BY ADAM M. SCHENCK
“You can’t go home again,” goes the saying, but why? Because not only has the place changed, you’ve changed as well—and home no longer exists. That conflict is the source of all nostalgia, a word which derives from the Greek “nostos” (home) and “algos” (pain). We remember ourselves as better or happier, but it must be some kind of mind trick—easily we recall the bliss but never the pain.
In the Minneapolis Fringe Festival 2016 show “It Always Rained in Paris,” lead actor Anna Olson (as Ellie) remembers her year in Paris with sadness because then, hers was a life of possibility. Like in many stories of midlife crisis, the bonds she created in hopes of capturing that beautiful feeling have come to entrap her: husband, kids, career. Ellie has begun the divorce process from her French husband, Nic (Bill Williamson).
At Fringe, scenarios might be overly simple or more outlandish than a full theatrical production could support. In “It Always Rained in Paris,” it is the former. The play is a family drama: Ellie lives in Minneapolis with her daughter Gabrielle and son Bastien (Lulu Schirmacher and Huxley Westmeier, child actors who do yeoman’s work) and has invited French girl Michèle as an au pair for a year.
Ellie finds that her family has come to mirror the affluent Parisian family for whom she worked: disjointed and unconnected, busy yet accomplishing little. As an audience member, I wanted Ellie to “just be happy!” The mind longs for freedom, but what is that? “Just some people talkin’” goes the Eagles’ “Desperado” song.
Despite only seeing one Fringe show this year, I was affected by playwright Hailey Colwell’s work, and I am sure that its lessons can apply to other Fringe performances. First, live theater that lasts only an hour is necessarily a “mood piece” with one major theme, in this case adulthood ennui (or boredom) and sadness that leads to nostalgia.
Fringe shows also likely have minimalist production values. The best part of this show for me was the piano accompaniment from John Hilsen that offered leitmotifs to create mood.
The only part I didn’t understand was why playwright Hailey Colwell set the play in 2030. While I understand that “It Always Rained in Paris” is likely about her actual time in Paris and her imagined future nostalgia, I had to read that the show was set in the future. Further, lead actors Anna Olson and Bill Williamson are the perfect age to have met in the late 1990s. In other words, the future setting didn’t serve the story.
But this is too much caviling (or petty objecting) because Fringe is all about new voices, and the play gives an update on the late 1980s-early 1990s storytelling style I remember from films like “The Big Chill” and TV shows like “Parenthood” and “thirtysomething.” Family drama: first we watched it, then we lived it!
The Fringe is over for this year, so here are some recommendations for next year: Buy a day pass early, then go to shows that interest you in the neighborhood you choose. There are venues situated around the Rarig Center on the U of M campus, in Uptown (off of both Hennepin and Lyndale), and Dinkytown (off of Washington), and in Northeast Minneapolis. Plan ahead to take advantage of this special festival and don’t forget your sweater in case of air conditioning.
Next year, make the Fringe a part of your late summer, as the Twins struggle yet again, our politics get seemingly even more vicious, and the days get inevitably shorter. The past is prologue, but the theater can help us remember things past.
