Fringe 2017 Thoughts

by Aug 23, 2017

MN Fringe 2017 was wonderful! With 167 shows to see in 11 venues in 11 days I was grateful enough to see five shows FRINGING on three days with people I love…. and one of the other shows of course being our show… BEYOND LIMITS! What blows my mind is the vast talent there is in MN and those that comes from aways…. WOW! JUST SIMPLY WOW! From storytelling, to dance, to acting, singing, dancing, instrumentals, written and spoken word, improv… just WOW! I am blown away and really grateful for the opportunity to see these shows, but also partake in the Fringe and live in such an amazing city with rich theatre.

First of all, before I say anything more, I want to say for those of you with shows that I missed I am very sorry. With doing my own show this year as a personal story being the lead, co-producing it as well, I was EXHAUSTED and for me to even see FIVE other shows is amazing! 🙂

It was a true joy and honor to be able to see most of these shows with my good friends and producers Dennis Dienst and Sara Truesdale and one of the shows with my parents. I am so grateful for all of them to be able to FRINGE with each of them. These memories will be etched in my memory. Thank you!

Night One I saw two shows with Dennis and Sara:

Good Friday: Round One-interesting, provocative, mixed with the theme/message, props to Edy who played the mother, emotional play, loved the spin on the theme and what the playwrights are trying to do,  loved them taking a risk and their creation. As their cast had similar show times as to us, it was neat to see how tight they are together and how well they seem to work together.

The Resister’s Handbook-good storytelling, great in your face stories, simple set as in basically nothing which for me was distracting, engaging the audience, left the audience to create their own handbook, many loved it although theatre is not meant for all, for me it was great storytelling, but he needed more. He seems to have a good fan base and I love his honesty/courage.

Night Two I saw two more shows with Dennis and Sara:

PHD to PhD How Education Saved My Life-AMAZING show, this woman does it all, she used storytelling and singing to empower others through her life changing story of going thru despair to HOPE, moving and powerful message and story, her way she transformed her characters through body and voice was engaging, loved it, it was a tear jerker in many places and helped give perspective on life situations

The Fainting Room-young woman came from New York who played about 5 characters who sang, danced, and played three instruments, all a one woman act, the story was engaging and she got the audience with hands on activities, for me the issue was it was all about SEX… it was a little graphic and a little interesting for me to see in a show way esp at 10pm, not my type of show, but it well done

Night Three I saw one show with my parents:

The Second Banana Revolt-funny, engaged the audience, big cast, two leads were amazing and also in Seussical with me, 4 kids were cute, directed by Minord who is a friend of mine and someone I admire, the show itself had great music/cheo and I really enjoyed that aspect of the show, there were some great comedic timing of actors and just comedy in general, it was engaging to all ages and reminded me of being in a tv show, the name of the show was confusing to me of what the show was about, but really enjoyed it and had a talented cast. Special thanks to putting our show in your program. OUR TEAM IS SO GRATEFUL!

Each of these shows had great qualities… Each of these shows gave people the ability to play with things and try new things. Each show put themselves out their and their work out there, which is a risk for the world to see. I admire that.

Our show Beyond Limits was a risk in many ways… while there were challenges, while there were ups and downs, it was a gift. Check out the Fringe Festival website under Beyond Limits to see some of our wonderful reviews. We are honored that there were laughs, cries, and people that resonated with the message. Thank YOU to everyone who came. We are truly grateful. More coming on this great journey that we have been on.