Fringe 2005

We aren't feeling very optimistic about the Fringe this year, sadly. Let's tick off the points:

1. Fringe applications were done by lottery this year. Though we understand the logic behind it, we think it's a bad idea.

2. Thanks to said lottery, many of the reliable regulars and a few excellent newcomers are stuck on the waiting list...below some of far lesser...quality. We're not just talking Fringe insider gossip here (we're certainly not insiders), we're talking tried-and-true theatre talent of the Twin Cities. Yes, Fringe is about diversity and everyone getting a crack at it, but if it's all mediocre and nobody goes to it, Fringe will be even more in the hole than it already is. And the constant pledge drive at every show is already more than a little irritating (much like turning on MPR during one of their monthly drives). So, what to expect? Hard to say (10 Foot 5 Productions and Ferrari McSpeedy are on the waiting list, as are Ari Hoptman and Amy Salloway, yet someone is doing An Actor's Nightmare as a Fringe show, and Look Ma, I Wrote A Play got in. And where are all of the Illusion Theatre's plays? No justice.).

3. Look Ma No Pants is over. What will replace it? Will there be another late-night show? We can't stand the thought of Fringe ending at 11 p.m. every night. Plus, it's doubtful there are any other shows out there that allow us to remove our pants (which is probably a good thing...great job cornering the market on that one, Scrimshaws).

4. The Ministry of Cultural Warfare didn't even apply this year. No Leigha. This is a bigger tragedy than anything...we hope she appears in some other show.

Add to all that the fact that ticket prices will undoubtedly go up, and those insufferable buttons will remain required, and, well, it's not looking like a lovely August.

But, luckily, there is some good to counteract the bad:

1. We can rely on some excellent productions: Tim Uren & Jen Scott have a show (and a house! How cute is that?), Joe Scrimshaw is doing another one-man show, and Kevin Kling is, of course, there. The Tenth Muse Theatre Company is in, as well.

2. Fringe will be eleven days long rather than the standard ten. We saw over fifty plays last year...what's an extra day going to do?

3. New venue - Mixed Blood Theatre. Lovely space, though out of the way as compared to the other venues. Perhaps a Mixed Blood Day of Fringe will be necessary.

4. We did not show up on the Fringe website's audience shots slideshow (though we were quite close a number of times). We are leery of having our photos on the internet, which is why you've yet to see the lovely photo of us and Leigha taken at the final Look Ma No Pants performance (and not in a Say Anything way, either).

Fringe may be a wash. We shall see.