Fringe previews help you check out shows

Nothing beats an actual look-see.

July 28, 2012 at 8:59PM
The Minnesota Fringe's Fringe-For-All No. 1 showcased 30 shows with three-minute previews July 16 at the U of M's Rarig Center. "Rip" is a musical adaption of the Rip Van Winkle story. Billy Balmer, center, plays Rip; David Darrow as Hudson is at left.
The Minnesota Fringe's Fringe-For-All No. 1 showcased 30 shows with three-minute previews July 16 at the U of M's Rarig Center. "Rip" is a musical adaption of the Rip Van Winkle story. Billy Balmer, center, plays Rip; David Darrow as Hudson is at left. (Marci Schmitt — Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Depending on your commitment level, there is a great opportunity to sample Fringe shows. Still available this year is the Out-of-Towners' Showcase, at 7 p.m. this Wednesday. A bunch of productions will offer three-minute previews. The show is at the Brave New Workshop Student Union, 2605 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.

The Fringe also presents two "Fringe-For-All" previews that allow 60 show producers three minutes each to make their cases. Those are over for this year, but keep an eye out for 2013. I attended both and came away with these notes:

Keepers: "Rip," by Dovetail Theatre Company; "Sin Eater," by Present State Movement; "Ash Land" by Transatlantic Love Affair; "Joe Dowling's ... Shakespeare on the Moon," by the Peanut Butter Factory; "Portrait of the Artist as a Yo-Yo Man," by David Harris; "Comedy, Magic & Neurosis" by Southern Comfort; "Hans the Obscure," by Mindless Mirth; "The Gay Banditos" by the Mechanical Division; "Fruit Fly: The Musical," by the Jansonowicz Players; "Sneak Thief," by International League of Diamond Thieves; "The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged)," by Snikt! Bamf! Thwip!; "Steampunk Apocalypse," by Far From the Tree; "Candide," by Four Humors Theater.

Above average: "Room for Cream: A Caffeinated Nightmare," "Even Yours," "Prophecy," "casual encounters," "Happy Hour," "Ms. Luisa Eats," "A Comedy of Edits," "Their Century," "Nightmare Without Pants," "Salem," "Tales From a Twisted Universe," "Class of 98," "Serif Punglasses," "The Computer Wore Semiotics," "The Love Show," "Curt and Laura Used to Be Good at Gymnastics and Stuff," "Pretentious Conversations," "BOOGIEography."

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GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune

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The "winners" have all been Turkeys, no matter the honor's name.

In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece