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

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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.

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

MN Fringe Festival Day 3! The Lousiest Werewolves, So You Want to Date a Bisexual?, Ember, Bury the Leads, Not Bad For a Punk Band, Be Not Afraid (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner), Casa-Bde-Maka-Ska

The Minnesota Fringe Festival has me once again in its grasp. After an evening off, I took no prisoners on day three, hitting seven shows in six different venues. 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.

I was reminded today, as I looked over the seven shows I saw trying to determine which would be The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner, of some self-imposed rules for the awards. First, no ties, this is to force me to make decisions; otherwise, the nine The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Awards would turn into 18 or more, thus diluting the already sketchy specialness of the award. The second rule: improv shows are not eligible, theoretically because each show will be different, but really as a way to help me narrow down the choices.

I had three on my short list for today’s award. If you are at all a skilled headline reader, you’ve certainly sussed out who won. The “no improv” rule eliminated Bury the Leads for me, which left me with two, and I undoubtedly would have made it a tie if I hadn’t the “no ties” rule. For those curious, the runner-up was Casa Bde-Maka-Ska.

You know, try as I might, I can’t see everything, and that has nothing to do with my driving. It simply isn’t possible without the use of time travel, for which I’ve been unable to obtain the necessary plutonium needed to generate the 1.21 Gigawatts needed to power my flux capacitor. 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/.

Proudly supporting local theatre — 79 Seconds on Stage

The Lousiest Werewolves is a show about werewolves, well, actually it’s about bipolar disorder. Three men, Mike Mayket, Charles Osugo, and Rob Ward, educate the audience with humor and truth about the condition, which they have all been diagnosed with. Like the disorder itself, the show has ups and downs, particularly in energy. They use that as a way to hold our attention, just as a teacher might talk at a lower volume to get everyone to listen more closely and quiet down. It’s an eye-opening show from which I learned a lot about bipolar disorder, and I had some laughs as well. The delivery across the performers varies in quality in terms of polish, but they all bring something to the show.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/the-lousiest-werewolves-mania-in-the-moonlight

So You Want to Date a Bisexual? is one of almost two dozen improv shows in this year’s Fringe Festival. This one has a fun concept. Historically single performer Erika Sasseville selects one volunteer from the audience to interview at the opening of the play to get details about them, as if they were chatting on an online dating app or something, getting to know each other. Backstage, a group of very talented improvisers are taking down all of the information. The remaining 40 minutes of the show has Erika and the rest of the cast improvising, using those details, what their relationship would be like. It’s a fun concept, and like all improv, it fails or succeeds on the talent of the cast. This group is solid, and thus the show is a winner. Though I’m not sure I believe Sasseville’s claim that she’s never gotten a fourth date as she is an attractive, funny, and smart young woman that I really cannot imagine needs a Fringe show to help her get dates of either gender. Fans of improv will want to have this on their schedules, and I guess maybe single people who are interested in dating an attractive, funny, and smart young bisexual.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/so-you-want-to-date-a-bisexual-

Ember is a cabaret built around the theme of “what does radiance mean to you?” To me, it’s a boutique physical media company from whom I import movies. But for these artists, some of whom will change from show to show, it means something very personal. Each of the performers, including the director, Christy Johnson, gifts the audience with their vulnerability and their talent, whether that be a song or a story, or in most cases, both. I now have a new performer to be on the watch for in Michael Chapman, who I hope I’ll see on stage soon in a musical. The show has a lot of heart, and I’m glad I took a chance on this cabaret, a format I’m always a little bit iffy on.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/ember#cast

If you’ve been around the Twin Cities theater scene long, you are familiar with Sam Landman and Nissa Nordland. The Twin Cities theater power couple have been performing this improv show, Bury the Leads, about two character actors, Clyde and Faye, for about a year now. It’s a great concept for a show, the possibilities are limitless, and Landman and Nordland know these characters, being themselves two of the best character actors in town. The beauty of an improv show like this is that each performance will be new. It’s the one show I’m tempted to try and see more than once. And were it not an Imporov show I’d be making a very tough decision right now.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/bury-the-leads

To be honest, this one is a little misleading. There is music, but I would not call it punk. The story is about a punk band that is gaining popularity in the Twin Cities that breaks up when one of the three members, Charlie, decides to move to L.A. to try and get a record deal. Eight years later, they reunite at the wedding of drummer Alex. Charlie and Etta, the third member, who were a couple, consider the possibility of getting the band back together. The story is a little cliché, but the performers help to distract from that. The music that is there I did enjoy. Though I was in the front row, I had trouble hearing Jack Swagger, who plays Charlie. Microphoning the performers would have been a good choice, if that was an option.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/not-bad-for-a-punk-band

Today’s The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner is Be Not Afraid. From the team that brought you last year’s Breach, it is another extremely tight and polished production blending family and the supernatural. It’s hard to explain the plot in one sentence, so I’m going to use that sentence to say I won’t be explaining the plot instead. I’ll tell you that it’s a show that would feel right at home at the Twin Cities Horror Festival. Also that the performances are intense, the direction by Stages of MN favorites Alex Church and Stephanie Kahle is inspired, and the lighting is extremely effective. The script by Church and Mariabella Sorini is thought-provoking and very intricate.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/be-not-afraid

The final show of the day was Casa Bde Maka Ska, which is a parody of Casablanca, set not during WWII in Morocco, but in a present-day Twin Cities overrun by ICE agents. Instead of “As Time Goes By,” Sam plays “When Doves Cry,” and instead of Major Strasser for a villain, we have Kristi Noem. The script by Tim Wick and Duck Washington is smart and funny, the writers having a solid understanding of the source film and current politics. But don’t worry, the politics are not preachy; hey, they would be preaching to the choir anyways, but used to draw humorous comparisons. Instead of trying to get letters of transit in order to leave Casablanca, they are trying to get letters of residence in order to stay in the Cities. Filled with Minnesota references and humor, this is sure to be a favorite of the festival, and it came within a coin toss of being the Award winner today.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/casa-bde-maka-ska

MN Fringe Festival Day 1! Castrati: A Tale of Two, Stage Presents, Watership Down (The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner!), and Socks & Shoes & Coats.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is the most wonderful time of the year. This is the time of year where theater lovers get to live, eat, sleep, and pray theater. 104 shows, each performed 5 times over the 11 days. It is possible to see 55 shows if you see something in every slot. This year I’ll max out at 47 due to two Minnesota United home games, come on you Loons, make it worth missing 8 shows and win! 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. But I can’t see everything, and that isn’t a knock on my manhood, no one can, it’s impossible. 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 was a bit of a surprise. The title is very Fringy, as is the concept, which is a musical following a man who is castrated, shaming his father, but ultimately becoming a celebrated singer. One goes in expecting something very silly and probably lowbrow, and to some extent those things are true, but the surprise is how elevated the songwriting by Cali Garzon, Julia Maskin, and Eli Maskin is, how gifted the large cast is vocally and performance-wise, and how tight the seven-piece band sounds. It’s a Melancholics Anonymous show crossed with Skylark Opera Company. The cast is terrific, the tone is odd, but in a good way. It will be fun to see if anyone can top this one musically. It’s funny but sometimes in a way you’re not quite sure why you are laughing, is it the work=d they sang or the way they sung it? This is sure to be among the best of the festival. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/castrati-a-tale-of-two

If you’ve seen one of Wells Farnham’s previous two Fringe shows, you know the tone and delivery you are in for. I’m not sure he’ll still have a voice left come the end of the run. That said, like his previous shows, I found this one very funny. While it definitely feels a little more pieced together than the earlier shows, each story arc is satisfying. The end features a moment meant to scare Wells himself, and watching him go at it full speed, and without a doubt succeeding, is as satisfying for us as it must be for him. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/stage-presents

We’ve come to expect a certain dark, camp tone from Melancholics Anonymous. They seem to be the poster theater company for what Fringe can be. So what do they do? Reinvent themselves with this faithful adaptation of the classic novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. True to the source, at least as far as I can remember from a traumatizing screening in the theater of the animated film adaptation on its original release in 1978, when I was six years old. It’s also a musical, with exceptional original songs by company member Bee Davis that have a folk inspiration, feel very polished, and integrate beautifully into the narrative. This is so unlike anything else M.A. has done, and yet it is filled with the kind of creative inventiveness, that have earned them their reputation as one of the most creative theater companies in the Twin Cities. It’s a brilliant move on their part and a reminder to us that they are not a vibe, a tone, or a genre, they are theater makers and artists. And they have won the dubious honor of being awarded this year’s first The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award! Congratulations, that and $1.50 will get you a McChicken sandwich (for a limited time only). https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/watership-down

The final show of the night, stuck in the dreaded 10:00 PM Thursday night slot, was Socks & Shoes & Coats. It’s a musical telling the story of a couple from the moment they find out they are pregnant through the diagnosis and episodes of their son’s “condition.” It is told unchronologically, and I’m not entirely certain if the son dies or is just in the hospital at one point. The cast is fine, the songs are fine, the story is a downer, but not in as moving a way as you might hope. The show isn’t actively bad, it’s just OK, and with so many shows to choose from, just OK probably should equate to a skip on your list. I’m not sad I saw it, but I wish I’d fit in something else on my “must” list that I couldn’t fit into my schedule. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/socks-shoes-coats

That’s it for day one. I’ll be at the Loons game Friday, so check back Sunday morning for my reviews of the shows I see Saturday. And hey, if you see me at the Fringe, stop and say hi—tell me what your favorite show is so far.

In the Heights at Artistry Reminds Us That Movie Theaters Are Not the Only Places to Find Summer Blockbusters

The Cast of In the Heights Artistry 2026 Photo by Dan Norman

Artistry in Bloomington’s new production of In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda is a triumph in every way. The cast, the choreography, the musicians, and every aspect of the production design. I’ve seen the film but had never had the chance to experience this musical live. If you’re in the same boat, this is the perfect opportunity to remedy that. Director Maija Garcia skillfully captures the vibrant and complex sense of community at the heart of this story. The stage feels as though it is literally overflowing with the rich history of these characters and their barrio.

Set in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, referred to by its residents as the barrio, the story centers on a community facing change as developers begin buying out existing businesses and gentrifying what was once a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Eli Sherlock’s set design is divided into thirds, highlighting three key locations. Stage right features Daniela’s hair salon, which is closing and moving to the Bronx after being priced out of the neighborhood. Stage left is Rosario’s Taxi Company, also struggling to stay afloat. At center stage, we see the entrance to Abuela Claudia’s apartment on one side and Usnavi’s bodega on the other. Above it all sits a rooftop where Abuela Claudia, “abuela” meaning grandmother, watches over the community. Each section tells its own story, yet the characters move fluidly between them, just as people would in such a tight-knit neighborhood.

Nina Rosario has returned home from college with the news that she has dropped out. Benny, who works for Nina’s parents and dreams of owning his own taxi company, shares a mutual attraction with her. Usnavi, the show’s narrator, is in love with Vanessa, who works in Daniela’s salon and dreams of escaping both the barrio and her alcoholic mother. Usnavi’s bodega serves as the neighborhood hub, drawing everyone in for coffee, conversation, and lotto tickets. He also looks after his younger cousin Sonny and cares for Abuela Claudia, who, though not his actual grandmother, is the spiritual matriarch of the community. As the characters pursue love, navigate financial hardship, and live their lives, tensions rise. When it’s revealed that a winning $96,000 lottery ticket was sold at the bodega, excitement builds, only to be followed by a Fourth of July blackout, looting, and strained relationships as Act One comes to a close.

A recent Facebook post from a seasoned theatermaker lamented the difficulty of finding work, with one commenter suggesting that youth often wins out. While tI’m sure there is some truth to that, this production is a reminder of how vital veteran performers are in shows like In the Heights. This is a fantastic production, I had tears in my eyes multiple times, and while the young cast is exceptional, the show would not resonate as deeply without the powerful performances of Pedro R. Bayón and Lisa Vogel as Mr. and Mrs. Rosario, and Jen Santoro Rotty as Abuela Claudia. They bring a depth and emotional weight that comes from years of experience, grounding the production in something profoundly human.

the surprise in the younger cast is Andrés-Román Wood as Usnavi, not because of any doubt in his ability, but because I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of him before. He is terrific in the role and a performer I’ll definitely be watching out for going forward. As for the rest of the cast, it’s nearly impossible to single out just a few. Believe me, I tried. Raquel Ponce as Nina, who wowed audiences earlier this year at Lyric Arts in Mamma Mia!, is excellent, as is Chris Owusu as Benny. The two share wonderful chemistry, amazing voices, and Owusu, in particular, is an electrifying dancer. Then there’s Julia Diaz as Daniela, whose performance of “Carnaval del Barrio” is a showstopper. But wait, isn’t there something really special about what Pierce Brown does with the character of Sonny, this young attitude that provides so many added touches of humor? Oh, but come on, how do you not mention Janely Rodriguez as Vanessa… you see the problem? There are eight more members of the cast, and they all bring something incredible to the production.

I do want to highlight Eli Sherlock’s set design. After what seems like a year or two of very bare-bones sets, though effective and, in these days of struggling finances for theaters, completely acceptable, it was nice to see a really well-built and extensive set again. It’s very impressive and well thought out, a thing of beauty. I also cannot fully express how wonderful Abby Magalee’s choreography for the show is, and again, what an incredible job this cast does in executing her moves.

In the Heights is overflowing with incredible songs, dynamic dance numbers, moving performances, and a powerful message about community and cultural legacy. I mentioned I had tears in my eyes multiple times; those were mostly the joyful kind. This is an uplifting and positive show that focuses on the richness of community over the riches of material things.

In the Heights runs through August 23 at Artistry in Bloomington. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://artistrymn.org/intheheights.

I’ve been poking around on the site and I think it’s just what the Twin Cities Theater scene needed. I hope you’ll check it out, if you do I think you’ll find it a site that becomes part of your routine. You’ll find links to all the shows happening and even links to reviews of those shows. I’m not sure how they are doing this, but I hope you will all show them how great it is by utilizing it.