MN Fringe Festival Day 11 The Finale in Which We Come to the End of the Festival Share Our Final Reviews, Give Out Some Awards, and Piglet Sees a Woozle. Bangs!, Guy For Now (Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award), Machinal, Sound and Noise and Bodies, This Body This Fruit, Just One Life. Plus the Winners of The Stages of MN Best in Fest Award and the Newly Minted Improv Best in Fest Award.

We made it!!! I’m not gonna lie, the last day was a struggle, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. All told, I saw 47 shows out of a possible 55! And there were still many I wish I could have seen. It’s that way every year. I had a great Fringe, and I hope you all did as well. And if you didn’t Fringe this year, I hope you at least enjoyed reading about the shows.

While we do have artists come from all over the world to perform at the MN Fringe Festival, the majority are local artists who are doing things all year long. Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 and check out the cast and crew pages of your favorite shows. Follow your favorites on the socials to see when they are next appearing in something outside of Fringe. Make it a point to see at least one show a month until next year’s Fringe.

The new theater website of the Twin Cities, 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/, should be of tremendous use in completing your monthly homework assignment. That site has links to all of the shows playing around the Twin Cities, as well as any reviews that might be out there for them from print and digital review sources. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should.

Artists, you have a job to do too: Be on the socials. Post about your shows! I’m always surprised at how often people are not putting their projects out there. Part of the job is promoting yourself and your work. You may hate it; I get that. I hate it too. But it’s part of my job as well. I have to do it so I get more followers, so that more people will hear about the show you are in that I reviewed. And it feels icky sometimes, like you are telling everyone how great you are and all the stuff you are doing. And yes, some people will think you are full of yourself for putting out into the world what you are doing. That is called jealousy, and you should have no time for it.

Audiences are not growing, and they aren’t getting younger. We are going to change that by engaging with younger people where they live, which is online. I get that you think only your parents and grandparents are still on Facebook, and Facebook is Evil. Well, yes, it is, so don’t read anything. Just post. And actually, there are other people on Facebook. They are your parents’ and grandparents’ friends, and they have something a lot of younger people don’t have: disposable income. They buy tickets. You want to sell tickets. Hold your breath, log on long enough to post about the show, and then get off.

OK, I’ll take my Dad hat off now before you all start asking for your allowance, and let me put my Stages of MN pants on and give out my Best in Fest Awards!

The winner of The Stages of MN Best in Fest Award is Watership Down from Melancholics Anonymous.

This company has been the darling of the Minnesota Fringe Festival since I began attending. Known for their darkly silly shows executed with the precision of a Broadway show, they are at once both the darling of the festival and the irreverent wild child. Until this year, when they did a Freaky Friday switcheroo with The Winding Sheet outfit. Exchanging their irreverence for elegance, they fashioned a straight adaptation of the classic novel by Richard Adams. There isn’t a campy bunny in sight.

Masterfully translating the story to the stage as a musical, featuring original songs by company member Bee Davis, it’s not just the best show of this year’s festival; it’s ready to expand and be mounted as a full-length production. If I ran the zoo, or better yet, the Guthrie Theatre or Theater Latté Da, I’d be talking with Davis and the playwrights Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly about commissioning this for a future season.

Congratulations on surprising us all by reinventing yourselves, taking a risk on not giving us what we expected, and know that it worked. No one is disappointed, and we feel foolish for mentally putting you in a box when the quality and creativity of your work always showed us you were capable of this.

Now, because someone told me that over 20% of the shows in the festival this year were improv shows, and because my own rule that The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner can’t be an improv show really is stupid, I have decided to do something about it. Originally it was a way to break a tie, which I also don’t allow, years ago. The thinking was, “because it is improv it is different every time.” But improv is such a huge part of the festival, and improv shows would certainly have taken two or three of the awards this year. So I am trying to atone for the rule, which I am not changing, I still gotta have a way to narrow down the choices some days, and I have created The Stages of MN Improv Best in Fest Award!

The first-ever The Stages of MN Improv Best in Fest Award goes to Bury the Leads, created and performed by the incomparable Sam Landman and Nissa Nordland.

Bury the Leads is what they call long-form improv, I think, though maybe this is actually extended long-form improv. Landman and Nordland play Clyde and Faye, two character actors trying to land roles and keep each other’s spirits up. True friends with an underlying current that maybe, just maybe, they could be more. The duo have been performing these characters and this concept for a year or so now, and everytime I see it, I get that “will they or won’t they?” vibe.

If I ran the Arboretum, or better yet, The Hive or Bryant Lake Bowl Theatre, I would be trying to cash in on this goldmine of an idea and book Bury the Leads with a monthly residency in which Landman and Nordland could serialize the show, building a continuing story of Clyde and Faye, with a Patreon option so you could see a recording of a performance if you had to miss one, so you could keep up with the story. If they did this, I would totally call it “my stories!”. “Oh no, I can’t tonight. I have to go to The Hive for my stories.” “No, no, I can’t make it to your wedding this weekend. I’m sorry, but my stories are on.”

Bury the Leads is consistently funny. Very funny. But what really sets it apart is that these are two of the best character actors in the Twin Cities. There are times in every performance that are not funny. They aren’t meant to be. They are moments when the characters touch on something true in their lives. Those glimpses are better than the funniest bits in the shows because you are seeing moments touched by truth and humanity.

We are not laughing; we are empathizing. And we do not care about anything else happening. We are locked into these lives on stage. You see, great acting is engrossing, whether it’s comedy or drama. Greatness holds you in its grip.

Click here to see who won the Fringe’s own awards, the Golden Lanyards: https://minnesotafringe.org/awards. You should also click here: https://thephipps.org/ to see which five shows will be part of the Fringe Encore at the Phipps, which runs from August 25 through the 29th at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI.

Now, my final set of reviews from The Minnesota Fringe Festival’s closing day.

Bangs! would be more aptly titled Drag!. I think it was a half-formed idea that never got a chance to solidify into something solid. I was expecting a drag show, but really, it was supposed to be a play about the performers backstage and onstage at a drag show. In truth, it was both and neither. There wasn’t enough there for a play, the big dramatic moment feels completely forced, and there are no emotional bonds built to allow it to have any real effect on the audience. The script seems to be catty drag-persona banter for 40 minutes, then have someone get shot. The end.

There is too little of the drag performances to satisfy that aspect either. There need to be things that lead up to the shooting, or the show needs to be about the aftermath of the shooting. That’s a traumatic event, and to use it without reason other than to give your play a false sense of importance is unfair to the audience and the cast. I liked the cast, and I would have enjoyed either a drag show by them, a proper play about the backstage relationships, or the aftermath of a violent act on this group of performers.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/bangs-

Guy For Now. I went into this one extremely blind. I couldn’t even remember why it was on my schedule until I saw Michael Quadrozzi come on stage. I then remembered seeing his name in the cast and putting it on my schedule for that reason. But I had no idea what it was, which I’m not sure any synopsis that would fit on the webpage would begin to explain what this show was.

I don’t know how I wasn’t hearing people talk about this show. Right before I went into this show, I bit the bullet and submitted my votes for the two audience Golden Lanyard awards. I never know when the cut off is on the final day! I wish I hadn’t. This would have gotten my vote for the Spirit of the Fringe Award. Well, it was too late for that, but I am awarding it the final The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award of the festival. It is one of the Fringiest things I’ve seen, and I absolutely loved it!

Again, I cannot fathom why I was not hearing about this show. No one mentioned it other than one person who knew it was on my schedule. When I couldn’t remember why, they did say it was good, I should stick with it, and not make a change. So glad I did!

It opens with a stage manager pointing a light at a man and stating stage directions for him to follow. He is confused. He walks on stage and into the spotlight. From there, like Alice in Wonderland, he meets person after person, each stranger than the last, always guided by the Stage Manager.

Quadrozzi shines as a Gentleman who acts as one half of a comedy team, perhaps this Wonderland’s version of Tweedledee and Tweedledum? Next, he puts on a completely different personality as Billy, whom I don’t have space to explain. All of the characters played by the entire cast are just so specific and funny. Benjamin Thacker as Guy and Tricia Buerke as the Stage Manager are also standouts.

Did I mention there’s some great dancing, some songs, some folks in Elizabethan costumes, and Guy sweeps the floor? Well, he does! I wish I could find the words to better describe this play, or that I had seen it earlier and could have championed it.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/guy-for-now

Machinal was a last-minute change, and I don’t know if it was for the better or not. The show I was supposed to see was a bake-off murder mystery when I scheduled it. By the time of the festival, it had changed to something else entirely that didn’t sound like what I was looking for. But Machinal? Well, I think I was too tired for a show like Machinal. I struggled to stay awake. What I assume I would have found captivating at the start of the festival seemed interminable on Day 11. I’m glad this is the last day of the festival, so this review will not dissuade anyone, because I’m fairly certain it’s not them, it’s me. Sometimes reality trumps artistry. It shouldn’t, but it does.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/machinal

Sound and Noise and Bodies is Jen Scott’s solo storytelling show with her original songs. I had never seen Scott perform like this; my previous experience with her was last year’s Clown Funeral. As a solo performer, Scott is a kick in the pants. She’s bubbly and full of knowing looks and quips and little bits of physicality that make the whole show buzz with an undercurrent of energy. She shares stories that, in one way or another, help to inform us of what her marriage and life are like with her husband, who is deaf. It adds up to something akin to heartbreaking, but when you hit the total button, what comes up is Scott’s smiling face, and you know there are difficult things in her life, and, she is capable of dealing with difficult things and finding the silver linings in the clouds.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/sound-and-noise-and-bodies

This Body, This Fruit is a one-woman show written and performed by Davi Gray. Gray uses her poetry to illustrate for the audience her journey through transness. It is a beautifully written piece in three acts, for which we get multiple costume changes as well. Its staging is elegantly simple. Davi, a late addition to the festival, could have been expected to read from a music stand, but she doesn’t. Every word is memorized and delivered with clarity and confidence. It’s a moving show that, again, I wish I had seen earlier and been able to encourage people to see.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/this-body-this-fruit

Finally, and thankfully, I ended my festival with a good show.

Just One Life is a musical, and a very good one, about healthcare injustice, specifically a fictional health insurance company that has just posted $6 billion worth of profits in the first quarter of the year. We have the CEO, Mr. Mitchell; his lackey, Adam; and Jake, the public relations officer. Mitchell and Adam are horrible human beings. Jake is not. He’s just caught in that trap where you are making good money in what you think is a good job, even though what you do for that job is spin lies.

One day, Jake meets Abby Lynn, an artist who is painting a mural near his work. He falls in love with her, and she with him. Until one day, she sees him on TV at a press conference defending his company’s denial of treatment for a little boy who dies of cancer. She breaks up with Jake, and he faces what he was already struggling with.

The performances were all good. There is a wild number when Philip Simondet, as Adam, strips down to a Speedo and does a striptease, illustrating the ugly underbelly of these corporate vampires. The best singer was Brooklyn Kellenberger, who plays Abby Lynn. She’s a nice match for the songs written by the show’s creator, Dave Dvorak.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/just-one-life

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MN Fringe Festival Day 10! A Real Piece of Work (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner), It’s-a-me a Musical, 1985: Relative Chaos, The Quiet Piggy, Witness Loudly, Tech, Small Minded

It is Day Ten, the penultimate day of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and I finally made it to the Independent Producers Venue, Strike Theater, for four shows. This group of shows featured some of my regular Fringe favorites, so I felt bad leaving them until Saturday, but the ones I really wanted to see never really aligned together for me earlier in the schedule.

This was one of my best days at the Fringe Festival this year, which made it incredibly difficult to choose a winner for the Fringe of the Day Award. I narrowed it down to three choices and then tried to devise rationales for narrowing it down, which I couldn’t think of any. So then I decided to write the reviews and see if any one show gained an edge as I processed them while writing.

Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 to get the scoop on all of this year’s shows. I’ll be posting my final set of reviews within a day or two of the Fringe closing. Since the shows are over, there isn’t a rush, but I want to give those artists the feedback, and who knows, maybe one of them will be in the Fringe Encore at the Phipps in a couple of weeks.

I will post on Facebook and Instagram tomorrow after the 8:30 show who has won the final Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award. I’ll also be posting two other award winners: The Stages of MN Best of the Fest Award and The Stages of MN Improv Best of Fest Award! Which, frankly, I’m already regretting creating because I have a four-way tie going right now, and I don’t know who I’m going to award it to.

Even though Fringe is over, you should still check out and favorite the new theater website 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/. That site has links to all of the shows playing around the Twin Cities, as well as any reviews that might be out there for them from print and digital review sources. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should.

A Real Piece of Work is a little love letter to community theater specifically and theater artists in general. It’s about a community theater company that is putting on a production of Hamlet in the basement of a church in Minneapolis. It reminds me a little of Kenneth Branagh’s film A Midwinter’s Tale, one of my favorite films about the honorable profession of acting. It also reminded me a little of Waiting for Guffman, but more on that later.

It opens with Ross Flores as Gregory, rehearsing a scene in the role of Hamlet. I always say the most important thing when playing Shakespeare is making the meaning of the dialogue clear to the audience, even if they don’t know the meaning of every word. Gregory takes this to a whole new level, creating hand gestures for the literal meaning of every single word in the famous “To be or not to be” speech. He is the epitome of the diva bad actor, adding flourishes to words to make them sound elevated, throwing a fit if someone stands in a way that will block the audience’s view of him, and so on. Flores plays it all perfectly, getting big laughs with his portrayal of the AcTor.

Other actors in the company are just there to get out of the house or have fun. They have more time than talent, and the director, Murphy, seems more interested in everyone having fun than providing any actual direction or leadership. That is what is driving Matt, played by Phi Hamens Nelson, crazy. He tries everything, talking to Murphy, the other actors, and the church lady Terry, who is clearly really in charge, but gets nowhere. He isn’t trying to take over; he just genuinely wants to do good and artistic work.

The problems keep growing. His attempt to enlist the help of Gregory only results in his performance going from eleven to twelve, which is one more. As opening time gets closer and closer, it becomes less about creating a vision for their production and more about simply preventing a complete train wreck. When Matt learns that they have invited theater blogger Rob Dunkelberger to review the show for The Stages of MN on opening night, his heart sinks. The pressure of having such a prestigious writer in the audience feels like the endeavor has gone from mildly embarrassing to something there will be a permanent written record of.

Phi Hamens Nelson’s performance is spot-on, trying to diplomatically get through to everyone, trying to plant seeds for ways to improve the show. When he loses it, we get it. There is nothing more frustrating than having everyone not take something seriously that you care tremendously about. It’s a moment that could go ridiculously big, but Nelson threads the needle, balancing realistic frustration while making it big enough for comedic effect.

I really enjoyed this look inside a theater company. I love theater and actors, with all of their quirks, so you give me a show about actors trying to put on a show that pokes loving fun at the venture, and I’m all in.

Having now written all of the reviews from Day 10 and seeing the length of this one, it feels like this is the one that I had the most to say about and was excited to get my thoughts down on. And so it is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner.

I almost eliminated it because I’m mentioned, but I had no involvement in the show and didn’t know my name would be spoken, multiple times, until it happened. What is that like, to be sitting in a theater and having the play you are watching suddenly inject you into its universe? Hysterically surreal, and a little validating. In truth, it made me laugh as hard as I have at anything else in the festival, and I’ve laughed hard at a lot of things this Fringe. I also felt honored to have been chosen to represent the Twin Cities theater bloggers in the way, I expect because my name just sound funnier than the other blogger”s names do. Do I show up to opening night? You’ll have to wait for next year’s Fringe show, Waiting for Dunkelberger, to find out.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/a-real-piece-of-work

It’s-A-Me, a Musical is just fun! I don’t really do video games, though I have played Super Mario World a little back in college. You don’t need to know the game inside and out, or, for that matter, the 1993 film on which this musical is based to enjoy it. I haven’t seen it, and that was a time in my life when I saw nearly every film released in theaters.

The show has some sweet songs sung by a cast of varying vocal talents, none of them bad. The production design is minimal, but what is there is well done and really all we need to see to set the scenes. What is really special are the costume designs by Carlee Wehrman. They capture the characters simply but also spot-on.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/it-s-a-me-a-musical

1985: Relative Chaos! is longtime Fringe performer Jason Schommer’s entry in this year’s festival. Schommer is just an artist I connect with. Maybe it’s because we are about the same age and have a lot of the same cultural references. Last year, he added JC Lippold to his shows, playing snippets of songs or TV themes, and it made my connection to the shows even stronger, as they are the soundtrack of my life as well.

I know this was his last slot of the Fringe. Again, I wish I could have made it to all of the Strike Theater shows earlier, but I got to chat with Schommer a little after the show, and he may use this material in other venues, it’s a strong set and the material is very relatable to everyone.

The show is filled with stories about his family, with an emphasis on 1985, which was a big year for his family. It was the year his parents got divorced, his grandmother died, and his mom went into rehab. Schommer is as funny as ever, and as usual, he finds moments to tug at the heartstrings just a smidge as well.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/1985-relative-chaos

The Quiet Piggy is Executive Director of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Dawn Bentley’s first Fringe show of her own. It is mainly a political rant about the current administration, the effect its actions have had on the world, Minnesota, and the arts. Bentley is a passionate and strong writer, and her presentation is strong. She ends with a visual representation of her strength: we see her with her bodybuilding hat on, oiled up and flexing. It is a reinforcement of the strength and power in evidence in her script. There is some singing, some violin playing, a lot of swearing, and some clowning. The only part that didn’t entirely work for me was the clowning by Lucas Fanning, which just sort of fell flat for me. Though the final image of Dawn flexing her muscles with one foot on the fallen Trump clown was perfect.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-quiet-piggy

Witness Loudly by Kyle Dekker, is about Operation Metro Surge and the role he and many like him took up as constitutional observers, patrolling their neighborhoods to warn their neighbors and compile evidence about the reign of terror being conducted by ICE. Kyle’s show recreates actual live rapid-response calls from that time, giving the audience a very immediate and visceral sense of being in the moment.

It’s a powerful firsthand account of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to try and keep their fellow citizens safe. They are true American heroes. The show is emotionally difficult at times, but I think it needs to be. We should feel shock and anger at what is going on. Dekker does an excellent job of pulling together a complicated multimedia experience. This was part of what would have been a three-way tie, if I allowed those for today’s award.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/witness-loudly

Tech is this year’s entry from Twin Cities improv artist Mike Fotis and his band of merry makers. Fotis and his cast work in the long-form improv style, in which they choose a concept, in this case, a tech rehearsal the night before a Fringe show opens, and then they play that one scene out for the entire show. It’s improv, so it will be different every time. Fotis and his cast are among the best in the Twin Cities. It’s great! Anytime you have the chance to see an improv show in which Fotis is involved, see it.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/tech

The final show was part of that three-way tie, again, if such things were allowed. Small Minded is from traveling artist Tyler West. West tells his story as a person with dwarfism, working to become a performing artist. But he doesn’t stand up and just talk you through his life. The show is filled with everything from dramatic Shakespeare monologues, juggling, and magic to some of the best clowning I’ve ever seen. There is a segment where West dresses like a Keystone Cop that was brilliant! It was as if he was channeling the great silent film comedians, I absolutely loved that bit.

West opens up about the paradox he struggles with: the desire to be a performer, earn a living, and use his talent as a clown, while also grappling with the possibility of perpetuating harmful stereotypes of little people as performers to be laughed at.

Should we feel bad for laughing at his show, for enjoying the experience he has created? No. It isn’t about us. We do him a disservice if we say to ourselves that we shouldn’t laugh at the funny thing he just did. Because honestly, we are laughing at his performance and the creativity of his clowning, not at his size. He earned those laughs through the skills he has developed as an artist, not because of something he was born with, unless you are referring to his talent.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/small-minded

MN Fringe Festival Day 8! M, The Choose Your Own Adventures of Turtle Boy (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner), Therapist Zero, Chum!

It is day eight of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and I’m back again with four more reviews. To help you plan the final push on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, here is a rundown of all The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winners so far:

Watership Down
Be Not Afraid
Empty Nest
The Importance of Living
A Confluence of Arseholes
The Choose Your Own Adventures of Turtle Boy

Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 to get the scoop on all of this year’s shows. As I do every year, I’ll be posting short reviews of every show I see as fast as I can, including my daily naming of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner.

I can’t see everything, at least not without my glasses. So I encourage you to also follow my colleagues at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and https://letteredintheatre.wordpress.com/. You can also access all of the shows on the fabulous new theater website of the Twin Cities, 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/. That site has links to all of the Fringe shows, as well as any reviews that might be out there for them from print and digital review sources. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should.

M is based on the 1931 German film directed by Fritz Lang and adapted and directed by Emma Kessler. This was an interesting experiment, taking a very stylized film and adapting it to the stage. Kessler makes some fun artistic choices, such as the use of shadow puppet techniques in certain scenes to capture locales, windows, even the silhouettes of people at times. It adds a touch of expressionist style that informed many classic German films of the silent era, which led to the bold, dynamic techniques that Lang employed when making M in the early sound era. There are several nice touches, such as having a child’s red ball roll across the stage to signify its owner no longer needs it. The story involves the hunt by the police and the underworld for a child killer. Fans of the film will really enjoy this transfer to the stage. I know I did.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/m

The Choose Your Own Adventures of Turtle Boy is the winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award! The amazing thing is, this was a last-minute change. I had planned to see another show simply because it was in the same venue when, for the second time in two days, someone told me they were contemplating seeing this show for a second time. For die-hard Fringe fans who try and see as much stuff as we can, a statement like that means something. It was a sign from not really above, but more next to me and slightly to my left.

First off, Turtle Boy just melts your heart. From the moment he hides behind his puppeteer’s leg because he’s shy, an act that people in most audiences, maybe not a Fringe one, will instantly identify with. Turtle Boy is a puppet, of the marionette persuasion, controlled by traveling artist Emmanuel Elpenord. Throughout the stories Turtle Boy tells, he reaches a point where he has to choose between two choices, which the audience votes on by applause.

I was a big reader of the Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. The first ones I ever got were through the book order forms we got at school, they were called Twistaplot. I believe Twistaplot lost a format war with Choose Your Own Adventure, as they only produced 18 books to the latter’s 184. There was also a version by another publisher called Find Your Fate that featured James Bond and Indiana Jones. But maybe I made the wrong choice going down this path, because the review seems to have been lost. I’m going to go back to the previous decision and continue on in another direction.

Turtle Boy is so charming, you just root for him. The other great thing about this is it’s a show the whole family can enjoy, which is not something you can count on for a lot of Fringe shows, so it’s nice to have those options.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-choose-your-own-adventures-of-turtle-boy

Therapist Zero is a solo show from Brian Leonard that is very polished, almost to the point where you might call it slick. Leonard is obviously very well rehearsed and comfortable in front of an audience. It felt a little like an HBO comedy special by one of those comedians who also tells you moments of truth, though not as funny. That’s intentional; he sprinkles the show with humor, but it isn’t meant to be a stand-up routine. He’s storytelling or life-lesson sharing.

The stories he tells are all interesting, and they are connected thematically, but it’s hard not to feel that somewhere along the way we lost the central premise. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a cut-down version of a longer show; it just feels like we are missing a chunk of information surrounding his daughter. I wanted to know more about those teenage years, how she is now, not just what she is doing. This is a solid show. If you have nothing else that catches your eye during this slot, this is a solid choice that will not leave you wishing you had the time slot back.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/therapist-zero

Chum! is the second Jaws parody show of the Fringe Festival; this one is a musical. If you see only one Jaws parody show this Fringe, I’d have to say see the other one, Muskie. That one tells its own story set in MN and is very humorous.

Chum! is…well, I don’t know what it is. It uses recognizable characters from Jaws, but then kind of tells a different story that’s also kind of the same. It’s funny at times. The songs are not bad; they aren’t particularly memorable, but they have some clever bits to them. It just seems a little, I wouldn’t say safe exactly, but maybe risk-averse.

They wrote a lot of songs, and the cast is quite good vocally as well as performance-wise. It just fails to really tickle the viewer the way Muskie does. This one may be suffering from being a show I wanted so much to be great, and it was just good. One curious similarity was the way the watery terrors in both shows are sort of dispatched in the same way.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/chum-

MN Fringe Festival Day 5! Glengarry Glen Elvis, Maxxeapolis Goes to Hell, A Magician, The Importance of Living (The Stages of MN Fringe of the day Award Winner)

Day five of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and I have four more reviews to share with you, faithful readers. As you plan your Fringe, I hope you are finding them useful, especially The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winners. Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 to get the scoop on all of this year’s shows. As I do every year, I’ll be posting short reviews of every show I see as fast as I can, including my daily naming of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner.

You know, try as I might, I can’t see everything, but it’s not for lack of trying. So I encourage you to also follow my colleagues at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and https://letteredintheatre.wordpress.com/. You can also access all of the shows on the fabulous new theater website of the Twin Cities, 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/. This site is a marvel; if you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to.

Glengarry Glen Elvis is a parody of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross. I saw the film adaptation in theaters, but that must be over 30 years ago, and I’ve never seen the play performed on stage. But it felt very Mamet, aside from one character, Sebastian, either being Elvis or being obsessed with Elvis. I’m not prepared to say which I think it is. Sebastian is played by the writer of the show, Michael Shaeffer, whom I’m sure started with the idea of a show he could do to showcase his Elvis singing skills. Mamet is not an obvious choice, and honestly, I think you could do this with a lot of different plays. The marriage between the two isn’t quite as organic as these types of mash-ups sometimes are. But it doesn’t matter; the Mamet part is well executed. Particularly spot-on is the performance of Andrew D. Artley as Ricky Roma. And the Elvis song interludes that Sebastian launches into at the slightest provocation rock. Shaeffer does a great job working the crowd and performing the songs. I had a lot of fun with this one, and I think you will too.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/glengarry-glen-elvis

Maxxeapolis Goes to Hell is a sketch comedy show in which the members of the show arrive in Hell. Their only chance of escape is for Satan to approve of their show, so this better be the best one they’ve ever done! I’m a fan of the format, but I don’t remember ever having seen one live on stage outside of The Brave New Workshop. I really enjoyed this group of performers, and I thought the writing was very smart. There might be one or two sketches that don’t fully work out of the dozen or more they present. But if you think about it, that blows SNL’s batting average out of the water. I didn’t know anyone in the cast aside from Alex Stokes, who I’ve long thought was underused in the Twin Cities. This is the perfect format for his talents, in fact all of them seem to be perfect for this style of comedy. I’m not sure if this troupe, Maxxeapolis, is a group that performs sketch comedy together in other places or not. If anyone knows, please let me know. I’d love to check them out again in the future. If you find yourself regularly tuning in to SNL for the couple of sketches a week that work, you will love this!

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/maxxeapolis-goes-to-hell

A Magician is a magic show that has magician Jordan Rooks, who has worked with all of the great magicians, telling his own story as he amazes the audience with the things he has up his sleeves. The storytelling part is fairly interesting. The magic act has a couple of WTFHTHDHDT? moments. For those unfamiliar, that’s “what the fudge, how the heck did he do that?” Others are a little underwhelming, and a couple seem to have gone slightly askew. Overall, if you are a magic enthusiast, you’ll want to check it out; if you’re not into magic, it’s probably a skip. But for many, when you trek to these outlying theaters, it’s about staying in the same place for a few shows. If this makes sense because you are at Open Eye already, you’ll have a good time. I actually found talking with Rooks after the show to be as interesting as the show, so if you have time afterwards visit with him.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/a-magician

The Importance of Living is the Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner! This play stars two of The Stages of MN favorites, Ariel Pinkerton and Tim Uren. Uren, who also wrote the script, plays Samuel, who comes across Louise, played by Pinkerton, the producer of the show. He finds her enjoying a meal and reading a book, and he engages her in conversation. He begins by telling her a story, and they ease into an easy give-and-take, trading stories of their lives. Both of them have done a little murdering, it seems. Where they are and if they are both really there is one of many details revealed over the hour. Like Uren’s previous scripts, this is very literary; the language is specific and filled with detail and nuance. Both Uren and Pinkerton do delicious accents, and it’s a joy just listening to them play with the dialogue. The text is filled with dark humor, and as I learned reading the program, both of their characters and their exploits are real. So true-crime fans, take note: this is one for you, or anyone who loves a great story, well acted. It is directed by Duck Washington, who, as the Executive Director of the Twin Cities Horror Festival, knows his way around a dark tale. This is a devilishly dark two-hander that I highly recommend.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-importance-of-living

MN Fringe Festival Day 4! Empty Nest (Winner of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award), Fast Death of a Salesman, Silent Movie, I Will Become the Silver Surfer, Muskie, Too Much of a Good Thing, The Importance of Being Eternal

It’s day four of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and I have now seen 18 shows and awarded three The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Awards. So just 29 shows and six more Fringe of the Day Awards to go. At the end of the Fest, I’ll have a few additional awards to announce, including the first ever The Stages of MN Improv Best of Fest Award! As you plan your Fringe, I hope my reviews, and particularly the Fringe of the Day Awards, are helping you to make responsible choices. To check out all the shows, go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026. As I do every year, I’ll be posting short reviews of every show I see as fast as I can, including my daily naming of The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner.

You know, try as I might, I can’t see everything, and that has nothing to do with the price of tea at the Seward Co-op. It simply isn’t possible, I’m not in touch with H.G. Wells anymore and no longer have access to his time machine on weekends. So I encourage you to also follow M’colleagues at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and https://letteredintheatre.wordpress.com/. You can also access all of the shows on the fabulous new theater website of the Twin Cities, 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/. This site is a marvel, if you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to.

Empty Nest hits incredibly close to home. Levi Weinhagen and Laura Zabel’s show is on the surface about becoming empty nesters and opens with their top ten parenting mistakes. But beyond parenting it’s really about this time in the life of a couple. It’s broken up into different segments some done together some individually. Laura’s monologue on menopause is particularly relatable as my wife has been dealing with it for a couple of years and I personally have been going through the change my whole life. Another segment is about finding shared interests. Which for my wife and I is menopause, it’s nice to be with someone who finally understands hot flashes after all these years. This show has a little of everything from theater parody, storytelling, to clowning. For marrieds who have grown children there is a lot that will make you laugh out of recognition. This is truly funny and relatable to me, which is why this is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner!

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/empty-nest

Fast Death of a Salesman was a close second, so close! It confronts an important issue facing theaters today: how to interest young people in the theater. While it does raise questions about how to do so, Dr. Duke Didier’s solutions are hilariously idiotic. He and his theater students are trying an experiment on his 10-year-old nephew, Braedyn. For example, because Braedyn seems to only show interest in things that move quickly, they will perform Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman at a speed so fast that the actors cannot even speak the lines. Instead they have been recorded and sped up electronically, and the actors will just lip-sync while acting out the play. Along with the actors, Didier, sorry, Dr. Didier, has hired an auctioneer, who has secretly always dreamed of being onstage. That role is played with comedic brilliance by Steph Callaghan, whose performance alone puts this on the must-see list. But the entire cast is excellent, led by Jeremy Motz (rhymes with “boats”, honestly, I now say that in my head every time I write or say his name). Motz is something of a specialist of the pre show performance. It’s worth being first in line so you don’t miss a moment of his performance as the pompous Dr. Didier, which begins the moment they open the house.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/fast-death-of-a-salesman

This next one hit two of my sweet spots: silent cinema and 3D. Silent Movie is an improv show in which the cast spin three wheels, which will determine what their performance will be about. Ours was a western with a Groundhog Day loop starring Erin Sheppard (one of the company members). Then the cast acts out that scenario in the style of a silent movie for the rest of the runtime. But I left out the best part, it’s in 3D!!!! You can purchase 3D glasses before the show for $2. If you don’t want to fork out for the glasses, you can just close one eye and everything will appear normally, but in 2D. I recommend the glasses, as the 3D is amazing! There aren’t really any “poppy-outies,” but the depth is incredible. It feels like you are actually in the room with the actors; I caught myself reaching out and trying to touch them several times. Like all improv, a good concept isn’t enough, you have to have a great cast, and this is. They are called The Improv Movement Project, which, as the name implies, means they are very heavy into movement. This is very physical improv; not even bullets are allowed to go unperformed.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/silent-movie-

I Will Become the Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You. is the first solo show from An Alleged Theatre Company member Jake Mierva, who also wrote and directed Fast Death of a Salesman, which I saw earlier in the day. Well known for their comedic shows, this starts out with a sense that it will be a nerd-out comedic show, and what Mierva does throughout the show physically is definitely humorous. The words he is saying are not. To be clear, that isn’t a criticism, it’s intentional. The physical acts as a counterpoint to the character’s explanation of his struggles in life; his traumas are a part of this very dark script. It’s an uneasy balance that, to be honest, Mierva doesn’t always find. It’s an odd show, not funny enough (again, intentionally) for folks who are looking for laughs, but perhaps too funny for those Fringers who are more into the serious monologue shows about a person’s trauma and mental health struggles. One thing it does accomplish is showing us that Mierva is capable of both comedy and drama. It doesn’t fail or succeed but lies in that uneasy place between the two, reserved for a very specific Fringer.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/i-will-become-the-silver-surfer-i-will-protect-you

Muskie is the first of two Jaws parodies I’ll be seeing at this year’s Fringe; the other is called Chum!, which is a musical. Which reminds me of that year in the late 1990s when Hollywood put out competing volcano movies. This one is set during the fishing opener competition on Lake Mille Lacs. The night before the opening, a young man disappears while skinny-dipping when he is pulled under by something in the water. It’s up to a disgraced fisherman and his sister, the sheriff, to convince the mayor to shut down the competition and get everyone off the lake so they can go fishing for the mythical muskie. I would like to highlight the performance of Maija Dahlberg who plays Alex a young scout who participates in the fishing opener. The whole cast is fun, but on a stage full of adult actors this young actor steals the show. Filled with MN humor and a wonderful muskie puppet, this one’s a lot of fun for fans of Jaws, hotdish, and PBR.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/muskie

Too Much of a Good Thing is a solo show by Rachel Redleaf about her breasts. Specifically, about her relationship with them, from her childhood wish for breats to the point where she realized you have to be careful what you wish for. Ending her breast development at size H, Each weighing 8 lbs. she comes to the decision that reduction surgery is the right choice for her. Redleaf injects her mamologue with a lot of humor, but there are also some dark moments along the pink path her story follows. Redleaf shares a lot in order to fully tell her story, and it’s because of that openness that her show feels complete. The show definitely has a sexual side, but don’t come expecting to be titillated, this isn’t burlesque. You will laugh, you will see Redleaf handle her breasts a lot, but you are going to gain an understanding of what real life is like for someone who has been given too much of a good thing.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/too-much-of-a-good-thing

The Importance of Being Eternal is a mash-up of vampires and Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. It works surprisingly well, and aside from either a forgotten line or missed technical cue, which seemed to bring the show to a standstill for what was probably less than a minute but must have felt like ten to the cast, it’s extremely slick. The contrast between the manners of Victorian England in Wilde’s original and the eroticism of the vampiric world provides a lot of the play’s crowd-pleasing content. The crowd I saw the show with at 10:00 PM on a sunday night was extremely lively for a play about the undead. If vampires are one of your erotic turns, you’re going to lust for this play. To be truthful, I did feel a little old for this show. I probably would have enjoyed it more at an earlier time slot, when people my age were still up and attending shows. It is clever, sexy, and a lot of fun, but speaking only for myself, I think this is a young person’s show, particularly if you went through a Twilight phase, which I didn’t.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-importance-of-being-eternal

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Plays Like a Comicstrip Allegory for Authoritarianism Told Through the Lens of the Godfather

Gary Briggle and David Beukema Photo by Tony Nelson

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a 2½-hour play written in 1941 by Bertolt Brecht about the rise of Nazism, told through the lens of Chicago gangsters. Brecht. The rise of Nazism. Two and a half hours. Sounds like heavy stuff, right? Perfect material for a Sunday afternoon nap at the theater. But while the show deals with dark, all-too-topical themes, it’s entertaining as hell.

I’ll admit it, I’ve caught myself almost nodding off at more shows than I’d care to confess lately. Luckily, I’m the type who jolts himself awake the second his head tips forward, so I rarely miss anything. It’s never a reflection of the show, I’m just exhausted most of the time. Despite that tendency, I still refuse to give up my favorite seat: the front row. And I’m proud to say there wasn’t a single moment of head nodding during this performance. Partly because the room was a crisp (and probably only to me, comfortable) 65 degrees, but mostly because the show is completely engaging.

The play is an allegory for the rise of Adolf Hitler, reimagined through the story of Arturo Ui, a Chicago gangster who takes control of the cauliflower market and runs protection rackets on local grocers. The tone is distinct, a product of Brecht’s epic theatre philosophy. Brecht wanted audiences to remember they were watching a play, not reality, so actors occasionally break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. The makeup is stylized, almost a subtler Kabuki style, and the performances are broad without being cartoonish. Everything about it, from the make up to the costuming, evokes the visual world of the old Dick Tracy comicstrips. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s not strictly dramatic either, “entertaining” really is the best word for it.

The cast is terrific. David Beukema shines in multiple roles, starting as the announcer who humorously introduces the major players and later in a great scene as a washed up Shakespearian actor brought in to give Arturo tips on how to come off more polished to the everyman. Jim Ramlet is sympathetic as a politician seduced into corruption in a moment of weakness. E.J. Subkoviak stands out as Ernesto Roma, Ui’s right-hand man, exuding both dry humor and menace. But the undeniable star of the show is Gary Briggle as Arturo Ui. His performance feels like a cross between two Al Pacino roles from 1990, The Godfather Part III’s Michael Corleone and Dick Tracy’s Big Boy Caprice. Yet it’s entirely his own creation, filled with menace, manipulation, weariness, and a darkly comic edge. Briggle commands the stage with equal parts charm and danger.

Frank Theatre’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui runs through November 23 at the Ivy Building for the Arts in South Minneapolis. For more information and tickets, visit franktheatre.org.

The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the weekly Stages of MN Show. You can watch it by clicking here. Be sure to check out the latest episodes and subscribe so you’ll always know when a new one drops. Not sure you agree with one of my takes? I’m also part of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can find review roundups from my colleagues and me. Follow us on Facebook at @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

Minnesota Fringe Day 3: Invasive Species or: In Space No-One Can Hear Your Steam, The Abortion Chronicles, Breach, Joan of Arc For Miss Teen Queen USA (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner), Rec League, Jewelry Power Elite, That Which is Green.

Another great day at The Minnesota Fringe Festival. I’ve yet to see a show that I wouldn’t enthusiastically recommend. Maybe it’s that I’m not very adventurous with my picks, but I guess the trade off of playing it safe, being I never see a bad show, is worth it. Read my quick reviews of the seven shows I saw on day three below, including today’s The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner.

Invasive Species or: In Space No-One Can Hear Your Steam features of a fantastic script by Tim Wick which reimagines alien as a nautical mystery set in a steampunk London of the late 1800s. But the humor isn’t limited to that era, it pulls from all time periods but mostly we see it through the lens of the 20th century. A running gag featuring a variation on the classic Abbott and Costello “Who’s On First” routine is a highlight as is the explanation of steampunk technology. The cast is amazing especially Dawn Krosnowski as Ripley and Kjer Whiting as Inspector Dunkleputty (no relation). The creature effects are at once both low-tech and spectacularly effective. Re-creating all of the fabulous moment you expect from the film, but in a way that gets a laugh. We get the chestburster scene, the Face hugger Alien as well as a stand off that mirrors the final battle between Ripley and the Alien Queen in Aliens. The fabulous Creature effects are by Seán McCardle and the Props are by Liz Cummings. There’s one brilliant bit of stage business that subverts our expectations beautifully. The character of Ash is seen drinking from milk cartons several times, leading me to expect a recreation of, what for me was one of the biggest gross out scenes in the film, when Ash is killed and we learn he was an android and he’s spitting up a milky substance. I always hated that scene and I felt sure they were building up to it with the milk cartons, and then they don’t go there. They get to build up the anticipation of the scene without actually making us watch it, or them having to deal with the cleanup, which was an effective way to play that sequence. for more information and to purchase tickets go to the shows page on the Minnesota Fringe website https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/invasive-species-or-in-space-no-one-can-hear-your-steam

The Abortion Chronicles is an anthology of woman’s stories revolving around abortion, all of them true, all of them deeply affecting. This is a remount of previous productions, which I did not see, but with mostly new stories. It was always an important show to produce, but it is becoming more and more vital everyday. These stories need to be told, heard, and understood. As a man I found it to be a privilege to be allowed to sit and listen to these stories. Allowing me a greater understanding of something I can never fully understand being in the body I am. The stories alternate with comments from two characters played by Christy Johnson who plays a nurse at an abortion clinic and Patti Gage who plays a patient escort at the clinic. They tell little anecdotes of their experiences between the main stories which are told by the the performers, some of whom are reenacting their own stories others as surrogates for other women. The women’s stories cover a range of circumstances that help to illuminate how complicated the issue really is. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the shows page on the Minnesota Fringe Website https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-abortion-chronicles#tickets

Breach features a powerful cast! I had it on my schedule because of Em Adam Rosenberg and Stephanie Kahle, who are The Stages of MN favorites. They play siblings, who own a crab fishing boat left them by their Father. Kahle is the Captain while Rosenberg plays the First Mate, and they are as always fantastic. But every single member of the cast is incredible. This is a harrowing story of a crab fishing ship and its crew. This trip hasn’t been very successful and so when they receive word of a storm, the Captain heads into a storm despite the risks rather than turn back without enough Crab to make the trip financially worthwhile. But there are secrets being concealed and as the storm looms ahead loyalties will be tested. The show actually gets a little spooky at times. It’s directed with precision by Alex Church who also cowrote the play with Mariabella Sorini. The lighting and sound design are highly effective and build genuine tension. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/breach

Joan of Arc For Miss Teen Queen USA is this year’s Melancholics Anonymous show, and for most that’s probably all I need to write. If you are a Minnesota Fringe regular you know who Melancholics Anonymous are. If this is your first time, you’ll want to try and reserve tickets for this show. It’s in one of the largest venues, which would be hard to sell out, but if anyone can it’s them. A Fringe show can be anything, that’s the joy of the Fringe. But when I think of Fringe as a Style, Melancholics Anonymous is what I think of. In this years show Timothy Kelly, who cowrote the show and whose bright blonde hair and 100 watt smile will always be the face of Melancholics Anonymous to me, plays the MC of the South Dakotan Miss Teen Queen USA Pageant. Things get disrupted when Joan of Arc suddenly appears as a new contestant 588 years after her execution. Like the Blues Brothers before her, she is on a mission from God! Outrageousness ensues, pants are nearly wet from laughter, and we all learn a little something about the importance of women supporting each other. It’s fantastically designed and orchestrated and probably the best thing yet from this company that always hits it out of the park. And, it is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/joan-of-arc-for-miss-teen-queen-usa

Rec League is one of the Festivals independently produced shows running at Strike Theater in North Minneapolis. It is one of the most successful improv shows I’ve seen at a Fringe Festival. I’m always a fan of Mike Fotis’ shows but this one surpassed all of the others. There wasn’t a single story thread that got dropped or taken in a dead end direction. And, they kept the fictional softball game actually going which was really impressive. But as they say in the show notes you don’t have to know anything about softball to enjoy the show. It’s about friends and their relationships and the different places we are all at when we get to our 40’s. And speaking of different, this is improv so every show will be different but it’s full of local favorites like Fotis, Allison Vincent, and Rita Boersma who are always funny, so it’s a pretty safe bet when you need some laughs in your schedule. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/rec-league

Jewelry Power Elite is surprisingly, Brave New Workshop company member and local legend, Lauren Anderson’s first solo show. I added it to my schedule because, well, Lauren Anderson. Ask any of my wives, current or past and they will tell you I do not notice jewelry, hair, or shoes, and as far as clothes go, I only notice if you aren’t wearing any, but I think that’s true of anyone, the noticing if someone is naked. Jewelry couldn’t break into the top 1,000 on my list of interests even if you eleminated my top 500 interests. I left this show with a new appreciation of jewelry, but mostly feeling like I’d been let into Anderson’s inner circle, if only for 45 minutes. Directed by Duck Washington, Jewelry Power Elite feels similar to his 2023 The Stages of MN Fringe of the day Award winning solo show My Only hope For a Hero. It takes something she is passionate about and through the lens of that passion shares stories that inform us of who she is and how she became the person we see before us. It’s funny, personal, and you get a free jelly bracelet! For those who love jewelry, this will be heaven, for the rest of us it’s the next best thing (that’s right, it’s a soft serve vanilla ice cream Crunch cone from Dairy Queen). Highly recommend this show, no love of jewelry required. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/jewelry-power-elite

That Which is Green is possibly the final Minnesota Fringe show from Michael Rogers who is moving away from the Twin Cities this fall. It’s a loss to the community, but one hopes that his connections and friends here in Minnesota will bring him back at least for more Fringe fun in the future. Fun isn’t the first word that comes to mind with his new show which he wrote, directed, and performs in along with Alex Van Loh. Though it does have laughs it’s concerned more with exploring the ideas of religion, Friendship, and the paths our lives take us down. A journey to an old and holy tree by two old friends brings up memories of the past. Set in what appears by their costumes to be another reality in which the tree is somehow related to that world’s version of Christianity. It’s another powerful performance from Rogers who is clearly connecting with this work. It may have been the 10:00 PM time slot on day three of the Fringe Festival in which I’ve seen a show in every possible time slot and spent additional energy putting myself forward to capture interviews with Artists and Audience members. But I found the show putting me almost in a trance like state. like I was in the forest with the characters communing with nature. Don’t miss this chance to see Michael Rogers, there may not be many chances left. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/that-which-is-green

That’s it for day three of the Minnesota Fringe Festival you can click on the Fringe website here to get details on all of the shows https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025. Don’t forget to tune into The Stages of MN YouTube channel for mini episodes all week long from The MN Fringe Festival https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. We’ll hopefully have the second one up on Monday!

Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

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