Art Hounds: 5 shows to catch at the Minnesota Fringe Festival

This week, Art Hounds is devoted to the Minnesota Fringe Festival. More than 100 individual plays will run on stages across Minneapolis Thursday through August. Fringe is the largest non-juried theater festival in the U.S.; amateur and professional theater makers alike pitch shows that are chosen by lottery. Each show must be fewer than 60 minutes, and there are up to seven slots a day for shows to run. For many, it's the wild diversity of shows itself that is the draw. Performances this year span from musicals to improv, dance to clowning, one-person shows to full casts. Most performers are local, but there are visiting performers who travel to Minnesota to take part. Each show runs five times throughout the 12-day period. Interested in going? There are ticketing options for single shows as well as a range of multi-show options. Check out the shows and ticketing options on the Minnesota Fringe website. For those attending with families, each show page includes recommended minimum ages and content warnings. And while it's hard to select just one or even a few shows to highlight, we asked Art Hounds to do just that. ## Tech: What could go wrong? Actor Taj Ruler recommends the improv comedy show, Tech. Set on the night before an opening Fringe show, anything can and will go wrong in this ensemble led by Mike Fotus at Strike Theater. "I'm excited because I think it is a stellar cast of improvisers, the best in the Twin Cities. So I think you're in for a good time, and it'll be different every time for the five shows that they have." ## Watership Down: An authorized musical based on the classic novel Actor and writer Isabella Dunsieth is looking forward to seeing "Watership Down." The musical is based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams; Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly worked with Adams' estate as they adapted it for the stage. Bee Davis of Minneapolis wrote the music and lyrics. The novel tells the story of a band of rabbits on a perilous journey to find a new home. This show by Melancholics Anonymous runs at the Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre. "I can't wait to see what they do with this. 'Watership Down' with Melancholics Anonymous is a little something different for that company. Typically, they're doing silly tongue-in-cheek coming-of-age type stories. Last year at Fringe, they did Joan of Arc for Miss Teen USA, which was, you know, very funny, but also really grounded in community and girlhood and caring for others. It was very beautiful. I feel like Watership Down is maybe a little darker for melancholics, and so I'm very interested to see how they make that tonal shift." ## And three more ... Sarra Beckham-Chasnoff and her wife treat the Fringe as a staycation, taking time off work to see a show in every time slot over the next 12 days. Pressed to name a few shows she particularly wanted to see, she cited "Watership Down" and "Tech," as well as these: Bay Creek by the Miller Company, written and performed by Derek Lee Miller, at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance "I've seen this show performed at another fringe festival and at the Twin Cities Horror Festival, and in my mind, I forget that he's the only person on stage. It's creepy and well-acted, written beautifully, and has some surprises in it." A Confluence of Magical Arseholes by the Winding Sheet Outfit, at Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre. "Winding Sheet Outfit have always done beautiful productions that really highlight why coming to a theater is so much different than going to a movie or listening to music. They often have music in their performances. Their presentations are beautiful, and I always come away feeling moved and learning something new. It appears that this one may be more comedic, and I'm really excited to see how they weave comedy into their shows." Leave Room for Jesus by Hannah Wydeven, at Barbara Barker Center for Dance "It's an improvised comedy musical where Hannah Wydeven takes on the role of a pastor who believes that she is very charismatic and does a revival. Her hang-ups become very clear early in the show, and she, of course, uses some information that she gets from the audience. It's just a wild romp."