Minnesota Fringe Festival Celebrates 50 Years

“Theater is where we can find common ground,” says Minnesota Fringe Festival Executive Director Dawn Bentley. As Bentley reflects on the upcoming 2023 season – which marks the 30^th year of the Minnesota Fringe Festival – she says that this sentiment rings truer than ever. This year artists are grounded in reality even at their most imaginative, exploring real life subjects that are certain to inspire post-show dialogues. “I’m happy to see producers putting things on the stage that allow people to have conversations around sensitive issues,” says Bentley, “There seems to be a good amount of ‘based on a true story’ shows being created for this year’s festival…In these tumultuous and divided times real life can be stranger than fiction.”

For the uninitiated, the Minnesota Fringe Festival is ten full days of innovative performance art. There is truly something for everyone – from adaptations of beloved public domain stories to one-person shows, musicals, drag, dance…the list goes on. And the themes vary just as widely as the genre of performance art.

The Fringe Festival is scattered across several favorite theater venues in Minneapolis. Each production has a handful of performances to choose from, but – fair warning – as the festival progresses and some performances emerge as fan favorites it can become difficult to get tickets.

If this will be your first Fringe Festival it is worth doing a deep dive on the box office portion of the Fringe website before buying tickets because there are several different ways to go about that process. Everyone is required to make a one-time $5 purchase of a festival button, but after that you can choose from individual tickets or a couple different passes. Tickets to specific performances can be reserved in advance or purchased onsite starting 30 minutes before showtime.

Personally, I think the atmosphere of Fringe is addicting, so I recommend getting the largest pass you can afford and fit as much theater-going into the ten day festival run as you can. But other Fringe fanatics swear by being selective with your shows, so find your own Fringe style and stick with it. Another important note for newbies: the Fringe Festival is strict about on-time seating. If you are late to a show, you will be denied admission.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival has come a long way since 2020. “The 2020 global pandemic forced Minnesota Fringe to cancel multiple events and pivot programming to digital presentations,” Bentley explains, “The first-ever Virtual Festival engaged patrons with 75 theater companies on a variety of platforms.”

“Fringe hosted the 2021 Hybrid Festival, presenting a combination of live, in-person and recorded shows featuring 116 shows with 260 performances, attracting 15,685 website users,” says Bentley. This was no small task. “Minnesota Fringe overhauled its website to accommodate advanced ticketing options and a centralized platform for streaming live and recorded shows, allowing for a streamlined patron experience.”

Although the Fringe is in many ways back to normal, Bentley says they have carefully reconsidered how to safely bring the festival to Minnesotans. “[This year] will be our second year back in the theaters since the pandemic began. There are no audience obligations for proof of vaccination or mask wearing at Fringe managed venues in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.” That said, some venues might be operating under other rules. Bentley continues: “We advise reviewing venue pages prior to attending one of the 15 Independently Produced shows in the Festival to see if there are specific requirements at those locations. Our staff is 100% vaccinated and we will have masks available for patrons who wish to use them at theater box offices.”

The environment of the Fringe Festival encourages niche storytelling. “The mission of Minnesota Fringe is to connect adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression,” says Bentley. “We throw theater doors wide open for performers and patrons alike, cultivating a rich performing arts community in the process. Furthermore, we seek out and maintain strong relationships with complementary organizations – making our place as a bridge-builder in the larger arts community.”

When I ask Bentley about the queer representation that at the Fringe this year, she is careful to explain the process behind show selection. “Minnesota Fringe Festival participants are selected by random lottery, but historically have had many shows featuring LGBTQ artists and themes,” she says, “19% of shows in this year’s festival highlight LGBTQ content and 41% of shows feature LGBTQ Cast and Crew Members.” 

Of course, LGBTQ+ representation is important to Fringe. “Other programs have been curated to specifically highlight the LGBTQ community,” Bentley explains, “In 2019, Fringe presented Women’s March – [a] curated lineup of women-generated, woman-centric work exploring today’s America and world – and included Chasing Blue, a previous feature at Chicago’s Steppenwolf, and the NYC Trans Theatre Festival.” 

There are plenty of LGBTQ+ shows at the Fringe this year. We do not have the space to highlight them all, but a few that we are especially looking forward to are the following, described by their creators.

Old Habits: A Dragtastrophe: A goofy, fast-paced, quintessentially Minnesotan drag action comedy.

The Resilient Child:  Four local storytellers and three children use personal narrative, rhyme, and song to recount surviving childhood to come out strong, brave, and resilient. 

#CHAMPION: Part comedy, part drama, this piece features two disabled performers alongside a puppet and deals squarely with the often hilarious nature and improbability of queer disabled survival.

4 Bisexuals and 2 Guys Named John Kill Dracula: An irreverent, queer-centric adaptation of the horror classic set in contemporary Minneapolis.

How to Survive Conversion Therapy AI: A survival guide for hacking your AI conversion therapist – and how to reprogram them into becoming your newest gay best friend!

You will want to talk about everything that you see at the Fringe this year, so make sure that you find your way to The Red Sea, which is this year’s “Fringe Central”. Starting at 11 PM every night this is the spot for cuisine, cabaret, comedy, karaoke, and camaraderie.

Tickets are already on sale and can be found at the website linked below. See you at the Fringe!

Minnesota Fringe Festival 
Thursday, August 3 – Sunday, August 13
www.minnesotafringe.org