sometimes you wanna’ go where everybody knows your name, but are they *always* glad you came? Here comes “The Regular,” a story of a guy who walks into a bar…but might not walk out.

Featuring: Sam Landman, Claire Chenoweth, Jay Melchior & Lukas Ramsey.

Written and directed by Josh Carson (A Very Die Hard Christmas, Mad as Nell or How to Lose a Bly in Ten Days, A Justice League of Their Own)

Ratings:

Strong Language-5

Blood-4

Suggested Age 16+

Genres of Performance: Theater

Genres of Horror: Comedy and Psychological Thriller

Warnings: Violence, gunshots, loud noises

Campfire Story

Special When Lit

Gather around the theatrical campfire to hear Twin Cities artists and Horror Fest favorites tell their personal stories with the supernatural. It’s like “Are You Afraid of the Dark”… accept these stories are TRUE.

Special When Lit (THE FAE, INCARNATE, STABBY STAB STAB, KIN) is known for spectacle, and Campfire Stories is no different, with live music and effects to make it a full spooky experience. Trick or Treat: There are two versions of the show in rotation, so you can maximize your Halloween season with more spinetingling content.

Ratings:

Strong Language- 4

Blood- 1

Suggested Age 13+

Genre of Performance: Storytelling with Music

Genre of Horror: True Supernatural Stories

Warning: Beware: These stories are TRUE

Schaulust

Keith Hovis Productions

Wyatt likes to watch. No, he needs to watch. He’s addicted to the thrill of seeing people eat, clean, read, watch TV, and live their lives. But when his passion starts taking on a life of its

Ratings:

Strong Language-4
Blood-3
Suggested Age 16+
Genres of Performance: Music, Theater, One-Person Show
Genres of Horror: Psychological
Warnings: Mental Health (Depression, Anxiety)

Minnesota Fringe Festival Day 9: “Love Lies a Bleeding” The Stages on MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner! and “The Ghost of Frankensteins Bride”

Only a two show night as I had to review a non Fringe show as well this evening. But don’t let that fool you, the Fringe of the day Winner is very deserving.

Love Lies a Bleeding is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 9. An adaptation of a play from the 17th century by playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher who were contemporaries of William Shakespeare. The program describes Beaumont and Fletchers intentions as “What if we made Twelfth Night gayer and hornier”. That perfectly describes this comically bloody, but not in a gross out way, play. The original 3ish hour play was adapted down to 1 hour by Vee Signorelli and love to compare scripts sometime, it has a little bit of antiquated speech but nothing on a level with Shakespeare. A great ensemble cast with the highlights being the actors involved in a love triangle between a man, a woman, and their servant, played to hilarious effect by Matthew Smith, Valerie Wick, and Isabella Spiess. I wish I had seen this show earlier so I could get the word out more, but the house I saw it with was fairly full, so hopefully word has gotten out.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/love-lies-a-bleeding

The Ghost of Frankenstein’s Bride runs a little under 45 minutes and that seemed a little too long. There seems to be a lot of shuffling of props and restating the same information. I think this was a show with a solid 25 minutes of script padded to a lean 45. I liked the look of the production by Scenic Designer Jordan Leeper. There was something like a magic trick at one point involving jars that was very impressive and I thought the cast was good. But I know what it’s like trying to decide which of the 105 shows to see and the reality is there are other shows that deserve that slot more. I think this team has an interesting idea that they could flesh out for a future run, maybe at TCHF.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/the-ghost-of-frankenstein-s-bride

That’s the reviews from Day Seven of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back daily for new reviews and if you are Fringing and you see me, be sure to stop and say hi! Also for reviews of shows I might not see or for another opinion on ones I have, follow M’ Colleague Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.

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Hells Canyon a Horror Play With a Brain, Has World Premiere by Theater Mu at Jungle Theater in MPLS

Ryan Colbert, Becca Claire Hart, Kaitlyn Cheng, Gregory Yang Photo by Rich Ryan

Hells Canyon, the new play by Keiko Green uses the horror genre to explore race, generational trauma, and the complexity of gender and a woman’s body. The first two it deals with fairly head on, the last is more subtextual and requires the audience to think about the play, the characters, their race, and the ways in which woman have been sublimated and exploited historically. If that sounds a bit serious, reflect on the long tradition of works in genres such as Science Fiction, Horror, Westerns or any number of others, to tackle important issues through the use of entertainment and distance from their real world equivalents. Hells Canyon never loses sight that it is a Horror play, its thrilling, scary, and entertaining, all that is required from the genre. But, like the best examples of any genre it’s richer because it isn’t just about the genre trappings, getting the blood pumping and the goosebumps to break out, at its core are ideas which engage the mind as well as the emotions. This is an impressively mounted production and one that any horror fan should be sure to check out. My planned plus one for the show was my wife, when I was preparing before the show I realized it was in the horror genre, not something she really enjoys, so we erred on the side of caution and she hung back. I don’t think that was necessary, I think she could have handled it so if the themes of this sound interesting but you are not a horror person, I’d say take a chance. This is recommended for ages 16+ and I’m linking here to content Warning page from Theater Mu.

The story involves 5 friends with complex relational ties as they prepare to spend a weekend at a cabin in the woods. The cabin is near the location of the Snake River Massacre, where in 1887 seven white men murdered 34 Chinese miners for their gold, they were never prosecuted, this is a true event from history. The characters are Ariel played by Kaitlyn Cheng who is pregnant, her brother Tommy played by Gregory Yang, who is part of a band with Doug played by Ryan Colbert, Ben played by Matt Lytle, and Claire, who is also Ben’s wife played by Becca Hart. Ariel is a surrogate for Ben and Claire due to a heart condition Claire has and also used to date Doug. These are old friends who have some tensions floating around about band business and the pregnancy, when things start to happen that put a scare into the group, the underlying tensions and true feeling begin to bubble to the surface. Cheng and Colbert give the best performances as they seem grounded and natural. Hart is also very good, unfortunately her character is rather unlikeable and most likely to benefit from a mirror in which she could see her own behavior reflected back. A challenging acting bit to play the person who is trying to say the right things and seem caring but is only really concerned with herself. Lytle and Yang are OK, but there is an over the top bor vibe from their performances that keep them from feeling real, particularly in the first act of the play.

Green’s script is excellent even if a little overstuffed with ideas, there are a lot of different themes vying for attention, they all work but there is a sense it might have played a little stronger with a more focused approach. There is an epilogue which adds some shocking information and motivations for a character, but in the final analysis it feels unnecessary and robs the play of a more memorable ending. The direction from Katie Bradley excels in most elements of the production. In the tradition of the great film Director Howard Hawks Green’s use of overlapping dialogue is intended to add an element of realism to a genre work. From a performance standpoint it’s a tricky thing to do and Bradley hasn’t successfully gotten her actors to the point where they seem natural but all the key lines of dialogue are clearly conveyed. These are minimal issues and primarily only occur in that first act. Technically, Bradley handles the production with the skill of a veteran Director. This is a larger scale production with a lot of elements to bring together and she demonstrates how quickly and confidently she’s grown into the role, I’m excited to see what she Directs next, though I hope she hasn’t given up performing for good. It’s a beautifully designed set by Erik Paulson giving us a look at the entire cabin with doors and beams giving us an clear understanding of where walls are meant to be. The Projections by Peter Morrow and Ryan Stopera are effectively used to show us what is happening outside the windows of the cabin, they are used judiciously and create some truly eerie effects. Likewise the lighting design by Karin Olson and sound design by Katherine Horowitz help to make this an effective and at times genuinely scary experience.

Theater Mu’s production of Hells Canyon runs through March 17th at the Jungle Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/hells-canyon

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.