Fringe Diary days 7, 8, 9 Plus reviews

As we enter the final weekend of Fringe I’m really starting to feel the fatigue set in. I didn’t take any time off from my day job this year during Fringe (I will afterwards) and working on two shows is something I need to adjust to. I’m very proud of both shows and happy to be a part of them. Renaissance of the Dead has two shows remaining today at 7PM and Sunday at 1PM. How to Come Back from the Dead has its final show at 10PM tonight. Hope to see you all at one of them! Now onto the reviews:

Show 17: Kind Of Funny But Also A Little Sad

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this show, but I ended up being very entertained. Rita Boersma and Mike Fotis put together a mix of absurd, hilarious, and very personal sketches. They make great use of the space in TrP and I was fully on belly laughing on several occasions. There were many moments as an artist, and parent I could relate to and that’s when comedy is best for me - a little absurd but personal. Also one quick note - Mike I love your theater. 

Show 18: All is Bright

Often there are a handful of shows that while well made, don’t don’t work for me at all. This is one of those shows. It’s essentially a bunch of semi-related strung together monologues by three actors that are sitting at a table. That’s it. The monologues are meandering journeys through each person’s life, and I found the characters and their lives to be very boring. They all had backstories and needs a desires that would be home in an episode of Friends, and that’s not really my thing. The actors were definitely very good, but the lack of any real movement on stage or anything interesting to say left me bored. 

Show 19: Game of Toms: One-Man Game of Thrones

This was a great way to cap off an evening. Energetic, very funny, and creative in its use of handkerchiefs. I will say this show is best enjoyed if you are familiar with the GOT TV series. It’s a fantastic one hour summary of eight seasons of television, but even better with knowledge of the show. The musical numbers are funny if a bit predictable, and the jokes are a mile a minute. If you like me are one of the folks who felt Seasons 7-8 of GOT were a little lacking, this is some comedic catharsis.

Show 20: Adventures While Black in Great Britain

Les Kurkendaal-Barrett is a regular at the Minnesota Fringe, and because of a wild set of occurrences this year he has a three show run. This show was delightful. Les is one of the most charismatic storytellers I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. He spins tales of regular people in relatively mundane situations (a vacation, a funeral, afternoon tea) that you are completely intrigued by. Les taps into what makes us click as humans when he tells his stories. A good amount of humor and humanity added in, and it was just a delightful hour in every way. 

Notes

Saturday will be a long day for me at Fringe, I have two shows I’m in and I’m attempting to use all other slots to see shows. We will see if I can make it. I truly love Fringe and seeing as many shows as I can is always a highlight. I learn so much as a writer, director, and an actor each year. Plus the unleashing of all this creative energy by so many awesome people is the coolest freaking thing ever.

Fringe Diary days 4, 5, 6 Plus Reviews

Show 12 Mad as Nell of How to Lose a Bly in Ten Days

Rinky Dink Operations; a company with familiar faces graces the stage with another piece of historical comedy. Fringe audiences are familiar with Josh Carson and many of the other powerhouses on stage. The energy and charisma is undeniable and there is a stellar music number in the middle of the show. My real complaint with this show and other productions by the same crew - there’s too much of it. The actors (skillfully) deliver their lines a mile a minute, there is no time built in for laughter so you miss a third of the jokes in the show. I’d really like to see Rinky Dink do a Fringe show that slows down just a little and let the comedy breathe. That all said, it’s a delightfully fun way to spend an hour at Fringe.

Show 13 The Bisexual Unicorn and other Mythological Creatures

An anthology show from Jena Young Productions it’s a collection of stories from LGBTQIAP2S+ folks while they do a bit of basic sideshow/circus stunt. The stories were personal and very good (and in the nature of anthology shows, some were stronger than others). The real strength of the show is Brian Watson-Jones as the ring-master before and between each act spinning his own clever tales and quandaries on sexuality, gender identity, and more. Great moments of humor and humanity throughout, a very enjoyable show.

Show 14 Beowulf

This was fantastic. As a historian and lover of mythology this really hit the mark. It made me happy that John Heimbuch kept the words of a departed friend Charlie Bethel alive with such a fantastic performance. With nothing more than a stool and a glass of water John brought the myth to life, detailing every gnashing maw, sword blow, and raucous feast. You could imagine yourself in the great hall of Our Place or the dank, dark lair of Mother. I wish I could’ve seen a presentation like this when I was first introduced to Beowulf, it is perfection. 

Show 15 Dungeons and Cabins: What Would You Like To Do Next?

There are a handful of Dungeons and Dragons themed shows in the Fringe every year, and as someone who has done one in 2017, I try to see all of them. This one is very good. All the more impressive with such a young playwright and a first time producer. The interplay between the young folks in the “real world” and their in game avatars was clever and well done. There was plenty of great humor and some real human moments between characters as well. Some of the D&D mechanics were a bit off, but the story was well serviced when they made a change. My only real gripe was the character deriding D&D as “nerd stuff.” I’d really like to see that tired trope go away, it’s no longer accurate. D&D is played by Hollywood celebs and is mainstream now. Minor gripes aside, this was a very fun show that I’d recommend. 

Show 16 Sketch. Fight. Win.

Disclaimer I contributed writing to one of the skits in this show, so there may be a little bias. 

This was a fantastic show, especially for a first time Fringe Producer. The energy was amazingly high, all the more impressive for a 10PM Monday time slot. This is the first time I’ve seen words I’ve written performed without me being involved in any other part of the production and I have to say, I really enjoyed what they did. The show is a mix of humor and taking one's frustrations out on the annoyances in the world (mansplaining, lazy small talk) and more serious issues. The producer of the show sells the presentation as it being about catharsis and it is. It is also a lot of fun, oh and you can win prizes as well (for real someone got a blender at the show I was at!).

Tuesday I took it easy only going to the 5:30 performance of the show I’m stage managing (How to Return from the Dead), I’ll be back Wednesday night catching a couple of shows and on stage with performance #3 of Renaissance of the Dead!

Fringe Diary days 2 & 3 plus reviews

Show 5 - Xena and Gabrielle Smash the Patriarchy

Spending my adolescence in the 90s meant I was very familiar with the Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and it’s characters. This show was a wonderful homage to the show and also a send up of the toxic elements of geek culture. The cast was energetic and charismatic and the ending was very satisfying for any Xena fan. This is a super fun show and you should see it, especially if you are a geek!

Show 6 - How to Come Back from the Dead

This is Matt Kessen’s second year in a row at Fringe with Monster Science and my second year as his stage manager. I really dig Monster Science and I’m always happy to help another artist, espeically one who is just such a good dude. The show this year is very fun and I really enjoy the addition of Elora Riley as Rev Matt’s graduate assistant.

Show 7 -Renaissance of the Dead Show Performance #2

My cast and I headed to Mixed Blood for our second show. We had a much bigger crowd, and the energy difference was very noticeable. The cast killed it and there were tons of laughs. I was smiling from my spot behind the overhead projector the whole time. We don’t have another show till Wednesday, so I have some time to enjoy Fringe.

Show 8 - Death of a Pen Name

Wow. That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this show. A beautiful and emotional recollection of friendship and loss. I was wiping tears from my eyes on more than one occasion. The cast was stellar and everyone involved should be very proud of this show. It takes a ton of emotional labor to put forth such a personal piece of art, and this was exceptional. One warning this isn’t an easy watch, and there could be some challenging content for some folks. The show treats this content with great care and I’m very glad I watched it.

Show 9 - Booth’s Ghost

It takes a very talented person to pull of a one actor show. Andrew Erskine Wheeler is just the actor to complete such a task. A very compelling show of sibling rivalry, family legacy, and history defining violence. On a bonus note a huge thunderstorm rolled into the area during the show, adding an amazing ambiance to a haunting tale. History and acting buffs should make sure to see this show. Also the Ritz Main stage may be the perfect venue for this show.

Show 10 - The Late Great Uncle Danforth

I’m a bit biased with shows by Kelvin Hatle. He was in the cast of the first thing I ever directed. Kelvin has one of the mostly delightfully strange comedic minds I’ve ever encountered. To add to the absurd and hilarious comedic bits there was also a good amount of sincerity and humanity in the show. Kelvin got into the fringe just a couple of weeks before it started from the wait list. He did the show with script in hand, but that hardly took away from the performance. This show was great and will only get better in the run as Kelvin get’s more time with his script. Also two words: Karate Elvis.

Show 10 - Chocolate Covered Chicken Wings

This show didn’t work for me at all. As a parent of a young child there are certain things that have to be done really well for me to be okay with. Child death is one of those things. I totally see what the playwright was trying to do - show the impact of the tragic loss of a young child on the friends and family around them. The issue is, they weren’t explicit with that message, the show came across as a childish romp of some 11 year-olds at a strange Chuck E. Cheese-esque restaurant. The cast does an excellent job with the script they had to work with, there are definitely some fun and cute moments, but they really fail to stick the landing. Too much time was spent of the actors being goofy high energy kids with inserts from a creepy clown mascot. The death of the child felt like an afterthought by the time it came around in the script. I’m not saying you shouldn’t write a play about child death, but if you do you better damn well be careful how you do it. This wasn’t careful.

Show 11 - Swords & Sorcery: The Improvised Fantasy Campaign

This was the perfect show to end my evening on. After some heavy emotional and dramatic shows I needed something reliably fun. The Bearded Co. delivered a much needed hour of laughs and nerd inspired goofiness. Improv is best when you can tell the cast support and trust each other and are having fun and this group definitely does that. Thank you for a wonderful cap to my evening.

Fringe Diary Day 1 - An Opening and a Trio of Shows at TRP

Welcome! Back in 2017 I wrote a blog covering my experience as an artist in the Fringe, and included reviews of the shows I watched. My schedule and time commitment at the 2018 Fringe limited me to just a retrospective of Fringe, but I’m back with a diary this year!

One thing, I won’t be reviewing shows on the Fringe website.I’m not a fan of the Fringe review system, specifically the star ratings. Giving an objective numeric rating to a subjective art form feels wrong to me. I can write and describe why a show works for me or didn’t but the rating is the worst. Also Fringe goers tend to treat anything below a 4 star rating as not worth seeing halfway through the run, which is ridiculous. A true 5 star rating system should have a bell curve and the majority of the shows should be 3 star shows - but if you give a show 3 stars you are going to cost that producer/creative team ticket sales and I can’t do that in good conscious. That is a discussion for another entry, onto the diary/reviews.

Show 1 - Renaissance of the Dead Open!

Opening a show is always nerve wracking for me. I have a super talented and fun cast, the script is goofy with jokes I enjoy, tons of work has gone into it. I should’t be nervous, but I always am. The 5:30PM opening slot is a little rough for attendance, but that’s just part of Fringe - our job is to put on a great show and we did. everyone who puts on a show should be proud. It’s a ton of hard word, be sure to give yourselves a hand for making it happen!

This show was fairly unique for me as it marked just the second time I’ve directed something that was neither written by me or a story concept I’ve come up with. It was a blast bringing someone else’s creative idea to life and I thank Aiden (producer) for the opportunity to play in his story/concept.

Show 2 - Wilhelmina & Theodore's Exquisite Victorian Adventures

Another year another official Fearless show in the Fringe! The second year of Fearless mashing up a well known pop culture property with a different genre/setting. This time we are treated to a steam punk-esque romp of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The story is very familiar but with new historic figures and packed with plenty of jokes. The leads were really fantastic, and it’s wonderful to see such talent from young actors - I hope to see them in many a Fringe for years to come. The rest of the ensemble was also very fun and had me laughing for most of the show. I’m proud to be a Fearless member and of this show the creative team has put on.

Show 3 - The Lunch Bunch

I went into this show knowing the writer and most of the cast very well. They are Fringe mainstays and you always expect them to do something fun. I was not expecting this show to be so emotionally and dramatically serious. While there are some funny moments, this is decidedly not a comedy. The cast really did fantastic work with the material and they really displayed their ability to convincingly depict some very serious and human moments. My only real issue is there were several deep and personal issues/topics brought up in the show and they mostly only got a few minutes to deal with them. I don’t think any of these serious topics were treated as a second thought, but in a one hour show you can only do so much. I felt this was the intro or pilot episode of a series of stories exploring each topic and character in the show more. In the end I felt a little let down by that - but also kudos for making me care about the characters so much that I wanted to know more.

Show 4 - Zelda: The Hero of Fringe

In an evening of shows that pull from or mash up pop culture items, this was a great way to cap things off. This a fun show. The plot is essentially a truncated version of a fantastic video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, one of the most beloved games in the Zelda franchise. I will say many of the jokes and moments in the show will be better appreciated if you are familiar with the game and story. The cast was high energy and their physicality fantastic, making it easy viewing. The props and costumes were also very well done and added to the playful aesthetic of the show. I especially loved Phil Schramm as Tingle, Phil has a goofy presence that I just truly enjoy in every show I’ve seen him in. This show is fun, but I think folks who really know Ocarina of Time will get the most out of it.

Thank you all for reading, and please go out and support these shows! Fringe takes a tons of hard work and even if you don’t love a show you see, be sure to thank the folks who worked on it, trust me it means a ton.

On Acting And Finding a Character

Image from the novella cover

In October I was cast in a show that opens this week at Strike Theater (Get Thee Behind Me Santa: The Musical!). I've been performing, writing, directing, stage managing, and doing some acting since 2012. Of these I've had the least number of opportunities to act. In scripted shows this will be my second ever role on stage. It's thrilling and daunting at the same time.

As someone who is typically on the production side of creating theater I don't always think of the process actors go through to find a character. As a writer you have a strong idea of the character when you are putting it on the page. As a director your job is to help the actor find the character you want to see on stage. And finally actors have to find that character in their own way. When it works you have this wonderful collaboration of a writer's words, director’s vision, and actor's skill. If a performance is off one or all of these things doesn't work. When you think about this elaborate game of spinning plates it makes wonderful theater all that more impressive, and any theater an accomplishment.

My own journey to find the character I'm playing has been the most challenging experience of my acting journey. The character is a “soft-boiled” detective; gritty, serious, and too fond of drink. The character shares very little of my own personality and behavior so I really have to act my butt off to make it work. The biggest challenge has been toning down my own goofiness while playing the character. The play is a comedy and I find myself going to goofy as a default or a defense. It feels comfortable and natural for me, but it doesn't work for the character. This fight against my own natural inclinations of personality is the very core of acting. Denying your true self to become someone else.

I wrote this as during the last few days of rehearsal I find myself finally finding the character and become comfortable in someone else's skin. It's a process I've enjoyed and given me better perspective on the process of creating a play. At the end of it, there will be a show everyone involved is proud of. My journey has been greatly helped by a director has guided me through the process and a talented cast of actors who have let me play of their characters to tell this story. I know this process has taught me a ton and I will come out the other side a better actor, writer, and director thanks to the experience.

Get Thee Behind Me Santa: The Musical! opens Thursday, November 29th at the Strike Theater. Based on the comic fantasy novella by humorist and internationally touring storyteller phillip andrew bennett low, adapted for the stage by playwright Joey Hamburger of Sheep Theater (Best Theater Troupe, City Pages 2018), featuring original songs by Pablo Jones, and directed by Derek Dirlam of the Condundrum Collective. Also featuring Jim Christianson, Kyle Dekker, Theo Ebarb, Al Fiene, Kirstin Nelson, and Jennifer Rathsack!

Therm Scissorpunch - A Star Wars Poem

A Star Wars poem by Kyle B. Dekker

We were at a cantina

Bib’s leku fell in the deep

A thing reached in and grabbed it

It was a Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

We were at the Pit of Carkoon

Every had matching X-38’s

Somebody went under a sail barge

And their they saw a Thermador

It wasn’t a thermador

It was a Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

A disgrace at the podrace

His engine cord broke

Lot’s of trouble

Lot’s of rubble

He was is a fit

Sitting in a cockpit

Therm, therm

Therm Scissorpunch

At Denny’s, At Denny’s

Punch scissors

Punch scissors

Let’s Scissorpunch

Farmboys in gold bikinis

Girls in airspeeders

Everybody’s a whiz

Everybody plays som some jizz

Twistin round the trapdoor

Jabba’s fun

Rancor eating

Rancor has em on the run

Put on chestguard

Put on the Imperial Guard

Pass the blue milk

Here comes the Jawa

There goes the Bantha

In walked a Quarren

There goes a Twi-Lek

Chased by an Ewok

In flew a Genosisan

Watch out for that Wookie

There goes a Sullustan

Here come a Wampa!

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Therm Scissorpunch

Interludes - Unexpected and Amazing

Note: This blog section of HCM is the personal writings of Kyle B. Dekker, HCM's Executive Producer. If you have any questions or comments please email kyle@hotchocolatemedia.net. 

Interludes - A Review

For the last three years I've been performing and watching more and more improv. Before 2014 it was just something I knew existed but never participated in or really watched. Since 2014, I've fallen in love with the art form and try to consume it as much as I can, either on stage or in an audience. When you dive into an art form like this you notice trends, recurring themes, and styles. In this environment when you see something that stands out you take notice. Interludes is just the kind of show that does that and it does it in a way I've never seen before. I'm still processing what I saw this past Saturday night, but it's nothing short of compelling.

The brainchild of Denzel Belin, Interludes is a wonderful blend of long form improv, music, and avant-garde storytelling. The cast of eight opened the show with an acapella chorus based on the audience suggestion of a hockey stick. The improvised bit of music ofplayed with the sounds of hockey from the cast was strangely beautiful and funny. Most importantly it set the tone for the rest of the show. The improv apcapella orchestra informed the audience that things were going to get weird in the best way possible. 

The rest of the show was a series of two to three person scenes that the cast cut together beautifully. The cuts from scene to scene were so smooth and elegant they felt rehearsed and natural, the instincts to edit from the cast were impeccable. The true highlight and magic from the show came from the interludes themselves. During each scene one of the eight cast members on the back line could ring a bell (two on the stage, one in the back of the theater) and a musical interlude highlighting the inner thoughts and motivations of the characters in the scene. The format borrows a little DNA from the short form game "Narration" but on a much more surreal, musical, and artistic note. Once again the instincts and ideas from the cast in these interludes were fantastic. It often got strange, but the interludes always served the scenes, and added an element of humor and music I've never seen in an improv show. The best part was that the cast bought into this format the whole time, you never doubted their commitment to the format or their willingness make a scene pop. At times when an interlude of scene decision from one of the cast didn't click right away, the other cast members never let them flounder, they were right there behind them making goofy yet beautiful noises to support each other. Supportive and cooperative scene building at its best, you can tell the team worked hard to gel together and make it all work.

Every once in a while I foolishly think I have improv figured out. I feel like I understand the beats, the rhythm, and the teamwork. I have a moment, where I think "I've got this, I know exactly what I'm doing." Then something like Interludes comes along and I'm delightfully reminded that improv is an art form with no boundaries, and there are people who keep expanding what it can do. Interludes is a show that does just that, and reminded me I will never stop learning or being surprised by improv, and that is beautiful.

The show has been part of HUGE Theater's Saturday night lineup. They have one more show this Saturday, October 28th. You owe it to yourself to go see it, it is a must see for anyone who enjoys improv. This is something that has to been seen to believe.