Sub-Total
2025 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Marie Cooney
Company: 2HOOTS PRODUCTIONS
Show: Jon Bennett: AMERICAN'T
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
So Much Fun, Go To the Hudson, WI Encore!
An Aussie in America! Jon Bennet was fantastic from laughs to deep sorrow of how he was treated during the pandemic. We are so lucky that this world traveler has found the home and is able to travel again. SEE THIS SHOW AGAIN, OR FOR THE FIRST TIME, AT THE PHILLIP ENCORE!
Company: Richie Whitehead
Show: The Wickie
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Ended the Fringe with an Oceanic Performance.
At the previews, I knew I had to see this comic storyteller! It was the final show I went to on the last day of the MN Fringe. It was an oceanic performance. Thanks so much!
Company: Brad Lawrence
Show: The Big Secret
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
YES! Tell This Story!
I was drawn to see this show because Brad is the producer of the RISK Podcast, where I joined national and international storytellers virtually during the pandemic. YES, TELL THIS STORY! Brad is an exceptional storyteller. The struggle to keep a confidence made at a young age or decide to break a promise after the death of a friend was very real. Given the ending, Brad made and must continue to make the right choice. The RISK to tell the truth, after his friend, Jennifer, was murdered is not only appropriate, but vital. While I also advocate telling personal stories, I completely agree that the stories of others must also be told so their situation is not repeated by others who are vulnerable to exploitation by others. This is a very timely story. Keep on telling it. I believe the shame imposed by Jennifer and Brad's church, when they were younger, led to Jennifer's overcompensation to atone for her so-called "sins", young marriage to the Youth Pastor, and her horrific death. Brad carefully and brilliantly lead us down those paths. Thank you.
Company: Philip Simondet
Show: Fall of the High School Valedictorian
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Listen, Learn, Be There
Thank you Philip for your show. I could not watch the videos due to a disability and not wanting to see some images because a loved one completed suicide last year. I came to support a traveling artist with a serious topic. I'm glad I did. The ending was perfect!
Company: The Church of Ratology
Show: Rat Mass
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
From the Bar, to Communion & More
I love meeting and supporting traveling artists. Meeting Joseph and Perry at the After Fringe bar helped me choose my final day of shows. I am so glad that I, a Catholic School gradate from Montessori trough college, went to this show. It was very entertaining, irreverent, glorious, and trash! Maybe a bit of preaching to the choir with the assistance of the choir and lots of interactions with the audience. It was a blast. I hope they are returning artist and vacationers!
Company: Flamenco X
Show: Her voice rising
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Reminder: Read the More Information Sections!
Some artists use the "More Information" section of their show pages to include press releases, program notes, how to follow the company and more. Fringe note: it is next to impossible to provide a program because artists have ten minutes to strike their props and do not have the time to search the seats for dropped programs, which must be removed before the next show's set up. So when deciding about future Fringe shows, read the short synopsis and More Information to make more informed decisions on choosing shows. REVIEW: I LOVED THIS SHOW from beginning to end. I loved that it included all female dancers, beautiful singing, spoken word, written words of judgement and those of hope, and live music. The beginning dancing and music was powerful and amazing, and to see individual and groups of women dance together was divine. The song about we are all immigrants was very touch. I am a second generation granddaughter of Irish immigrant. While my grandparents came to America in the 1920s, under great hardship in hopes of the American Dream, it greatly disturbs me that the current administration has created the American Nightmare, 100 years after my family's arrival, to where immigrants and citizens alike can become among the missing and the disappeared. Thank you for speaking, singing, dancing, and putting words to this ugly truth as well as healing words. While I anticipated thunderous applause as my reaction at the end, I was stunned to silence by the dance remembering the murdered and missing indigenous people. I found myself will hand held in prayer, saying, "Bring them home. Bring home the missing and disappeared." But I knew in my heart, too many times that is not possible because the missing and disappeared are also among the kidnapped, raped, and murdered. FUTURE SHOWS: I have wanted to see this group for a long time. I look forward to future performances at the American School of Storytelling and other possible venues. Thank you. GRACIAS A LAS MUJERES! QUE BONITA, HERMOSA. QUE VIDA. BRAVA. BRAVISIMA! BRAVA!
Company: Michael Quadrozzi
Show: Against My Will
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Michael hooked me immediately with Wells, Maine!
The literal and the metaphorical "unpacking one's baggage" was brilliant from the entrance upstairs' entrance through the end. I was hooked at Wells, Maine, the Atlantic Ocean, and being raised in Massachusetts as a shared background. I also identified with the journey of unpacking through useful tools of talk therapy, EMDR (highly recommend), DBT, etc. Michael shares his courageous journey to figure out what is and what is not working in his life, what has been affected by previous generations who who refused help, and sifting through what is his to deal with and what is someone else's baggage. Michael shares his journey in very vulnerable and also comical ways. What an honor to be in the audience for this show and be able to introduce myself as another New Englander, even after living in Minnesota more than half my life. Kudos! Well done. I hope we stay in touch.
Company: Tim Uren
Show: This
Venue: Theatre in the Round
THIS Was Not For This Outsider
Although some of the storytelling was good, I found myself feeling like an outsider during most of the show with so many insider references. Not the show for me, even though many loved it.
Company: Twin Cities Trapeze Center
Show: Tapeze
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Fun, Fun, and More Fun
How the heck did they set up the dance floor and trapeze in ten minutes. I found myself wondering. From the opening piece with the young girl, to the teen tappers and gymnasts, to dancers of all ages, this was an extremely upbeat and fun show. As a professional stagehand, I had full confidence that the trapeze was set up quickly, with ease, and safety allowing acts from different age groups. It was heartwarming to see the huge cast of dancer having such a delightful performance as combined from various schools.
Company: Kendra Plant
Show: The Kendra Plant Variety Hour: Good Things Edition! -with special guests-
Venue: Mixed Blood
Congratulations to All.
KENDRA did a great job explaining the joys and fears of being a first time producer and how the MN Fringe works as a non-juried festival. LION DANCE incorporated percussion, flute, amazing artistry of the Lion puppet and its varied movements in a fascinating way. I especially enjoyed how the closing mouth and jingling of the Lion added to the percussion. It was a joy to see EMILY'S full orchestra of a community celebration last year in its grandest form. This year was a glimpse into the vulnerability, strength,and willingness of EMILY to take new changes by performing as a soloist composer, pianist and singer representing individual triumphs. Watching JOLIE stretch and dance solo with the ballerina bars was mesmerizing, moving and fun. The intimacy in which the audience could view her body movements and various facial expressions was beautiful. Her final dance gave evidence to the fact that classical training is an amazing base from which to try other art forms. Congratulations to all. Well done.
Company: KAIROS Dance Theater
Show: husk/vessel
Venue: The Southern Theatre
A Personal Artist Interpretation of This Show
Thank you for the breathing taking and life giving dance and for the opportunity for audience members to ask questions or give personal feedback of how your dancing touched us. To me, this felt like an artistic interpretation of an experience I don't remember. The coming out of the husk, yet still being attached to the vessel, symbolized the essence of my spirit, who sprung to life after sustaining a second Traumatic Brain Injury. The repetitive minute movements were like petite seizures and the grandiose movement with the loud and larger than life cloth represented the Grand Mal Seizure I experience, which assured my friends that yes, I was alive, at least for then. The individual , dual, and group dancer represented my individual struggles and successes, the push/pull of a near death experience, and the reality that sometimes seizures can bring us to life or end our lives. Thanks for asking for individual experiences of your artistic expressions born out of the pandemic.
Company: Wheeler In The Sky
Show: In The Garden Of American Heroes
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Heroes, Anti-Heroes, and Unsung Heroes.
During these very dangerous times in our country and the current administration anti-DEI, Andrew Wheeler asks who will be rightly included and who will be excluded in the Garden of Heroes for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States. General Custer is portrayed as a great hero in some American history, as less as the creator of concentration camps, deaths and attempted genocide of the native people, who are the unsung heroes of this tale, who seem to taunt Custer. I especially appreciated how Andrew embraced the Southern Theater's unique space in which to tell this story. As with demons of other nations, we also need to remember our past and never forget the evils brought down upon the native tribes. Most importantly, Andrew challenges us, the artists, to remember and tell the stories that must be told. See this final show if possible! Thanks.
Company: Octoberdandy Productions
Show: Clown Funeral
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Et Tu, Brutus? AKA: Disability Awareness.
Years ago, President Bush made an ass of himself by telling a blind reporter to take off his dark glasses. It's not funny when a clown makes fun of an audience member wearing dark glasses, who has a neurological disability. If you are going to call out an audience member for wearing dark glasses inside, make sure the dark glasses are NOT worn because of a disability. Otherwise, you have trumped Bush as an ass. To me, that is a pretty significant f@#$ up, which isn't funny. I pride myself in helping the MN Fringe become more accessible to artists and audience members with disabilities. Shame on you. You messed up. Being a clown doesn't excuse unacceptable behavior.
Company: TROMPE L'OEIL
Show: Tompkins Squares
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Choose Your Gambit (Sacrifice)
"Chess is life," repeat two old Jewish men, who immigrated to the US from Russia at different times, to one's daughter who plays chess for her blind father and to the son , who wants to learn about his father's history and is not interested in chess. The voice coaching was fantastic. I felt I was in a Jewish bakery one moment, then in NYC with my second generation immigrant cousins from Ireland. I sat in the front row and was amazed that the actors memorized their lines as well as their chess moves. "Chess is life," becomes more apparent as a metaphor and as a training method when the Cuban Crisis hits. What is each character willing or not willing to sacrifice in s world that seems to reflect the KIng's Gambit, more and more. See this show for the chess, acting, metaphors and the reality of today as well as the past.
Company: Third Space Theater
Show: Breach
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Hop Aboard for an Amazing Use of Space!
I was aboard the ship as so many layers of the theater was used, making the journey so realistic. Each character was fully developed. The arc some characters had to cross was chilling. The script was intensely funny, frightening, and horrific. Seriously, this play was so much fun that I want the cast to come sail with me on Lake Superior! Disability note: thanks for the warnings of sound sounds and flashing lights. I forgot my sleep mask to protect me from flashing lights. Otherwise dark amber glasses, black visor, and duck and hide until thunder passed served me well as a person on anti-seizure medications.
Company: Dogdog-Beardog
Show: Ranger Jim
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Wow! Wowed in Three Acts.
Ranger Jim's stories were very moving. ACT I: As a professional stagehand and a storyteller, I really enjoyed the first story about not needing all "that stuff", but inviting people to use their imagination instead. It was delightful that Ranger Jim reenacted that memory with the current audience. ACT II: Death at the Boat Launch - My favorite parts were the beginning, how Jim was affected by his own father's death, and the affirmation that the most important thing was the connection of the father and son in the park. The being saved from other aspects of becoming old was a tangent that I did not need. ACT III: Climbing to New Heights: As a person with an often invisible disability, I especially appreciated that Ranger Jim did not interfere or disallow a person with a disability and his family from attempting something seemingly impossible. He let them make their carefully planned attempts every single step along the way. That is the way it should be. Having a disability should not interfere with making choices for oneself. Thank you.
Company: Narate Keys
Show: Apsara, The Musical
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Embracing a New Culture
I loved this Cambodian Musical: the stories, dancing, singing, costumes, especially expressive use of upper body and hand movements; cast becoming rocks, portraits, sculpture; the fluidity between times and places, love stories, and more. As a person with an often invisible disability, I especially appreciate the inclusion of the woman in the wheelchair. She was amazing to watch in various scenes, whether individual or choral. I especially love the circular dance piece. My reason for going to this show included the love of storytelling, supporting cultures beyond my own. I encourage others to do the same.
Company: Vaky Vaky
Show: A Song in the Dark
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Standby Me, Even if I Cry
This father and son duo succeeds at what my mother and I currently can't do. They break the silence. They call out the unacceptable. They dance to the music. They dance without music. They take on the darkness and shine in whatever light available, or not. In the end, I wanted the whole audience to stand and sing. It was a moment of tremendous hope, which made me cry. But they were healing tears. Thank you! Please support local and traveling artists.
Company: Paper Soul
Show: Boxcutter Harmonica
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Brilliant Script, Acting and Props!
This was Motz's most polished and brilliant script that I have see. The acting was superb. I loved each of the props displayed as evidence. The map of various times soul were or were not exchanged with the devil for some exceptional gift was great. I was in the front row and jumped out of my seat at the end! Bravo!
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Company: The Shrieking Harpies
Show: Shrieking Harpies Presents: Period Piece
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Shrieking With a New Twist
The Shrieking Harpies are always entertaining. Adding the twist of a period piece was great. I heard that the 1950s was an amazing improvisation. I totally enjoyed the French Revolution! Loved the relationship between the queen and her chambermaid, the clueless king, the bickering brother and sister arguing about the roles or women and philosophers, the philosophers dual, the thirteen year old girl "bleeding to death" and the transformation of the castle to passing on legacies of women. Sometime it is so funny to see the actors struggle at times to string ideas together and switch midstream to carry on. This show was amazing, because it truly felt like it was previously scripted AND improvised! I can't wait to hear what other period pieced they dove into and see if this continues as a new tradition. Congratulations all.
Company: Winnie Wenglewick/Dangerous Theatre
Show: Adulting Sucks
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Not Adulting Sucks More
Winnie takes us from the naive thoughts of childhood that being an adult means you can do and eat anything you want through winding paths of discovering porn, continuing through various paths of trying to live up to other peoples' expectations. This is a funny base from which she tells stories of truly becoming an adult by following your own dreams instead of the expectations of others. My two reasons for seeing and recommending this show is I love hearing stories and I believe it is important to support traveling artists. Go for the laughs and unexpected twists and turns. I bet she is a great Mom.
Company: American School of Storytelling
Show: More Better Stories
Venue: American School of Storytelling
Full Invested Day Super Saturday of Storytelling!
Invest a full day at the American School of Storytelling, founded by LOREN NIEMI and CHRISTINE MOUNTS. This Independent Venue is hosting a series of spectacular local and visiting storytellers. Today's lineup began with LAURA PACKER, stunned the audience with Adult Fairy Tales which were told in creative, hysterical, and stunning ways you cannot imagine with a feminist reinterpretation. Tonight's goodies included Beauty of the Beast, Jacque(line) and the Beanstalk, an amazing improve of a story with the audience shouting out various emotions spinning the tale on a dime. KORY MAY was then next hour, sharing various stories about things he learned through mistakes, beginning with telling people to turn their cellphones to Airplane Porn. Yes you read that right. I will never take another airplane trip without thinking about Kory and his various oh oops moments. There are plenty of places nearby for a MEAL BREAK or SNACK. Think ice cream. HANK ROUBICEK's 'Schmaltz on Rye' was about being a second generation survivor of the Holocaust, while also telling stories of those who survived the camps and those who perished. A greatest lesson he learned from his grandmother was the importance of listening. Full spectrum of stories of humor to never forgetting. THE TENACIOUS tARTS finished up the evening with an hour story about a theater ghost, told by the lovely Irish lass and playwright, Siobhan Kierans, and Karol Laux. If you feel the heebie-jeebies or the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, you just might be in the presence of ghost, friendly or otherwise. The lights might flicker, but the theater ghost light always remains on. I can assure others that stories told by LOREN NEIMI and HOWARD LIEBERMAN will also be exceptional throughout the next dozen performances that are left, including storyteller JON CARLSON, who work I do not know.
Company: Literally Entertainment
Show: The Lasso Way: A Musical
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Rip Roaring Fun, Done the Lasso Way X2
I loved the Lasso show. The musical about his pissed off son doing community theater instead of doing time in jail is hysterical. All the right characters: diva, guy who goes off script, quirky yet dependable stage manage, unexpected coach/producer, theater owner getting buy on a wing and a prayer while hoping for a miracle, V/O of judge over the god mic, and theater critic of course. A musical of laughs and swears.
Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Joan of Arc with a Dash and a Splash
Chad Michael and the original group of beauty contestants are hysterical in the opening song and behind the scene pieces. While the historic Joan of Arc took on an army dressed as a man, in this modern twist Barb, the every pageant mom, is portrayed by a man dressed as a woman. Current day Joan of Arc is sent by God and the Archangel Micael to win a Beauty Pageant in the Midwest, arrives with a bang to a non welcoming group of women who have competed against each other forever, except for one newcomer. This funny, lighthearted, musical ends with a moral to the unlikely story. Come for the laughs and the invitation to participate enthusiastically as pageantry audience members.
Company: Raffish Ripoff Productions
Show: Trust ̶E̶x̶e̶r̶c̶i̶s̶e̶s̶ Exorcises
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
The Exorcism of a Cult Abuser
It was difficult to hear the words cult, high school, theatre, and the name of a revered and feared teacher together. Phil Gonzales was very creative in using a spinning wheel to tell parts of a high school history that was more tragic drama than light hearted musical. The way Phil described a charismatic cult leader taking on a flock or needy followers was sad and disturbing as each level of the onion was pulled back. Equally disturbing was the fact that an abusive teacher was allowed to continue in a very powerful position despite warnings and concerns by parents and students. Where the abuser is today and how many victims did or did not survive is unknown. However, the courage of one person to say this is my story, might give others the ability to say, "Me too" and keep the movement of truth going forward. Thanks Phil.
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Company: Three Second Memory
Show: I Am Here
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Symphony of Storytellers
There are five different lineups of performers as listed under cast and crew. I saw Thursday's opening performance. Familiar with the talents of at least half of these storytellers, any chosen night (or nights) is sure to leave audience members totally satisfied by the evening's performance or craving to come back for more. Don't miss seeing at least one performance if possible. Otherwise, it is a good thing that Fringe audience can also see these brilliant performers locally and beyond.
Company: Jennifer Vosters
Show: Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play)
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Betrayal, Resurrection, & Requiem
Betrayed by her father, who could not accept and encourage Fanny Mendelssohn's extraordinary talents beyond the social norms expected of women of her day, was bad enough. The betrayal by her younger brother, Felix, who was inspired by his older sister who co-created as equals when younger, was beyond devastating. Like a prophet not accepted in her own land, Fanny and her artist husband had to move beyond the confines of her youth to experience resurrection enabling Fanny to hear her own music with and beyond her soulmate brother. Whether a stoke of genius or a cacophony of sound seizing the day, both are brain injuries, which is why I found this show especially meaningful as a person who has survived various Traumatic Brain Injuries. Jennifer Vosters was absolutely brilliant in her portrayal of these siblings and the music they wrote and conducted. Both the subtle placement and piercing use of the conductor's baton, to free and to restrict each of them was poetic. Thank you, Jennifer for your artistry in bringing their artistry alive beyond death. Disability Warning: I learned something new tonight. The flashing amber lighting from the closed captions screen caused significant pain to me, enough that I would have left if it did not mean crossing into the performance space. I am very grateful to have gone to the opening night of this show, but if other audience members experience debilitating migraines or other neurological challenges, you might consider skipping closed caption shows or bringing aids and medications.