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 9! Stories From the Trauma Dump, The Label Maker, Too Fat to Run, Braingystics (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner)

Day Nine of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and I made it a satellite venue day. I feel bad for the shows outside of the Cedar Riverside hub. For some reason, folks think they can’t get between the locations in the 30 minutes between shows. Believe me, you can; I’ve been doing it all week long. And Open Eye has some of the best shows. Both the ones I saw today were excellent, Too Fat to Run and The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner, Braingystics. It’s also the venue for another Fringe of the Day Award winner, The Importance of Living, so I highly encourage you to branch out a little and get out to Open Eye.

This Saturday, I’ll be spending over half my day out at another outer venue, The Strike Theatre, seeing four shows there, all of which I’m really looking forward to, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Strike ends up with an award as well.

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; some things exist outside the spectrum of colors which we can see with the naked eye, after all. 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.

Stories From the Trauma Dump is part of the themed collective of shows at the independent producers’ venue, the Phoenix Theater in Uptown. All of the shows appearing here are a part of the Social Butterfly Project, which promotes mental health awareness. Learn more about that project here: https://socialbutterflyproject.com/.

This is a storyteller showcase, and the performers do change from show to show, so be sure to visit the shows page at the Fringe website and look under the More Information tab to see who is performing when you plan to go.

For the show I attended, the storytellers were Shanan Custer, Mahmoud Hakima, Ariel Pinkerton, Rev. Matt Kessen, Allison Broeren, and the show is hosted by Jena Young. All were excellent. I’m always a sucker for Rev. Matt and his Monster Science. Custer is one of those people I’ve come to admire as a performer, writer, and director, and it was fascinating to get a little glimpse into her early life and her journey with anxiety.

Hakima tells a touching story about his older sister and her diagnosis. Ariel was Ariel, which should tell you that it’s going to be a no-bullshit story, and she’s not gonna suffer fools. In short, she hits the nail right on the head and sheds light on a truth that should have everyone rethinking their roles in a partnership.

Allison Broeren successfully brings humor to topics that could use a little. This was my first experience of her storytelling, and she is masterful at it.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/stories-from-the-trauma-dump

There’s a joke that goes something like, “Do you have a lot of unresolved issues and childhood trauma that you think might need to be examined to help you understand why you are where you are in life?” And the punch line is, “You should write a Fringe show!!”

It gets a chuckle, but it also makes light of some rather brave shows like these at the Phoenix Theater this Fringe Festival. These shows shine a light on mental health issues. Artists do this by sharing their personal experiences. Why? because we all process things like this better through people’s stories. They make these issues relatable rather than just facts we read in a magazine article, thus heightening our understanding and our empathy.

The Label Maker is Jena Young’s solo show in which she asks the audience to play a game where she asks us which of two diagnoses the symptoms she lists fit. Then she tells her story that relates to those, and by the end, we know which one applies. The trick is, and it’s sort of the point, many of the symptoms of mental health diagnoses are shared. It’s one reason why diagnosis and treatment can be difficult.

Jena’s stories are powerful, and they help us to understand how things from our childhood often directly shape how we behave and how we see the world, and sadly, how we value ourselves.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-label-maker

Too Fat to Run is a solo show by Chicagoan Eileen Tull. Unlike a lot of solo shows, Tull doesn’t just walk around the stage making well-planned hand gestures while telling her story. She is in constant motion, running, rolling, or squatting on her exercise ball, which she makes good use of in many ways throughout her show.

It is about her battle with her weight and her relationship with food and exercise. And it’s about her training for and running the Chicago Marathon. She is a very physical performer, but also a master of expressions and vocal delivery. Her eyes and smile signal her intelligence, which is quick, and her humor, which is sharp.

This show got big laughs from me and the rest of the audience. Tull is a very enticing performer. You immediately feel like you want to be in her circle of friends because she is genuine, and she faces her trials and tribulations with humor and an “I can do this” attitude.

I’ve not really heard anything about the show, perhaps because it’s in the outlier location of Open Eye Theatre, or maybe because this was only its third performance. Which is actually great news; that means you all have two more chances to see it before it closes.

I have made the journey out to Open Eye from both the Cedar Riverside hub and the Phoenix Theater without missing a slot. It takes 10 minutes from either location, and there is parking available, so if you haven’t made it out yet, do. This show looked like it was going to be the award winner today until I saw the next one, though it is a close second.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/too-fat-to-run

Braingystics is like one of the best comedy sketches you would ever see on SNL, but it runs for an hour, and it knows how to end.

What is Braingystics? Well, it’s easier to talk about what it isn’t, and that is a pyramid scheme. It is not a pyramid scheme. It is a self-improvement seminar wherein we, the audience, learn about the process, which sounds a lot like a pyramid scheme, but this is definitely not a pyramid scheme. It is a process by which we can all learn to stop thinking, thereby opening our minds to 100% potential. It’s also about selling super-absorbent shams.

This is so sharply written and dense with jokes that fly at you like they are being fired out of the mouth of a carnival barker. Filled with inspirational babble and platitudes that sound great and mean absolutely nothing. The wordplay, the linguistic misdirection, and the sincerity with which it is all delivered are exquisite.

It is written and performed by Peyton Brown and Jared Jeffries, and it’s the kind of show you wish ran nightly for a month so you could bring family and friends with you to see it again. The performances and the timing by both Brown and Jeffries are uncannily good, with Jeffries giving off very strong Will Forte vibes.

This is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner and one of the best shows of the entire 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival. One more chance to see it Saturday at 2:30 at Open Eye Theatre. Get there if you can!

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/braingystics-seize-the-mind-

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

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 7! A Confluence of Magical Arseholes (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner), Leave Room For Jesus, Minnesota is the Shire, A Woman’s Place is in the House

Day Seven of the Minnesota Fringe Festival is now but a memory. Oh, but what a time we had on day seven. Don’t believe me? Well, just take a gander at these four new reviews I’ve written up with you in mind. Depending on what your tastes are, any one of them might need to be on your must-see list.

The evening was divided distinctly into two halves, completely by accident. The first half we’ll call Fun, with a capital F. Not to its face, of course, but you know, in the car ride on the way home. The second we’ll call the politics of MN. Now, I’ll be honest, I’m more of a Fun guy, but I like to sample the vegetables as well, though they are more of a side dish for me. Whatever your leanings, meat, vegetable, animal, or mineral, as you plan your Fringe, I hope these reviews are of some help.

I’ve heard more than just me lament that choosing one show over another is like a Sophie’s choice. It was only after I heard the other person say it that I realized how first-world it is of us to compare having to choose between someone’s improv show and someone else’s improv show, with choosing which of your children should live.

Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 to get the scoop on all of this year’s shows. I believe you can filter them by “meat” or “vegetable,” which will make it easier for the picky eaters in the crowd. 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 unlike Marla in Leave Room for Jesus, I’m not about to clone myself to make it possible. 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.

The evening started off with The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner, A Confluence of Magical Arseholes by The Winding Sheet Outfit (TWSO). Now, I’ve seen shows by this company at the Fringe and the Twin Cities Horror Festival. I know exactly the tone of show I’ll get, and I also know it will be among the most polished and creative… except, like Melancholics Anonymous (MA) this year, TWSO completely surprises us by doing something completely different. It’s still one of the most polished and successful, but it’s as if MA and TWSO swapped personalities. And like Watership Down, this is proof that talented people create great things and should not be held to our expectations of what they can or should do.

The show is directed by Amber Bjork in full view of the audience. Mark! Use the feckin’ door they bothered to haul on stage! It’s about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a British secret society founded in 1888. It focuses on the poet W.B. Yeats and his nemesis, Aleister Crowley. This is a true-ish story taken to comedic heights and features the most utterances of the word “cunt” that I imagine have ever been spoken on the Rarig thrust stage in one hour.

The cast is filled with people you will see in other shows at this year’s Fringe. Bjork is also involved in Tech, out at Strike Theater, which one of my fellow bloggers says is in the running for their favorite Fringe show so far. Mark Benzel is in Silent Movie at the Barbara Barker Home for the Criminally Insane, oops, sorry, that’s The Barbara Barker Center for Dance. If you think Benzel is good in this, just wait ’til you see him in Silent Movie; he’s in 3D in that one!

Sam Landman, who also appears in his improv show Bury the Leads with partner and muse Nissa Nordland over at Mixed Blood, plays George Bernard Shaw. Derek Lee Miller plays Bram Stoker here, but you can also see him in his own solo show that is absolutely hypnotic, Bay Creek, also at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance.

That alone is reason to come see this show. If you know any of those folks, you’ve already put it on your schedule, I’m sure. But it also features the return of Michael Rogers, who abandoned us this year like a thong whose elastic has finally snapped for Rhode Island, where all thongs go to die. It was great to see him bounding about the stage in such a juicy villainous role. Great cast, great script, great accents actually, I don’t know how accurate they are, but they’re fun. I love the interplay between the characters and between the characters and Bjork. MUST SEE!

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/a-confluence-of-magical-arseholes

Next up is Leave Room for Jesus, and I’m so glad that this one has improv, or it might have been a tough call for today’s award. This Wednesday evening show was either sold out or within a couple of seats of sold out. Part of what made this show so much fun was that the crowd was totally into it. Not in terms of shouting out suggestions when asked, we were having fun, but we are still Minnesotans after all.

Hannah Wydeven plays Marla, an evangelical pastor who belts out songs and scriptures, frequently based on audience confessions. She is backed by the heavenly angel backup singers and has a few special guests show up. I would say that while one song, at least, seemed to be rehearsed, all of the others seemed to genuinely be improvised on the spot.

One of my favorite scenes, though, was that one pre-written song, which has Sophia Schott, who we just saw at Aamodt’s Apple Farm in The Hobbit, which she killed in. She is great here as well, singing a song to Marla’s daughter, who dresses in a rather provocative style. She sings to her about how great it is to cover up your body. She’s repressing some desires that begin to get the better of her, which is played hilariously.

There is also a great surprise character played to perfection by Will Schroeder. This one is for the young at heart, but not for the young. Obviously, given the improv nature of the show, much of it will be different every night. The night I went was definitely R-rated. R for ridiculously fun!! But seriously, not for kids.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/leave-room-for-jesus

Now we move on to the portion of the night where things get political, but we get to ease into it with Minnesota is the Shire or Fair & Back Again, a show that uses J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth as a way to view Minnesota. It starts by making the argument that Minnesota is very much like the Shire, from our landscape to our State Fair. It’s worth the use of a Fringe slot just to see the photos of Jeremy Motz, Rhymes with Boats, at the fair looking like a bearded twelve-year-old.

Written and performed by Sean McArdle, the focus then changes to the occupation we face, beginning last winter when ICE began to terrorize us. He aptly compares it to the penultimate chapter of The Return of the King, “The Scouring of the Shire.” While things definitely get dark, and there are several clips he plays of videos he made last winter or audio recordings that capture the anger and fright he and all of us were feeling at the time, it also contains hope.

McArdle compares Minnesotans with Hobbits, and again I think he makes a good argument for that viewpoint. The show has moments that are quite raw and powerful, but those moments are tempered by the lighter ones. The bits of Tolkien nerdery help to create a nice balance between the heaviness of the topical and the fantasy of the literary.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/minnesota-is-the-shire-or-fair-back-again

The final show takes us out of the realm of fantasy and politics and into the genre of science fiction and politics. A Woman’s Place Is in the House has a woman from today go back in time to 1922 and recruit the first four women ever elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives to come back to the future with her to speak at a rally before this November’s elections to help inspire us to be better and fight for equal rights for everyone.

They each speak at the rally using their actual words from the past, and it’s scary how appropriate their comments are to today’s world. Along with the four past politicians, each show features the Minnesota Frog Brigade and cameo speeches by women currently serving in the MN House, as well as members of the League of Women Voters, ERAMN, and the Women’s March Minnesota.

It’s a clever concept for reframing the arguments and trying to present them in a new way that might connect with folks differently. The problem with it is the same one we always run into when like-minded folks gather around a topic: you are sort of preaching to the choir. You are not likely to finally get through to people because the people in the room are already with you. What it can do, however, is reignite the passion to act and to get involved to work towards the goals addressed.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/a-woman-s-place-is-in-the-house

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

Fringe Extra!! Derek Lee Miller’s Bay Creek

So there is one show that I saw at last year’s Twin Cities Horror Festival that is playing at this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival as well. As brilliant as I thought it was, I can’t bring myself to see something I’ve already seen over the chance to see something new. But I have spoken to someone who has seen it at both festivals, and they assure me the production hasn’t changed. So, because I highly recommend it, below I’m sharing my review from last fall of Derek Lee Miller’s fantastic Bay Creek!

Bay Creek written and performed by Derek Lee Miller is essentially a one person monologue. Miller’s character is in an interrogation room being questioned by members of the entire alphabet of law enforcement from the FBI to the DEA. We occasionally get recorded voice overs from those agents asking questions but for the most part it’s Miller on his own. The script is in places inspired by stories Miller was told by his family growing up. The story Miller’s character unfolds about his family is one of demonic protection. Miller is never less than completely hypnotizing the script like Miller himself doesn’t have an ounce of fat on it. It’s super tight, while the production design is extremely simple, a man sitting in a chair next to a table with a microphone and folders on it. The lighting and sound cues are not elaborate but are among the most effective I’ve ever seen. The final moment of the show is truly awesome. To be sure this is one of the best of this years TCHF thanks to Miller’s powerful storytelling through script and performance.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/bay-creek

I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.