The past few years have been rough for performing arts, but the Minnesota Fringe Festival is trying to stay positive. After all, the 10-day theatrical smorgasbord is marking a major milestone.
"The fact that we've been around 30 years is a testament to how the community we serve feels about us," said executive director Dawn Bentley. "We're a bedrock in theater."
A foundation that has been shrinking. The festival routinely pushed toward — but never achieved — 50,000 patrons in the before times. Coming back from the pandemic shutdown, last year's audience was about "58% of normal," Bentley said. They are hoping to get 30,000 people out this year.
"This may be the new normal, and that's OK," Bentley said, noting that they have changed up things to improve the theatergoing experience for patrons. "Bigger isn't always better — better is better."
The Fringe has more than 100 shows on offer. Here are 11 to check out.
"Baldwin's Last Fire": A week ago actor and director Harry Waters Jr. appeared on Broadway for a celebrity musical benefit with Michael J. Fox and a raft of other "Back to the Future" co-stars. Back home in Minneapolis, Waters directs and stars in Reginald Edmund's fictive play that imagines writer James Baldwin in retirement in France, uncovering a murder mystery.
"Big Dad Energy": Hey, Gen Z-ers, Latto is not performing in the Fringe but Jamie Campbell's "Big Dad Energy" makes it sound like she could be. Campbell does solo shows in the nation's fringe circuit. This one is about fatherhood from a guy who's not a father.
"1992: Mistakes Were Made!" Stand-up comedian and comic storyteller Jason Schommer, an acolyte of Louie Anderson, returns to the Fringe with a story about a class geek performing at his 20th high school reunion. It's a revenge of the nerd solo show.
"20,000 Leagues Under the Telltale Heart": Will Schroeder crafted this story of unexpected 19th-century literary superstars who also were friends. The characters include Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Hans Christian Andersen and Franz Kafka.
"A Girl Scout's Guide to Exorcism": In the Fringe for the fifth time, Melancholics Anonymous brings a show about a Girl Scout troop earning their exorcism badge. "Exorcism" promises irreverence, fun and camp, pun clearly earned.
"Chris Davis Does Stuff": Comedian Chris Davis alternates two solos in his allotted five-performance slot. "Just Black Enough" explores race and "Seriously, I'm Not Gay" explores identity.
"Lost in Bear Country: Birth, God, Death ... and the Berenstain Bears": Where do you fit in? Grappling with anxiety, ADHD and a biracial identity, Phil Gonzales uses the Berenstain Bears as a jumping-off point to make sense of his life. He's joined by daughters Willow and Mitzi.
"A Jingle Jangle Morning": Inspired by Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," Spektakular Theatre uses puppetry, clowning and far out space trip to tell of a girl's quest to get the moon back up in the sky.
"Reincarnation Soup": Viet Nguyen's mythic solo show about soup, Saigon and secondhand souls won the best of the fest at the Orlando Fringe. This meditation on Vietnamese mythology centers an old blind woman who guards the border between death and rebirth. The dead get in line for her soup, which erases their memories, freeing their souls.
"We Can Wish: A Beatboxing and Music Variety Show": Luke "Skippy" Harbur's 45-minute show features beatboxing, singing, raps and dance.
"Stabby Stab Stab": Nissa Nordland Morgan and her Winding Sheet Outfit serve the horror niche in the Fringe. "Stabby Stab Stab" is about two preteens forced to serve an eyeless monster.
Tickets and additional info at minnesotafringe.org.
