FringeFamous: The Minneapolis Independent Theatre Blog

TRAGEDY OF YOU Joseph Scrimshaw Productions show description: A...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500

TRAGEDY OF YOU

Joseph Scrimshaw Productions

show description: A one-man five-act Shakespearean tragedy! “Fringe Favorite” (Pioneer Press) Joseph Scrimshaw weaves the real life ambitions and tragic flaws of a random audience volunteer into a sophisticated mad-lib of murder, madness and comedy!

Click here for more info!

#fixtheatre

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:22:16 -0500

#fixtheatre: A pretty amazing discussion is happening on Twitter. Check it before you wreck it,...

SOMETHING WITCHY Partizan Theater show description: Los Angeles....

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500

SOMETHING WITCHY

Partizan Theater

show description: Los Angeles. August 9th, 1969. The crime of the century. Celebrity victims. And “the most dangerous man in the world.” Sixteen years later, a ‘family’ member wants to forget. But someone won’t let her.

Click here for more info!

LOVE ME OR DIE! Savage Umbrella show description: A classic...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:07:17 -0500

LOVE ME OR DIE!

Savage Umbrella

show description: A classic tale of deception and the theater, loosely based on the opera Pagliacci. Guitars, juggling, singing, heart-break, intrigue, death and fried chicken. Part homage. Totally rock and roll.

Click here for more info!

YOU GUYS ARE WINNERS! In their Grand Prize winning wedding...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:44:00 -0500

YOU GUYS ARE WINNERS!

In their Grand Prize winning wedding video, bride-to-be Gretchen Bierbaum says that the couple had always wanted a “sophisticated, elegant wedding”. And I say mission accomplished. Nothing says “sophisticated” and “elegant” like selling your special day to Guthrie Corp. for $60,000 so it can promote a play.

KATHERINE KERSTEN HATES HATE Check it out. Strib columnist...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:47:00 -0500

KATHERINE KERSTEN HATES HATE

Check it out. Strib columnist Katherine Kersten loses her shit over the TC losing its shit over Kushner. She also puts “world premiere” in quotes and I’m not really sure why.

GREAT. ANOTHER ROBOT MEETS AMISH GIRL MUSICAL. If you want...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:46:00 -0500

GREAT. ANOTHER ROBOT MEETS AMISH GIRL MUSICAL.

If you want proof that the MN Fringe is totally rad, the above video is Exhibit A. Also, if you’re not keeping an eye on the Fringey trailers, you’re sort of retarded.

CAN YOU BE MURDERED BY A FRINGE SHOW? A few trailers are up for...

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:19:00 -0500

CAN YOU BE MURDERED BY A FRINGE SHOW?

A few trailers are up for the first (second) ever Fringey Awards. Some of them are pretty good, some of them are pretty not, and one of them — specifically the one produced for a show called GRRL! — is just a little bit creepier than Children of the Corn. Seriously. I watched it once and I’m totally convinced that I now have only seven days to live.

FRINGE! OMG! FRINGE! If you felt a strange tingling sensation...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:01:00 -0500

FRINGE! OMG! FRINGE!

If you felt a strange tingling sensation while sitting at your desk yesterday afternoon, don’t worry. It wasn’t a stroke*. It was just the Minnesota Fringe Festival’s 2009 website/schedule going live. It’s purdy.

Go! Search! Schedule!

* If you’re Matthew Foster, it may have been a stroke.

If you occasionally read FringeFamous, I’m assuming you...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:17:00 -0500

If you occasionally read FringeFamous, I’m assuming you regularly check out MN Playlist. But just in case you’re stupid, here’s a nice little interview they did with the Old Log’s Don Stoltz.

Stoltz might be 114 years old, but he’s a theatre person you can actually listen to because he’s just a regular guy. He wears a scarf only if it’s cold outside.

Another plus for this video? It’s only 6 minutes long instead of the 30-minute blowhard drone-a-thon that MN Playlist usually releases. Hopefully, this will become a trend and not just another TC theatre community Stoltz sluff off.

FRINGE IT UP, MOTHERF@#KERS! Don’t forget: you send us a...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:29:16 -0500

FRINGE IT UP, MOTHERF@#KERS!

Don’t forget: you send us a digital copy of your postcard for the upcoming Minnesota Fringe Festival, and we’ll post it on FringeFamous.com sans snarky comment. Rad.

Email your submission to Author@FringeFamous.com. We’ll start posting a week or two before the festival.

SEE. THIS. SHOW. Okay, like I’ve said before, we hate...

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:26:00 -0500

SEE. THIS. SHOW.

Okay, like I’ve said before, we hate reviewing shows. Hate it. It’s just the worst. That’s why we only do it once a year — at the Fringe Festival. However, occasionally we will see a show that is so kick ass, so weirdly awesome, so ultra-sexy that we simply must endorse it. Walking Shadow’s Robots vs. Fake Robots is one of those shows. I know, I know…I’ve slurped Walking Shadow before. But they consistently do great stuff, so back off!

The pic above (which I digitally stole from one of the actors’ Facebook pages) shows three of the production’s ultra-sexy robots — Shoe Horn, Morse Code, and Nintendo 64 — doing their weird robot thing. It’s a pretty good representation of the show’s high level of awesome.

Two final things: 1.) If you’re interested, I’d visit Walking Shadow’s website and make a reservation. This bad boy has been selling out the teeny-tiny People’s Center Theater. 2.) Upon entering the house, you’re handed a nametag with your very own robot name. HOORAY FOR ROBOT NAMES! Mine was Button Hole…which is eerily close to what I am in real life.

PS — For a review of the show, go here. Kudos to the Strib for resisting the urge to work Tony Kushner or Guthrie Corp. into their Robots review.

COUPLE OF THINGS… So if you haven’t noticed,...

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:25:00 -0500

COUPLE OF THINGS…

So if you haven’t noticed, we’ve taken a little time off lately. FringeFamous blogging will continue to be spotty until mid-July. We’re gearing up to blast a ropey load of blog all over the MN Fringe Festival’s 32DDs in August.

In the meantime, we’d like you to keep a couple of things on your radar:

We’ll again be posting festival postcard images. You send us a digital copy of your postcard or poster for the upcoming Minnesota Fringe Festival, and we’ll post it on FringeFamous.com for the outrageous price of zero. Why on Earth would we do this? Because 1.) we love the Minnesota Fringe Festival and are excited as hell for it, 2.) we love to see what’s coming up, and 3.) we get quite a few visitors each week…it’s entirely possible that it may help your show! And we promise not to comment on these. If you send us your show art, we will post it sans snarky comment. Cross our hearts and hope to die. Email your submission to Author@FringeFamous.com. We’ll start posting a week or two before the festival.
We’ve been getting some emails asking things like “if I send you the press release for my Fringe show, will you just make fun of it”. That is a great question. The answer is “maybe”. We might think your show looks interesting and post something about how interesting it looks. We might also think your show looks ‘tarded and post something about how ‘tarded it looks. If you’re one of those any-press-is-good-press people, then send away! Heh…I just called what we do “press”.
If you haven’t heard, Visi.com (one of the MN Fringe sponsors) is hosting an online video contest. You create a trailer for your Fringe show, and if yours is the best, you win a fantastic prize worth millions. They’re dubbing it “the first annual Fringey Awards”. Hmmmm. Fringey Awards. Sounds so familiar…
Want more to read? Here’s someone’s list of the top-ranking theatre blogs in the whole wide world. What? We’re on it? Shit. I didn’t even see that.

NAILED IT!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:52:10 -0500

NAILED IT!

MIKE NICHOLS IS HERE! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:39:00 -0500

MIKE NICHOLS IS HERE! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!: Funny story: a friend of mine was chatting with Mr....

"Kushner’s strength always has been proclamation — bold and at times preachy in its..."

Thu, 28 May 2009 14:38:47 -0500

“Kushner’s strength always has been proclamation — bold and at times preachy in...

Supreme Court justice makes Chicago acting debut

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:20:34 -0500

Supreme Court justice makes Chicago acting debut

REVIEW THAT REVIEW! Kurt lives!! Kurt lives!! And apparently,...

Thu, 07 May 2009 13:55:47 -0500

REVIEW THAT REVIEW!

Kurt lives!! Kurt lives!! And apparently, so does his predilection for scorching the Strib’s Rohan Preston. YOWCHERS!

——————

So, the first question is probably, “Where the hell have you been for four months, jerk?” Well, that’s a good one, and the answer is, well, nowhere. A better question is, “Why haven’t you been writing anything about the craptastic theater coverage in this town?” And my response to that is simply that no one on the critical side of theater has done or said anything especially interesting or stupid or breathtakingly retarded for quite a while. I was starting to lose hope.

But then I remembered that every silver lining has a cloud, and that cloud is almost always Rohan Preston — and he came out swinging with flying colors. (Did I mix enough metaphors there?)

Let’s add one to the “Did he really just say that?” file.

Rohan Preston, in his review of the newest Park Square show — made the following awe-inspiring comment:

A drama about genocide and torture does not have to be, well, torturous. But “Young Lady From Rwanda” is a difficult sit.

Wow. Really? You’re going to…oh, wait — you have more? Oh, this should be good.

The rest of the work is dry filler, and filler that trivializes an important subject.

It took me a few seconds to realize he wasn’t being self-referential. And then, he brings it home.

Imagine a play about writer’s block that uses the Holocaust as backdrop.

That would be awful, Rohan. Almost as awful as a theater review which compares the act of watching a boring play to Rwandan genocide and torture. I mean, I know Park Square isn’t the liveliest of places, but you’re just an asshole.

But thank you for the inspiration.

10 MINUTES OF PURE…SOMETHING Hi, theatre peeps! For those...

Tue, 05 May 2009 08:00:00 -0500

10 MINUTES OF PURE…SOMETHING

Hi, theatre peeps!

For those of you that missed the annual Five Fifths benefit for the MN Fringe last night, here’s what we offered up for our 10 minute slot.

If you currently hate us, your mind will probably not be changed with a viewing of this video. However, if you’ve always been curious to know what Chanhassen Retirement Homes’ Michael Brindisi would look like with a dick on his face, well…then…I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

ATTEND AND VIEW Are you going to be bored at 7:30pm tonight? Do...

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:00:00 -0500

ATTEND AND VIEW

Are you going to be bored at 7:30pm tonight? Do you have $35 that you wish would go away and never come back? Do you find Ferrari McSpeedy to be hilarious and/or adorable?

If you answered “yes” to at least one of the questions above, then you probably won’t be happy unless you’re in attendance at tonight’s Five Fifths benefit for the MN Fringe Festival. The only thing hotter than this ticket is swine flu, and that’s simply because Five Fifths has yet to kill someone (tonight might be the night!).