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Fringe Shorts

Aug 6, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: “Sousepaw: A Baseball Story” by Shelby Company
phillip low

phillip low joins the ranks of mnartists.org's theater critics with this year's Fringe coverage. Read on for his assessment of Shelby Company's "Sousepaw: A Baseball Story," a show he's deemed his first five-kitty review of the year.
Aug 5, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "You Only Live Forever Once" by Four Humors Theater
Christy DeSmith

Christy DeSmith took in Four Humors' puppetry-laden spoof on the spy-thriller, "You Only Live Forever Once." It wasn't the funniest Four Humors show she's seen, but as long as she lingered over the ensemble's subtler jabs at the genre she liked it fine.
Aug 5, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Buckets and Tap Shoes" by 10 Foot 5 Productions
Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre kicks off our 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage with an enthusiastic review of "Buckets and Tap Shoes" by brothers Rick and Andy Ausland, who've been putting on some iteration of this toe-tapper in every Fringe since 2004.
Aug 12, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "Speech!" by Ferrarri McSpeedy
Max Sparber

Max Sparber heartily recommends the anarchic, always-witty humor of "Speech!", a lunatic story about the misadventures of a high school debate team by Ferrarri McSpeedy (Mike Fotis and Joe Bozic).
Aug 12, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "Bedroom Eyes" by Junkyard Theater
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst reviews a sultry-silly cabaret by MDT ballet dancer Justin Leaf's alter ego, Mistress Ginger, who puts on a song & dance show that specializes in "the songs that got your grandma into bed."
Aug 11, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "#Ringtone" by Alan Berks and Company
Max Sparber

Max Sparber reflects on the conundrum of human connection and isolation in the brave new world of social media and internet technologies, as interpreted by Alan Berks' experimental play "#Ringtone."
Aug 11, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "You Are Not Paris" by Stages Theatre Company and Jon Ferguson
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst thoroughly enjoyed this postmodern, playfully clever examination of "normality" and the science of the mind.
Aug 11, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "ROBO-homa!" by Rewired Theatre Company
Max Sparber

Playwright Max Sparber weighs in on this post-apocalyptic, robot-themed reworking of "Oklahoma!"
Aug 10, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Damn Audition" by Joking Envelope
Max Sparber

Playwright and writer Max Sparber weighs in on the new show by Fringe perennial Joseph Scrimshaw -- "The Damn Audition."
Aug 10, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "Femme de la Swashbuckle Box" by Christine Maginnis
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst responds to the Freudian jungle of Christine Maginnis' lurid, over-the-top dance fantasy, "Femme de la Swashbuckle Box."
Aug 9, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Selkie" by Scotia Productions
Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre saw one of the two shows (!) based on selkie mythology, "The Selkie," on opening night -- a blend of Scottish dance with contemporary movement and gesture, she found it sweet and heartfelt, if a little wet behind the ears.
Aug 9, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "Thingkingaview" & "CorresponDance" by Jeffrey Peterson Dance
Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre responds to the split bill, "Thinkingaview" (a reprise of Jeffrey Peterson's 2006 dance work at the BLB) and RKH Moves' "CorresponDance."
Aug 9, 2010
FRINGE SHORTS: "The First Five Minutes Are Slow" by Tamara Ober/Present State Movement
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst kicks off our 2010 Fringe Festival coverage with the madcap, "unsummarizable" entertainment of the new show by Kathryn Jorgenson, Brant Miller and Mark Rehani. Keep your eyes out for more short Fringe reviews every day this week.
Aug 7, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Bard Fiction" by Tedious Brief Productions
Matthew Everett

Matthew Everett and his Mom both loved this Elizabethan, versified retelling of Tarantino's now-classic film, PULP FICTION. Read on to hear about what he calls "an enormous, successful in-joke."
Aug 7, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Tales ... of the Expected" by Ari Hoptman
Max Sparber

Max Sparber appreciated Ari Hoptman's dry, quirky wit very much -- read on for Sparber's take on the production, which he says is inspired by early MAD MAGAZINE and Jay Ward's "Fractured Fairy Tales" in equal measure.
Aug 7, 2009
FRINGE SHORT: "You/Provoke/Me" by Same Planet Different World Dance Company
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst weighs in on the crowd-pleasing dance concert by this Chicago company -- she found it agreeable if not groundbreaking, on the whole.
Aug 6, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Harty Boys in the Case of the Limping Platypus"
Max Sparber

Max Sparber thoroughly enjoyed this spoofy production by Joshua Scrimshaw and Levi Weinhagen -- he found this clever satire on the classic boys' mysteries to be rife with madcap fun and sharp wit.
Aug 6, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Rumspringa - The Musical" by Best Weird Dog
Matthew Everett

Matthew Everett had mixed feelings about this musical theater production -- he loved he inventive Amish girl-meets-robot premise, but found the story's execution to be only so-so.
Aug 6, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: RAW Dance Collective's "Re: Trace"
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst loved "Re: Trace," a clever bit of site-specific improv movement theater, and says the audience with her did, too--read on to find out why.
Aug 5, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Love Me Or Die!" by Savage Umbrella
Matthew Everett

Playwright and Fringe-devotee Matthew Everett explains why this show by Savage Umbrella is, after all he's seen, his top pick from this year's offerings.
Aug 4, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Tragedy of You" by Joseph Scrimshaw Productions
Max Sparber

Max Sparber, one of our theater critics on the scene at this year's Fringe Festival, offers his enthusiastic recommendation for Joseph Scrimshaw's wildly inventive, comic take on Shakespearean tragedy.
Aug 4, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Three Bonnies" by DA Dance
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst took in the horse-filled, cowboy-themed dance show "The Three Bonnies" by founding Zenon member Denise Armstead and found it to be an ambitious but puzzling production.
Aug 3, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: Cathy Wright's "Thrower of Light"
Lightsey Darst

Dance critic Lightsey Darst will be sending in dispatches and short reviews throughout this year's Fringe Festival. Here, she kicks off our Fringe coverage with a brief on Cathy Wright's itch-and-grit movement piece, "Thrower of Light."
Aug 3, 2009
FRINGE SHORTS: "Fearsome Critter" by Mother/Destroyer
Matthew Everett

Playwright Matthew Everett will be sending back dispatches from the festival all week. Here's his take on "Fearsome Critter," a show, which he was happily surprised to discover, that totally faked him out.
Aug 8, 2008
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Jamal Lullabies" by Emily Conbere
Review by Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst assesses the satirical musical theater production, "The Jamal Lullabies," by Emily Conbere and the East River Commedia--showing at the Southern Theater for two remaining shows, August 8 and 10.

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