Minnesota Fringe Festival 2019: "Visitation"

Day: 3

Show: 9

Title: Visitation

Category: COMEDY / DRAMA / SPOKEN WORD

By: DangerVision Productions

Directed by: Amber Danger Johnson

Location: Crane Theater

Summary: A series of short plays about grief, framed by a visitation in a funeral home

Highlights: The play opens at a visitation (or wake), the most awkward of reception lines. As the widow steels herself to be able to speak, a funeral director (played by Clarence Wethern) talks about grief, what it is and what it isn't. What follows are five short plays (all accompanied by projected imagery) that range from funny to mystical to sad, brought to life by the ensemble (Ben Tallen, Charles Numrich, Karen Bair, Sophie Javna, and Victoria Pyan). Laura Buchholz's exploration of people's fascination with the details of death, Gemma Irish's profound treatise on the meaning of life itself, Rachel Teagle's story of a complicated mother/daughter relationship, Sam Landman's moving tribute to his best friend, and Tyler Mills' poetic journey through grief are tied together by Heather Meyer's funny/sad "interludes" delivered by the funeral director. I came prepared to cry, but laughed more than I expected, while still being moved by the varied expressions of the experience of grief, an inescapable part of being human.

"The price of love is loss, but still we pay, we love anyway."
- Next to Normal

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Animus" by E/D at the Southern Theater

Animus is a theater piece that incorporates film (both pre-recorded as well as projected live) better than any I've seen before. In fact everything about the piece is thoughtfully created and exquisitely executed. Produced by a new company (called E/D), but not a new collaboration (Emily Michaels King and Debra Berger), it's inspired by the 1966 Ingmar Bergman film Persona and is in fact part of the Swedish filmmaker's jubilee celebration. I've not seen this film (or I think any of Bergman's work), but if it's as hauntingly beautiful and downright trippy as Animus, I now want to. Presented as part of last year's Twin Cities Horror Festival (as reported on by my friends at Minnesota Theater Love), it's been expanded to 90 fully engrossing minutes. Animus continues through December 22 only and should not be overlooked in this busy season both on and off stage.