Minnesota Fringe – Day 9 Round Up

I’ve given up on biking to shows at this point, but I also haven’t quite sunk to the levels of driving everywhere. It’s counterintuitively more expensive than the alternative, but for the last several days I’ve been Lime-ing from theater to theater. And I can’t stop talking about how great it is. I mean, the way the e-bikes get you across town faster (and less sweaty) than a regular bike and the way you can just hop on a scooter and putt-putt your way to the next location.

Honestly, I’m team Get-Fringe-a-Lime-Partnership next year, because it’s almost like the two things were made for each other. And, y’know, if that partnership could also have a Fringe-length ride pass…my wallet would be grateful.

My Friday shows were emotional ones, albeit in vastly different ways. They also both end their runs today (Saturday) and make a beautiful double header, so I’d recommend checking them out.

The Wind Phone (The Ribs of Humanity at Campbell Plaza)

The Wind Phone is an outdoor show at the sculptural piece called The Ribs of Humanity, which is a part of Campbell Plaza at the University of Minnesota. The audience sits in the small amphitheater surrounding the piece of art. A white and gold candlestick phone is sitting on one of the shorter stone pillars that makes up the Ribs of Humanity. A table with a box of issues and a small trash can are on either side of the pillar holding the phone. Several black boxes, each marbled with a golden brown streak, are scattered around the plaza. Each has a different item on its surface: a collar, a pair of wine glasses, a bowl, a cell phone.

The Wind Phone opens with an argument between a divorced couple who ran into each other at a grocery store. Everything else takes place at the wind phone. One person after another picks up the earpiece of the ancient, disconnected telephone, and initiates a one-sided conversation with someone who is no longer accessible to them.

For me, part of the pleasure of this piece is the surprise of who each person speaks to, so suffice it to say that everyone’s grief is different and everyone’s grief is palpable. Several of the stories include an LGBTQ+ angle. There was one vignette that I didn’t find as affecting as the others, but the moment that thought crossed my mind I noticed another audience member with tears cascading down her face. And that’s the thing about grief, isn’t it? We all have different tender spots, and the net cast by The Wind Phone is wide enough that you just might find yourself caught.

Because this is an outdoor show it has some unique pleasures and pain spots. The sound of birds and traffic, smells of greenery and gas, and in one of my favorite moments, a pedestrian stopping to watch the show from behind the actors for long enough that I briefly thought he might be an actor ready to make a one-sided conversation two sided. There were a couple moments that I struggled to hear, but the actors did a great job overcoming the hubbub of Minneapolis.

I highly recommend The Wind Phone, especiallyfor people who like outdoor theater, have experienced loss, and who like supporting new theater companies.

Remaining Shows

8/11 – 7:00 PM

The Light Bringer (Mixed Blood Theatre)

The Light Bringer is a one-woman show by Laila Lee in which she discusses her story as one daughter in a large immigrant family in Florida. Initially promised Disney Land, she and her siblings instead learned to love trips to the Piggly Wiggly, where their father got them treats and they rode the coin operated ride outside the chain grocery store.

Lee explains the tension that built in her family as the years went on, the way that she and her siblings fell in love with American culture and how that love often directly opposed the religious expectations of their mosque and, by association, their father. This is a humorously told but ultimately searing story about family, faith, and finding oneself.

Lee is a wonderful storyteller. Her energy is infectious. Her impressions of certain characters from her own life are often funny and the way that she embodies the exuberance of her younger selves is such a delight. She weaves music, sound, and light into her storytelling and easily sweeps the audience into the passions, joys, and fears of her childhood and early teen years.

I highly recommend The Light Bringer, especially for people who like 90s pop culture, coming of age stories, and one person shows.

Remaining Shows

8/10 – 5:30 PM