What's Between the Mainstream and the Fringe?

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is the largest non-juried festival in the United States. It lasts for eleven days and features over 160 shows in venues around the Twin Cities. Having never been to a Fringe festival, I decided that since I had been exposed to a lot of mainstream theater, I would be adventurous and see what else the city offered in the way of performance. Tuesday was the first day I was able to go to the festival, so I got on the website and found a show that I thought sounded really promising. The Proper Way to Beat a Dead Horse was a show about how we interact with people that grew from improv work and was conceived and performed by five high school students. All I can say is I wish I hadn't paid $14 to waste an hour of my life. It seemed like nothing was working for these kids. I salute their bravery and passion for theater, but it sucked. The actors were no more than four feet in front of me and I had to strain to hear them. This is also a beef with the coordinators of the festival. They booked a dance/comedy show on the stage directly above the performance I was watching so most of the time the only thing I could hear was stomping and cheering from a crowd that was obviously having a great time. It made me wish I had chosen that show. Approximately 30 minutes in to the hour long performance, the actors seemed to have lost what little semblance of composure they had to start with and they were breaking character left and right and eventually just gave up all together and the show dissolved into nothing but five kids trying to kill time by any means necessary, including pulling someone from the audience into the scene and dumping water on the stage. The rest of the audience was trying to be supportive because every single one of them was either related to or good friends with one or more of the actors. I was alone in my contempt for the show. When the curtain call was finished, I was pissed that I had wasted time and money on these kids who didn't even care enough to stay committed to their show. As I was leaving the theater, I heard them say to their friends, "Sorry that sucked, we'll get you comps for Saturday night." That's all well and good for the people who could see the show done properly, but what about those of us who only had the chance to see it once? I had my hand on the door when the cast said, "Thank you for coming!" and I know they meant me. I just briskly walked out of the show and didn't look back. Needless to say, my first experience tainted my opinion of the festival, but I was determined to give it another chance.

Last night, I went to Theatre in the Round and saw Power Lunch by Alan Ball. It was a cast of four mature actors who did a wonderful job, and thank goodness because if I had seen a second bad show I would have been put off of Fringe festivals for life. The show was very funny and clipped along at a nice pace. I am probably slightly biased because I adore Alan Ball, but the show was good fun and a great way to end the evening. It also restored my faith in the Minnesota Fringe Festival and I will be going back tonight after rehearsal and probably for the rest of the week. Two shows and two very different reactions makes for two incredibly eventful days.

Perhaps along the same lines as my above rantings about the Fringe, I have taken it upon myself to cultivate my telephone skills. I was walking out of the theater on Cedar Ave and had about a 3/4 mile walk back to my car on 8th Street and I had just received a text from my friend Mandy so I decided rather than texting I would  call her. We had a fantastic chat for almost an hour and that one phone call made me realize how much I miss hearing my friends' voices. So the next night I called my friend Sarah and spoke to her for about 30 minutes and then called my friend Andrew and talked to him for over an hour. After I hung up with him, I felt great. It was a feeling of connection that I have been missing in Minnesota because it's taking time to develop friendships and connections here. So, I have added a goal to my list. I am making it my goal to talk on the phone to a different friend every week. Friends, if I have your number, look out for a call!

In other news.... I had an interview yesterday for a paid position at the Guthrie!!! The position is a Child Supervisor for the children who are cast in Guthrie shows and the commitment is from first rehearsal to closing performance. In all likelihood, if I get the position it will be for A Christmas Carol, a show that I am already working on as an intern, but I would get paid for the hours I spend with the kids and I would get to stay until the end of December. In my interview, I noticed that children were also being cast for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that runs through the end of February and I let them know that I was available and more than willing to sign on for that show as well. I won't know until the end of next week if I got the job for December and then after that for the February show, but I really hope that I get to stay at the Guthrie until the end of February! That would certainly decrease the amount of down time I would have before the start of most summer stock contracts. If  stayed in Minnesota until February, it would mean missing the entire holiday season, but I knew that was a possibility when I moved 8 hours away, so I would just have to catch my family at Easter or St. Patrick's Day. They are very supportive, though and understand that building my career is very important and that this is a crucial time.

That's a lot, so I can't really in good conscience say, that's it. We have come to the end of this post and if you've made it this far, I thank you for your attention.

Just dropping a little knowledge on you at the end. "A young man without ambition is an old man waiting to be."-Steven Brust