BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE
August can be a busy month in the Twin Cities. The behemoth shadows of the MN State Fair and the Renaissance Festival darken your calendar, and even if you don’t go to either of those extravaganzas, there are so many other things: the Uptown and Powderhorn Art Fairs, National Night Out, more Open Streets … and the Fringe Festival. The Fringe Festival has grown to be a huge event, or rather a plethora of little events, at many of the best venues in town. And no fewer than three of these are on or near Lyndale Avenue in Uptown. (The following synopses are NOT a complete listing of the shows at any venue, so consult the website if you want to choose shows to see.)
Intermedia Arts is one of the highest powered, most visible of all the performance spaces in Minneapolis. There is almost always something going on there. For the 2016 Fringe Festival, Intermedia Arts has an eclectic lineup. There’s a steampunk adventure play written by Neil Gaiman, “A Study in Emerald,” —described as Sherlock Holmes colliding with H. P. Lovecraft. There are quite a few modern/ethnic dance acts. One is fairly traditional, although “lighthearted,” with a Bond theme, and with warnings for strobe lights and gunshots (!)—“Shaken—and Stirred,” by the Jawaahir Dance Company, choreographed by Cassandra Shore. Another is a children’s show—“Sleeper,” by the Al-Bahira Dance Theater, created by Mirah Ammal, described as a droll musical adventure—a cracked fairy tale-in-dance—drawn from familiar Arabic, Persian and Western tales. Another is very multi-media (opera, modern dance, physical theater/clowning) and sounds intriguing as heck—“Rune,” by Vox Medusa, was inspired by Director Kristin Freya’s own trek to Arctic Norway to trace her Sami roots, and is based on a shamanic journey. And finally, in the Something Different category, a spoken word ensemble show called “It is so ordered: the Supreme Court’s Greatest Hits.” This show, created by Matthew Foster and performed by American Civic Forum, features six carefully chosen SCOTUS opinions, some majority, some dissenting. Emcee Matthew Kessen introduces each one with some historical and legal context, then it’s performed by a Fringe tested-and-approved spoken word artist.
In addition to Fringe Festival performances, Intermedia Arts has some interesting shows of its own coming up. On Aug. 30, starting at 6:30 with a music mixer plus snacks, is Brown Cinema Cafe, a screening of three films from the America Now! film program, curated by E. G. Bailey and Sha Cage. In the gallery, see the “This Is Our City—Creative Citymaking Minneapolis” exhibit through Aug. 27.
The HUGE Improv Theater, at 3037 Lyndale, is hosting “Abreast of Burlesque” by Green Sea Productions: less clothes than other shows (Duh.) and “Pistachios” by Uncommon Loons (Nathan Bergstedt and John Schroeder), a play about brotherhood, co-created and performed by an atheist and a Christian while drinking beer. What could possibly go wrong? And “UBU TRUMP” by Trouveres Theatrics, a modern adaptation of “UBU ROI,” an 1896 French realist/absurdist play about the obscene rise to political power of one fictional Pere Ubu (in this case, Pere Trump, not actually fictional). The original play was famous for playing a single night, culminating in a riot, and never being performed again. This one will be fine, though, because a) it has toy theater and puppets; and b) we are a lot more mature and reasonable than 19th century Parisians.
But the two that sound most entertaining to me are: First “Know Your B-Movie Actors” by the Miller Conspiracy, in which each performance features a different shortlist of B-movie actors, the “working stiffs” of Hollywood, and a different guest bartender. How it works: “Derek Lee Miller (with the help of his personal bartenders) brings you the weird lives of these working stiffs, and you can drink along with him as he does (on your own dime from your own bartender; this ain’t a charity). Other things may happen, too. Perhaps a portal to another dimension may open and his mirror universe twin will step through; perhaps the Automatic Song Selector will malfunction; perhaps some wrestling may break out. Even he doesn’t know. Second (mainly because of her wide fame as an excellent storyteller,) Laura Packer’s “The Adventures of Crazy Jane and Red-haired Annie,” a collection of adventure tales for grown-ups, featuring the two titular characters and some faeries.
Bryant-Lake Bowl is many things. You can go there to bowl, to eat, to drink, to hear an intimate concert, hear storytellers, or see a show. For the 2016 Fringe Festival the BLB- hosted shows include solo storytelling. “Broken English,” and “Mother Tongue” by Javier Morillo; “Oh, Snap, My Alien Children Are Trying To Kill Me” by Zell Miller III; “Unsafe At Any Speed” by Michael Merriam; and “Terror on the High Seas” by Les Kurkendaal. Some of these obviously sit on that gray area between story and stand-up. “Terror on the High Seas,” for instance, is about a gay man of color trapped on a cruise ship with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s parents—in Alaska. Brrrrr. There is also a short play, “Smitten by the Kitten,” written by Kristin Froberg and performed by Scott Wilebski: “ A young man stuck in the seventh circle of team-building hell is forced to confront an intrusion by events in his personal life.” And a couple of very interesting sounding musical acts: “The Plucky Rosenthal Show” by Alisa Rosenthal, billed as a modern-day vaudeville act fusing live music and comedy (from the picture it looks like she accompanies herself on the ukulele, which is presumably the “plucky” part), and “Write Me A Song” by Loud Folk Records / Jeromy Darling, which is self-explanatory.
Another popular recurring event at Bryant-Lake Bowl is the double-headed storytelling series “Two Chairs Telling” curated by Loren Niemi. Its 2016-17 season will kick off Sept. 13 with Guante and David Daniels in the two chairs. TCT will be starting its 25th year as one of the best storytelling series around.
One performance space on Lyndale that doesn’t participate in the Fringe Festival is the Jungle Theater at 2951 Lyndale. Their upcoming show is a new play, “Bars and Measures” by Idris Goodwin, directed by Marion McClintock. “Based on a true story, this … play … is the fascinating tale of two brothers. One a classical pianist, the other a jazz bass player. One a Christian, the other a Muslim. One living in freedom, the other in jail. Separated by bars, the brothers try to reconcile their differences through the language they know best: music.” This will be in performance Aug. 26 through Oct. 9.
Challenging themes can be found in art galleries as well. Jessica Smith, the owner of art gallery and fair-trade gift store Regla De Oro at 2743 Lyndale, calls herself a “previvor.” She is a carrier of the BRCA gene, which gives her an 85% chance of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. She says, “After seeing my mother struggle with the side effects of her cancer treatments, I didn’t feel as if I had much choice to do anything other than have the preventative surgeries. Something I didn’t expect was the tremendous grief, sense of isolation, and chronic pain that followed the surgeries. I found solace in the local chapter of FORCE (Facing Our Risk Of Cancer Empowered), and by connecting with others BRCA carriers through private social media groups.” Starting Sept. 6, Regla De Oro will be hosting a special exhibit to benefit FORCE, called “The Powerful Journey of Hereditary Cancer.” There will be a reception Sept.28 from 5 to 8 p.m. for exhibiting artists, their families and the wider community.
Besides performance spaces, theaters and art galleries, a book store is also a place to stimulate your thoughts and senses. And the one just off of Lyndale at 604 W. 26th S. is arguably Minneapolis’s best crime genre bookstore, Once Upon A Crime. (And how cool is it that our town has two or more crime genre independent bookstores that can even compete for that title?) There is a cancer-related backstory here too. A year ago, then-owners Pat Frovarp and Gary Schulze had the store up for sale because Gary, at age 66, was fighting a returning bout of leukemia. Pat and Gary were already a couple when they bought the bookstore from previous owner Steve Stilwell in 2002, and then they were married at the store in 2007. OUAC was bought in February by its new owners, Meg King-Abraham and Dennis Abraham. In April, sadly, Gary Schulze passed away.
Meg and Dennis now own OUAC with their daughter, Devin Abraham, who manages it. (Dennis also works for Medtronic and Meg is a 27-year veteran teacher in Saint Paul.) They are all three committed to keeping OUAC the same low-tech, locally-engaged, quirky independent bookstore it’s always been, winning awards and topping best-of lists as ever. The store has frequent author events by mostly local authors. A few notable ones in the near future: Aug. 20 at 1 p.m., Barbara Schlichting reads from her “A Blood Spangled Banner”; Sept. 6 – 7 p.m., launch party for Minnesota author William Kent Krueger’s “Manitou Canyon”; discussion and signing events for Alex Kava’s “Reckless Creed,” Sept. 28, 7 p.m.; Craig Johnson’s “An Obvious Fact” (Walt Longmire series), Sept. 29, 7 p.m.; and well-known local author John Sandford’s “Escape Clause,” Oct. 19, 7 p.m.
