Quirky, glitzy, fun, stark: 9 shows not to miss at Minnesota Fringe Festival

They’ve got 99 shows but can’t pitch just one.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is back for its 32nd edition with a frenetic mix of productions from stand-up inspired comedy to pop-culture mashups, cheeky musicals to DIY plays and dance concerts.

The shows, which start Thursday, are scattered across eight Fringe-managed venues plus four satellites.

“This festival is part of the bedrock of Minnesota’s theater community and it’s an important platform for artists,” said executive director Dawn Bentley. “Most importantly, there’s something for everyone at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.”

We asked a passel of this year’s artists for superlative things about their shows. Their responses came in video blips. Take a look and a read.

What: This musical sendup of “Ted Lasso” focuses on his troubled son who must stage a show to keep his dad out of jail.

And also: A father-son story that’s also about being a child of divorce who lost his celebrity dad.

The show: Six centuries after being burned at the stake, Joan of Arc is called up for a divine mission and gets teleported to a pageant in South Dakota. It’s the seventh year that Melancholics Anonymous is presenting a show in the festival.

Content: The role of women in society surfaces in this comedy/drama that weaves politics and religion.

Superlative note: Despite a goofy premise and glitzy air, the production is the most unexpectedly heartfelt. (July 31, Aug. 2, 4, 9 & 10; Rarig Stoll Thrust).

The show: If you’re a kid, what’s the thing that’s most top of mind? How about the afterlife. Gabriel Shen, a rising eighth-grader at the Blake School, crafted the book, score and lyrics for this show with 16 original songs.

Cast: Shen runs the light board and also acts, for a brief spell, joining the cast and crew of 24 youngsters who play instruments, sing and dance.

Say what?: “Death is not sad or scary but is something that can be uplifting and happy,” Shen says.

Superlative note: The most fun part of the show is that it’s all about death. (Aug. 1, 2, 4, 9 & 10; Southern Theater)

Who: The members of Cornucopia Productions are drawn from a diaspora of Somali-American artists.

The show: The play is about Saxarla, who is relocating to New York for a job. The story of familial love focuses on siblings.

Superlative note: In Fringe history, it offers the biggest cultural moment for Somalis in Minnesota. (Aug. 1, 2, 4, 7 & 10; Mixed Blood)

Going sideways: The Fargo-bred stand-up comedian has struggled with being childless, not by choice. “But like a good Midwesterner, instead of going to therapy, I built a show about it,” she says.

Superlative note: The most surprising thing about the show is that infertility can be so funny. (Aug. 2, 3, 4, 9 & 10; Rarig Kilburn Theatre)

The show: Pisa has created a theater-themed escape room set backstage with eight patrons at a time. Because of its limited capacity, “Escape Game” will run during all 55 slots of the Fringe.

Superlative note: The fest’s most interactive show is not a play but a collective problem-solving exercise. (July 31-Aug. 10, Phoenix Lobby)

Who: Medina, Ohio, native Steven Nicholas created and leads this interactive, mystery-soaked experience.

The show: It’s about mind-reading but also about untapped uncommon abilities we all have around memorization and cognition.

Superlative note: The festival’s most unexpected show promises to help people overcome obstacles. (Aug. 2, 3, 7, 8 & 9; Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre)

The show: “American’t” is his story about “love, COVID and being caught up in immigration and other knots.”

Superlative note: It’s brutally honest about how COVID helped turn a one-night stand into marriage. (July 31, Aug. 2, 7, 8 & 10; Barbara Barker Center for Dance)

The show: Burnsville-based Drama Experience updates “Romeo and Juliet,” stripping it to one of its essences, which is about parental control.

Cast: Performed by youngsters, all the characters are given letters instead of full names.

Superlative note: The starkest look at life for queer kids. (Aug. 2, 3, 6, 7 & 8; Mixed Blood)

Where: Various venues in Minneapolis.