Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "Beanie Baby Divorce Play"

Day: 6

Show: 19

Title: Beanie Baby Divorce Play

Category: Comedy / Drama / Horror / Original Music / Puppetry / Storytelling / Historical content / LGBTQIA+ Content

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Created by: Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly

Location: Open Eye Theatre

Summary: The story of a couple fighting over their beanie babies during their divorce and ignoring their actual children, who resort to desperate measures to get their parents' attention.

Highlights: This is bizarre in Melancholics Anonymous' trademark style. The story is told by the Beanie Babies CEO in a smoking jacket ala Masterpiece Theater, reading out of a children's book. We meet the family in court, the kids bored and ignored, the parents angry and selfish. While playing, the kids make a wish that turns ugly with the appearance of a mystical evil creature. One of the kids is kidnapped, and the other fights to get her back, with the help of Princess Diana (or not). The performances by the eight-person cast (Timothy Kelly, Aerin O’Malley, Anneliese Garner, Bee Davis, Meredith Enersen, Nick Willcocks, Samantha Miller, and Claire Chenoweth in a creepily physical performance as the Beanie monster) are great and really committed to this absurdity, and the use of Beanie Babies as props, set, and costumes is truly impressive, particularly what I can only describe as a Beanie Baby tower (set and prop design by Mady Smith). It's a really weird and fun show about the dangers of consumerism and obsession, and if I wasn't emotionally invested, maybe that's OK.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "A Girl Scout’s Guide to Exorcism"

Day: 10

Show: 41

Title: A Girl Scout’s Guide to Exorcism

Category: COMEDY / DRAMA / HORROR / PUPPETRY / STORYTELLING / HISTORICAL CONTENT / LGBTQIA+ CONTENT

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Created by: Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly

Location: Rarig Arena

Summary: It's the summer of 2008, and five Girl Scouts accidentally conjure up the spirit of a famous, and a little angry, environmentalist.

Highlights: This was one of the most frequently sold out shows of the Fringe, winning the venue award for most tickets sold at the Arena. I did not intentionally save it for the very last time slot of the festival, but it was a great end to a wonderful run of theater. It's so funny, and sweet, and real, and weird, and a little bit scary, and overall just so much fun. Five Jonas brothers obsessed tweens (charmingly portrayed by Claire Chenoweth, Anneliese Garner, Meredith Enersen, Samantha Miller, and Aerin O'Malley, giving each a distinct personality) gather for their annual sleepaway summer camp, with a friendly new counselor (Bee Davis), but things are changing. They're growing up, like it or not, causing new tension in the group. Using a ouija board, they accidentally cause one of them to become possessed with an environmentalist who advocates for the hawk, and she gets mad, wreaking havoc on the girls, until they can figure out a way to band together to save their friend, and each other. One of the girls occasionally steps out of the story and narrates it as the chain-smoking present version of the character, which is surprising and funny. This would all be wonderful enough, but as an added bonus Jeffrey Nolan plays the hawk who does the environmentalist's bidding, swooping a puppet on a stick around the theater, facial expressions so telling of the attitude of this creature. I first discovered Melancholics Anonymous during the virtual 2020 Minnesota Fringe Festival, and in a few short years they've become a reliable source of theater that is inventive and delightful and a little bit dark. They perform outside of the Fringe too, so keep your eye out for them.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche" by Melancholics Anonymous at Center for Performing Arts

The title says it all: Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche. Well, maybe not all. There's also an apocalyptic event, romance, tragedies, and secrets revealed, not to mention the fact that it's the 1950s, a time when it wasn't safe or acceptable for women to call themselves lesbians. Melancholics Anonymous' production of this funny, subversive, and a little bit gruesome play is a good way to spend 70 minutes on a summer evening. But hurry, there are only three shows left! (Click here for all the deets.)

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2022: "A Day with the Newhearts"

Day: 3

Show: 7

Title: A Day with the Newhearts

Category: COMEDY / HORROR / ORIGINAL MUSIC / HISTORICAL CONTENT / LGBTQIA+ CONTENT

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Created by: Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A mock 1960s sitcom set in Minnesota that turns very dark when the Newhearts try to force their new neighbors into their "Minnesota nice" way of life.

Highlights: Complete with a theme song, laugh track, and ads, A Day with the Newhearts feels very much like a sitcom about a happy family in the early '60s (there's a reference to "that new baseball team the Twins," so around 1961 or so). Mom, Pop, and daughter prepare for a barbecue with their new neighbors, a single mom (horror) and her clingy and socially awkward son. Daughter tortures son with news of a recently escaped serial killer, Pop shames single mom for her independence and plans to open a business, but Mom admires her for the same reason, feeling stifled in her Stepford/Minnesota nice life. Things go from odd to deadly very quickly, as we see the dark side of Minnesota nice (which definitely exists, although hopefully not to this extent). The cast (Claire Chenoweth, Bee Davis, and Matthew Humason along with the creators) fully commits to the dark and campy sitcommy tone; costumes, set, and props are charmingly period appropriate (including some Tupperware pieces I recognized from my childhood); and the Minnesota references (scotcheroos, hot dish, and snicker salad) are plenty. It's a darkly funny and disturbing show, consistent in tone, and perhaps a morality tale about how not to welcome new people into the community.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Copenhagen" by Melancholic Anonymous at the Crane Theater

New #TCTheater company Melancholics Anonymous came out of St. Olaf shortly before the pandemic. What a time to start a theater company! But maybe because they are new, and young, they were able to quickly adapt to the virtual theater world and produce some really great virtual productions (e.g., Good Grief and On Air: The Wuppet Time Murders for the 2020 and 2021 Minnesota Fringe Festival). I saw them live for the first time last night, a production of the 2000 Tony Award-winning best play Copenhagen. In the intimate space of the Crane studio theater, this three-hander (if that's a term) that speculates about the real-life 1941 meeting between scientists Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg (both of whose worked contributed to the development of the atomic bomb) is a wonderful exploration of science, philosophy, and morality. Copenhagen continues at the Crane Theater in Northeast Minneapolis through February 13 only.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2021: "On Air: The Wuppet Time Murders"

Day: 4

Show: 8

Performance Type: Virtual

Location: Streaming Anytime

Length: 60 Minutes  

Title: On Air: The Wuppet Time Murders

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Summary: A delightful spoof of true crime documentaries that features gruesome murder of puppets on the set of a local cable children's weather educational show.

Highlights: I loved this group's show at the virtual Fringe last year, the sweet and poignant children's grief counseling session, so I was eager to see more of their work. This doesn't bear much resemblance to last year's show, except for the clever concept and spot-on execution. With deadpan seriousness, a true crime documentarian (voiced by Claire Chenoweth) investigates multiple murders that happened in 1999 on the set of a children's puppet show called Wuppet Time (a questionable show that cheerily warned children about snow-related disasters and head trauma from falling staircases). Like any good docuseries, it has interviews with survivors, found footage of events, and people obsessed with the crime who have tried to piece together what happened on that tragic day. The truly funny and absurd thing is that the weather puppets in the show (played by Claire Chenoweth, Gillian Gauntt, and Matthew Humason) are treated as people - the victims and possible perpetrators of the crime. Watching a jaded puppet of a raindrop smoking a cigarette as they reminisce about a tragic event in their youth is just ridiculously amusing. As are the two humans in the cast (played by co-creators Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly), one of whom is a controlling jerk with anger issues, the other of whom tries to share the nuance of the situation. Like Avenue Q, casting these sorts of familiar human dramas in puppets just makes everything funnier.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2021: "Meemaw McPhearson's Magic Mushrooms"

Day: 2

Show: 3

Performance Type: In Person

Location: Gluek Park (outdoors)

Length: 55 minutes

Title: Meemaw McPhearson's Magic Mushrooms

By: Brick by Brick Players

Summary: A family returns to their favorite cabin in the woods after the death of their father/husband/son, and it's complicated.

Highlights: This is a great family dramedy created by young artists (playwright Grace Ward, director Hadley Evans Nash) that features a multi-generational cast. We have the titular Meemaw (Kathleen Winters), mother of the deceased; the newly widowed Peggy (Gina Sauer); her teenage daughters Burgundy (Simone Reno) and Lily-Pearl (Sarah Anne Munson); prodigal son Roper (Timothy Kelly), who shows up with new girlfriend Lena (Gillian Gaunt) in tow; and camp employee Toby (Dan Patton), whose known the family for decades. To say they have issues is putting it mildly. Peggy mourns her husband, but cheated on him; Meemaw resents Peggy for changing her son; the girls are thrilled to see their brother, yet resentful that he's been away so long; and Lena is just trying to fit into this family unit. They argue, they run away, they see Big Foot and a puppet show in the woods, but in the end this family loves each other and is there for each other, even when it's hard and messy. The engaged and present cast really feels like a family, and although it's not a musical, music is incorporated nicely into the storytelling. Bonus: the setting is gorgeous in a pretty little park on the Mississippi.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2020: "Good Grief (and other ways to process loss)"

Location: Nightly Fringe (Aug. 3)

Length: 35 minutes

Title: Good Grief (and other ways to process loss)

By: Melancholics Anonymous

Summary: A group of children who recently suffered the death of a loved one gather for a group counseling session.

Highlights: This is a sweet, funny, and poignant little show. It's reminiscent of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, both in the tone of humor mingled with sadness, and in the portrayal of children by young adults. The actors (Annika Isbell, Bianca Davis, Claire Chenoweth, Matthew Humason, Rachel Ropella, and Timothy Kelly) are all very convincing as they embody these kids (and one adult leader), specific in differently odd and interesting ways. Some of the kids are traumatized by the death they've experienced, while others are more focused on the snacks. Turns out even children experience their grief in different ways, and that's OK. Some breakthroughs are made, some friendships are made, some eggs are thrown. As they wrapped up their session, I found myself wishing I could sit in on next week's session too. These kids endeared themselves to me over the 35 minutes.

Read all of my Nightly Fringe mini-reviews here.

Read all of my Digital Hub mini-reviews here.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Classical Actors Ensemble at Tony Schmidt Regional Park

Summer in Minnesota means outdoor theater. Every year, Classical Actors Ensemble braves the elements (which last night included excessive heat, bugs, and a train) to bring us Shakespeare as it was always meant to be - fun, playful, accessible, and engaging. They're in the final weekend of this year's production, The Merry Wives of Windsor. I saw the show at a park less than five miles from my house (which, as a suburbanite, always makes me happy); tonight they're performing in St. Paul's Newell Park, with two final shows in Minneapolis parks this weekend (click here for details). Bring chairs, a blanket, an umbrella, a picnic, sunscreen, bug spray, water, and settle in for a fun, colorful, silly show.