Fringe Report

By Wednesday night I was up to 12 shows! Ahead of minnehahaK (briefly). I realized that it was time to take a break. Not only was I so dazed on the bus home Wednesday night that I couldn't remember if we had just seen 2 shows or 3, if I kept up at that rate I'd just feel stupid that I hadn't bought an Ultrapass.

Here's what we saw on Wednesday. We were both a little disappointed with the spoken word one. I hadn't realized that "spoken word" meant people standing up and reading an essay or poem from a piece of paper! Tom Cassidy's delivery was polished, but the 3 women read their pieces as if seeing them for the first time, repeatedly stumbling over the words and pausing awkwardly as they turned pages. This is one of those shows that you probably wouldn't regret if you had an Ultrapass and time to kill, but paying $9 or $12 to see it? The other two shows were excellent, although I thought the latter was a little unfair to poor Chet Arthur.

7:00 PM: My Version of Normal: Spoken Word Showcase
presented by Spoken Word Fringe Productions
Loring Playhouse (1635 Hennepin Avenue)

8:30 PM: London After Midnight: Victorian Tales of Crime and the Supernatural
presented by Hardcover Theater
MCTC Whitney Studio (1424 Yale Place)

10:00 PM: The President, Once Removed
presented by Fifty Foot Penguin Theater
Minneapolis Theatre Garage (711 Franklin Avenue West)

Anyway, I haven't seen anything shows since Wednesday. I did, however, post reviews on the Fringe site for most of the ones I've seen. Today we're going to Valleyfair for a company picnic. We'll probably Fringe most of the day tomorrow.

Not much of a company party, but good day in the park

The park being Valleyfair. I've attended company parties there before, but they've always been in the picnic grounds outside the park proper. This one was in the "Dining Patio" inside the park, next to the Flume Ride. It's a very large multi-level pavilion, and 3 companies were having their parties there at once. There was one serving line (featuring a very pedestrian assortment of picnic food), and then you had to wander around searching all the seating areas for familiar faces. Found a few co-workers, but it was all too fragmented to have any value for team-building or whatever makes companies foot the bill for these things. The free Valleyfair tickets are quite a deal, however. I was hoping that a few people might want to go on the roller coasters together, but the family groups just all took off in different directions. Oh well.

I had fun. Went on 5 rides, including two that were new since the last time I visited - the impressive Power Tower and the even more impressive Metal Venom (it's the big yellow thing that looks like all that was left of a steel roller coaster after Godzilla was through munching on it - two ends just sticking up into the sky). Both were great rides, but a long time to wait in line for a ride lasting less than a minute. I wouldn't mind going back to try them again if I knew of a time when the lines would be short.