New Flash!! Fringe Fest suffers Tectonic Shift!

[dreamshark]

Fringe Festival starts tonight!

The geographical center has shifted since last year. In 2004 and 2005, the area with the highest density of participating theaters was Loring Park. R and I rode our bikes to the park on a Saturday or Sunday and spent the day there, ambling from theater to theater. Both years, our Loring Park Day was the highlight of the fest. Not necessarily the best shows, but the best overall day, hanging out in the park, eating at outdoor cafes. We also spent a few evenings in Uptown, stopping for snacks at that tapas place between shows.

This year, I'm sad to see that most of the Loring Park venues have dropped out, kicking the stuffings out of Loring Park Day. There no longer seems to be critical mass in the uptown area either: just Bryant Lake Bowl and Intermedia Arts.

Having to get in the car and drive from show to show is way less fun than wandering about on foot. So it looks like this year's hot spot is going to be the West Bank. Mixed Blood was an isolated venue last year, so I don't think we ever made it to a show there. This year we have Mixed Blood, Southern Theater, PLUS multiple stages at Rarig Center. I think I'll be spending more time on the West Bank than I have for years! Starting with tonight.

R and I are planning to meet up with barondave at the Southern Theater for "African Roads, American Streets" (7pm), have dinner, then "Die Clowns Die" at the Rarig Center. Anybody want to join us?

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons (but probably not all of the reasons) several of the venues dropped out and these new ones were chosen is so that all the theaters are handicapped accessible. Grand Poobah Leah Cooper was on Shockwave, and gave Doug the lowdown. I have a list of all the ways the theaters are accessible. Several of the shows are closed captioned, and some venues are scent-free. Minnesota Nice actually means something, now and again.

The sites near the U suffer from problems in parking, but it's no worse than the Loring Park places, and probably a lot better. I can walk from here to Bryant-Lake Bowl and on Saturdays many of the U venues are close to KFAI.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

B

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Dave, they did it for accessibility to YOU. Nobody checked with us. Loring Park is a nice bike ride from our house, but riding from our house to the West Bank is either a very long ride (creek and river) or exceedingly unpleasant verging on dangerous (crosstown through Phillips neighborhood).

Fringe Festival Venues

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Where are the new venues that have replaced all the ones near Loring Park? Are there fewer venues this year?

B

Re: Fringe Festival Venues

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

If anything there are more venues this year, but they seem to be more scattered.

Last year there were 2 or 3 very nice stages in the theater building for Minneapolis Community College (or whatever the little college north of Loring Park is called). Those have been replaced by 3 or 4 stages in Rarig Center, on the West Bank. I doubt that had anything to do with accessibility. The Loring Playhouse and some odd stage on the south end of the park have dropped out (those may have been the ones with the accessibility issues, as they were both on 2nd floors of old buildings).

There are more oddball theaters this year, used for only one production. Three of the shows I want to see are in that category:

- The Depth of the Ocean, staged in the downtown YWCA, is described thusly: "Five survivors of various ocean disasters cross time and space, winding up on a single liferaft floating in the deep. Performed entirely on the water, this piece explores the fear and confusion all survivors face."

- 1926 Pleasant is staged at that address. It is apparently some kind of walking participatory murder mystery.

- The Rats in the Walls, based on Lovecraft's story, is staged at the Mill City Museum.

- there are also one-off shows of some kind at the Steeple People Thrift Store, a high school and a park building(?).

Re: Fringe Festival Venues

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of a play that walks around. I saw one of those many years ago in New York. There were multiple threads, and you could choose which room to be in and which piece to watch.

B