So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz! -- Part 1

One of the most beautiful things about the Fringe Festival is that a show can be done by people who actually think to themselves, "I could write a show, and put it on! Wouldn't that be great?!" For those who go through that method of show submittal, the process often goes like this:

1. Attend Fringe Festival as audience member (Early August)
2. Get the feeling that "Hey, I could do that!" (Early August, the same day)
3. Go home and start writing play. (Mid-August)
4. Register for Fringe Festival. (November-February, depending on procrastination factor)
5. Go through Hell trying to figure out how to produce a play for the first time ever. (April-July)
6. Put up show in Fringe Festival (Early August)

It's a one year process in that case. For Fringe veteran and storyteller extraordinaire Amy Salloway, the process has been drastically different from that this year. First, she was in at least two shows in last year's Fringe (one of her own and then one installment of the Spoken Word Fringe), so step one and two were already out the window. But it is step three that is where Amy has deviated most notably from the above list. When she replied to my e-mail about writing this series of articles last week, this was her candid admission, "I am sitting in a cafe trying to work on my fringe production right now. It's still not written -- like, not even a little! AUUUGH!"

Last week was late June, right? Just checking. 6 weeks to the festival and not a page of script finished! As a playwright and director, that scares me. And yet, because she is experienced in spinning a yarn or two, I imagine that she could do a solid show just from her notes.

It isn't like Ms. Salloway didn't have other stuff to do. She not only registered for this Fringe, she's been taking a show around to other ones as well (I'm assuming that she's been touring her last year's Fringe Show, although I don't know. We'll find out more on that next week.). Her Fringe dockett has included (or will shortly include) Cape May, Cincinnati, Halifax and Berkshire. That's a busy girl, to say the least.

I am looking forward to sharing more with you about this show, as it is bound to be hot off the presses when I write about it next week, you'll be getting your info like a true industry insider! Or, something like that...

Chaos is our friend:

• My left front tire was flat this morning when I tried to take my daughter to school. Now I'm going to spend the better part of my day sitting at a tire shop. Fun!
• I'm hungry.
• Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a sloth?
• 3 days 'til I'm an international traveler!
• Something from www.hookedonfacts.com: "Oenophobia is the Fear of wines." -- I was going to try to come up with something clever here, but the fact is, that is just silly to begin with.
• "Her agreement proves his point--but there is a reason." -- pg. 186, The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
• I've often listed song lyrics here, but NOT TODAY!
• Last night at the Co-op I purchased carbonated juice. It is 100% juice that has carbonation added to it. Sort of a healthy soda-pop. The brand is "The Switch." I bought three flavors, and I am remarkably pleasantly surprised by the Watermelon Strawberry. Not a flavor I would normally have thought to be good. It is one that I selected with the tastebuds of a 6 year-old in mind. Maybe I'm just a big kid, but it is tasty!

The Mockery -- Part 1

A little over a week ago as I was driving to see Batman Begins I answered my cell phone and found myself in a lovely conversation with Christina Akers, the director and playwright of the upcoming Fringe show, The Mockery. Because I was driving at the time, I wasn't able to take copious notes on the back-and-forth, so I'm going to keep the details in today's column a bit vague and general so I don't get any of the info wrong.

First off, here's something I can't get wrong... a photo having to do with the production, provided by the director:

Now, from the photo, I can't really tell you what the play is about, but it is something interesting to look at, isn't it? From what I know about the show the back drop pieces are related to Paris, France. That would be because the plot revolves aroudn the King of France, and an affair that he conducts with a mime. There's more to it than that, but again, my details can't be too specific today. Next Wednesday specificity will abound, I promise! Not only did Ms. Akers send me some photographs, she also sent me a copy of the script that I'll be perusing before next week's column, as well.

Let me share what else I do know... A shorter version of this play debuted last year at the Xperimental Theatre at the University of Minnesota. While a handful of the original cast is still involved, this production will feature a bunch of new folks as well. This is a piece of musical theatre, and it will be performed at the BLB, which means that the show will be 90 minutes long. The original script that Akers has been working on for a couple of years now is longer yet, and so this is an editted down version of the story as she originally envisioned it. However, since a whopping 30 minutes are being added back in for the Fringe, this is closer to that original vision than her "X" production was.

Akers is currently enrolled at the University, so if you want to see some of the products of the program there, this show would be one to catch. I for one always like to see what new talent is coming out of our local schools. It is fun to catch a diamond in the rough. The Fringe is a good place to do that anyway, but productions from people who are currently students are doubly filled with that potential.

More to come on Wednesday next!

Only a brief moment of randomness:

• I'm waaaaaay behind on my reading that I have to have done before Iarrive in Spain. The only good thing that I've got going for me at the moment is a 10-hour layover in Miami, so I'll be able to get a good chunk of reading done then. But, really, I'm still way behind. Too much pressure!
• "I wanna dance with somebody! I wanna feel the heat with somebody!" -- Whitney Houston
• I registered my car today (read: got new plate tabs), and the wait in the express line (TABS ONLY!!!) was actually far longer than the wait for the normal counter. My number was called for the standard slow service before I made it to the front of the express line. I'm assuming that this has more to do with the fact that the government is shutting down in two days so everyone and their dog was there to renew their tabs. But, who knows, really? I've come to believe that express lanes, in general, are slower than normal lanes. This seems especially true in grocery stores. Here's the way I figure it: It isn't the number of items being run over a scanner that takes so much time, it is the running of the credit cards. So, a line of a whole bunch of folks with 10-items-or-less all paying with they debit/credit cards actually takes longer than a line of people with a normal amount of groceries. My suggestion would be to make the express lanes cash-only. This would speed the process immensely, and make them express again.
• Are you hooked on facts? I know I am: "In Kentucky, 50% of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers. " -- I was born in Kentucky, and every time I hear another fact about that state I grow more grateful to my parents for having the sense to move away from there when I was four.
• Liz Smith of Cosmopolitan once declared the movie Benji, "The most entertaining family picture of our time. Maybe of all time."
• 4 days till touchdown in Madrid.

Nibblers: A Musical With Sharks -- Part 1

Joy Donley has had her share of Fringe success (Last year's Seussical was the second highest attended show of the MN Fringe Festival 2004). Her husband has done pretty well for himself in the Twin Cities theatre realm, as well (Michael Pearce Donley is one of the fellas who brings you Triple Espresso). One might think that putting a show together for this year's Fringe Festival would be a piece of cake for this duo, but every show has its little adventures, and even the most established veterans have to face challenges. For instance, when I first contacted Joy about featuring her show in my column, I mentioned that I would like to follow her company through the process of getting ready for being in the Festival.

"Ha --funny you should ask about the process of getting ready for the Fringe. My lead actor, a boy of 12 years, just had to drop the show because of severe panic attacks! There's nothing like having some drop out on the FIRST DAY OF REHEARSAL... But how weird is that?!" Donley has had her adventures set for her from day one with this show.

Really when I think about it, a guess panic isn't an inappropriate emotion to be dealing with when the focus of the play is SHARKS! Especially this week when there have been two major shark attacks in Florida that have made the national news (apparently 23 attacks is an average year, so a couple a week isn't that big of a deal, but the coverage certainly makes it seem so... not to mention, it's a pretty big deal to the 14-year old girl who died...but, anyway...)

Yep, this musical is about sharks. Well, really it's about kids who get left by their parents in Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. The play started out as a story told to the children of playwright Brook Berry. When the Donleys approached him about writing a show, he took his story melded it with Michael's music, and here they are. Now, I tell my 6-year old daughter stories at bed time, but they normally don't involve parental abandonment and large predators. Not that those aren't good topics for children's stories. The Brothers Grimm seem to have done pretty well with both of those topics. However, I know my daughter and she's an unfortunate product of modern children's television which gets rid of villains in most storylines and deals with problem solving instead of good versus evil storylines. Needless to say, a shark tale is going to be something that makes her panic, too.

Anyway... despite the fact that my little girl would not probably join me at a showing of Nibblers, I am looking forward to the show. And more importantly, since there is no guarantee that I will get to see it, I look forward to bringing you updates over the next few weeks about how the show is coming together. This company is responsible for some pretty high quality Fringing since 2002, and this is going to be another top notch show. Call it a hunch.

Allright then... a bit of the random:

• Well, maybe not so random... To finish up on a thought from above. I am sick of what dic is doing to old children's shows. My daughter now has Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears videos. These are shows from my youth. I have a very special place in my heart for them. The Purple Pie Man was a special favorite of mine when I was in 2nd grade (that's 1981-82, folks!). The videos now no longer have the villainous characters that were formerly part of the shows. That's just wrong. This is akin to when I was teaching for one of this community's largest educational theatres, and they were against the shows with the kids having any real conflict in them. C'mon people! Plot structure requires conflict! Beginning-middle-end requires the middle to be made of conflict, or you have no story! I have no problem with teaching kids that violence isn't the answer, I was raised in a Quaker household, after all. But it is horribly wrong to teach kids that conflict doesn't happen. For instance, the video Spring for Strawberry Shortcake involves a story wherein Spring doesn't come on time. The reason? Did the Purple Pie Man work some evil magic to make it perpetually winter? No. Some little fairy got lost. That's anti-climactic. Not to mention, because you don't find that out until the end (hope this doesn't spoil the movie for ya!) it ends up being a deus ex machina ending, and one that essentially negates the last hour's worth of viewing. Curse you, dic entertainment!
• One of my cats has taken to sleeping next to me with his front paws wrapped around my left arm. While it is sometimes painful, due to claw marks, it is cute as all get-out being used as a small furry creature's Teddy Bear.
• "Oz never did give nuthin' to the Tin Man that he didn't, didn't already have..." --Tim Man by America
• I listen to KFAN from time to time, and although it is a sports radio station, one of the things that makes me so happy is how little time Dan "The Common Man" Cole and Dan Barriero actually spend talking about sports.
• A fact please! Sure, here ya go (www.hookedonfacts.com): "About twenty-five percent of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light. " -- This can't be right. Wouldn't one fourth of the population being in perpetual sneeze then? There have to be more details to make this statement at all remotely true. Perhaps the statement ought to really read, "About twenty-five percent of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light and forcibly shoving black pepper up their noses." Or maybe it's a statement that is only taking into account a certain population, not the population of the Earth as a whole. So then it might read, "About twenty-five percent of the population of those in attedance at this year's People With Really Odd Allergies Convention sneeze when they are exposed to light." I can't fathom any other way that this statement is a fact at all.
• Only 5 days until I'm in Sunny Spain!

Tantrums, Testicles, and Trojans -- Part 1

With a title like Tantrums, Testicles and Trojans a show might be accused of going down the road that so many Fringe shows do: sensationalizing the name in order to get a somewhat depraved Fringe-going public to come in the door. It is a time honored tradition, really, and so I wouldn't blame Michael Shaeffer of Empty S Productions if that's what he was trying to do. However, upon reading the script for this show, it becomes clear that the title isn't just a bit of misdirection to get butts in the seats (unlike, for instance, last year's stinker of a show, Fringe Sex).

Before I write more about the show, I offer you the description put forth by Shaeffer himself: "Check out this one-man show of irreverent rhymes about garrulous giants, pot-smoking amputees, goal-oriented zombies, cussing circus clowns, and (consensual) dolphin sex.
Be naughty! Stay up past your bedtime with the show that puts the effin' funny."

Irreverent rhymes... Rhymes... That implies poetry...

Yep... Poetry. "Slam"-style poetry to be exact. I don't normally care for poetry readings of this ilk. In fact, due to the fact that one of my friends, Ari Hoptman, is closely affiliated with Balls Cabaret, I have seen my fair share of frumpy girls with bad self-esteem rapping out rhythmic rhymes about love and sex that I'm sure they've never had, all the while holding certain syllables out for far too long. Yes, that's my image of a "slam" poet. Throw in a bit of side-to-side action with the head, a conducting sort of action with one hand, and a bunch of rapidly rhyme words that all end with the "-ate" suffix, and you've got yourself almost every slam poem I've ever heard.

Now, I go back to the description above (and mind you, I've got the entire script of the show thanks to the graciousness of Sir Shaeffer), and I find that my image of what to expect from a slam poet is not contained therein. Nope. There's a reason this show is offered late night. It IS irreverent, and funny, and although it is made of slam-style poetry, it is more llike the spoofs of the style that Ari Hoptman's album Dang! features. I obviously haven't seen it on stage yet, but I love it on the page. Very good stuff.

Now, over the next few weeks I will be doing interviews with Michael about his process of writing this show, about getting ready for the Fringe Festival as one of only two late-night productions. And, I'll be throwing in little snippets of the script as well, so you can get an idea of the wit, wisdom, and general twistedness that you can enjoy nightly at the Theatre Garage once the Festival gets rolling.

Whilst I still have your attention, I thought I'd print a bit of Michael's biography, too, so you have some idea about the fella that I'll be featuring herein on Mondays:

"Originally from South Dakota, Michael has taught high-school English and theatre in Alaska since 1999. His previous Fringe experience includes 2002's Cramming Cassandra and Give Me the Good Stuff as well as 2004's The Cat in the Coffin or 28 Days in Pet-Loss Therapy. His play, Godot and the Ho, premieres at the Bryant Lake Bowl this summer. Michael has performed in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, South Dakota, and Alaska. Locally, he has enjoyed the open mic poetry nights at Kieran's Irish Pub, E.P. Atelier's, The Blue Nile, and The Artists' Quarter. He's included some of his prize-winning poems for this summer's Fringe."

There's all that! Time to get chaos oriented...randomness, please:

• My daughter's wish for her birthday this year was for "peace for all the boys and girls in the world." That's pretty cool and quite noble for a 6-year old. It sure beats her first wish she ever made at a wishing fountain (when she was three). She said, "I wish for cheese!" I do have to admit that it was much easier, as a parent, to make that first wish come true, though.
• Trivia bit from www.hookedonfacts.com: "The odds of being killed by falling out of bed are one in two million." -- I'm not sure how that compares to the odds of other ways of dying, but I do remember that I saw a documentary once that said that the main cause of houshold injuries is falling. That makes me wonder exactly what the odds are of just getting seriously injured from falling out of bed.
• I'm late for going to sign my daughter up for her new ballet classes... got to boogie, so that's it for today's randomness. More tomorrow!

Why? Oh, Why?!

As a theatre person (read: actor, director, playwright, etc.), it is virtually impossible to see all the shows in which your friends are involved. That's fine. Everyone knows that, and it is accepted practice to tell your friends that you couldn't make a show because you were in a show (or, in rehearsals) yourself. That's normally what I have to tell my friends when I miss a production that they had invited me to see. However, the Fringe Festival is a time in which one show doesn't ever have exactly the same show times as any other, so time-slot conflicts aren't really a legitimate excuse for missing a show. It is even worse when your entire involvement with the Fringe is as a columnist/blogger/reviewer. That's the situation in which I've found myself over the last couple of years.

So, that means that I can catch all the shows that my friends are in during the Fringe, right? Well, theoretically, yes. Although my own show doesn't conflict with their shows, it is always possible that the one time-slot in which I could see a friend's show is booked with attendance at another friend's show. So, now I find myself in a predicament. I have to choose between friends. Which one is more important? Which one will be okay with being brushed off? Which one is in a show that doesn't sound like it will suck like a Hoover?

It's that last question that gets me into trouble. You see, I have friends who make bad choices. Continuously. Not all of my friends are lumped together in this statement. Basically only one or two of them. And those two lovely ladies, who I would die for, if need be, often ask me to attend their shows. I occasionally attend entirely out of support, but the shows are dreadful...just dreadful. So, when I get the invitation to see a show that they are doing in the Fringe, I look for whatever excuse I can to avoid having to take in another bout of oh-goodness-I-need-to-gouge-my-eyes-out-this-is-so-bad!

The solution? Whip up some charts and randomly attend shows according to how the die rolls. That's right. I avoid playing favorites; I avoid making choices entirely. My excuse to my friends is this..."I'm sorry, I don't know if I can make it or not. If the dice will let me, then I'll be there. If not, then I'll have to catch one of your other shows some other time." It's beautiful. It's true. And that makes it even more beautiful.

So, about this time last year I got a PDF file from the folks at the Fringe office by way of fellow LXF member Matthew Everett. Which, I've done again this year. I then compiled charts similar to those in Dungeons & Dragons books (or any other gaming book). Which, I've started to do again this year. Thereafter, I updated the charts once the Fringe program came out in the City Pages. Which, I foresee myself doing again this year.

Once I had the charts complete I rolled for my first show. Then for each show thereafter I would roll once I arrived at the show prior. Wow, that sentence was confusing. Let's try again... I rolled for the first show before the festival, since it didn't matter when I rolled. It was at the Illusion. I went there, sat in the audience next to the lovely Christy DeSmith (freelance reviewer), and rolled the die to see what I'd be seeing next immediately before the first show started. That was my modus operandi throughout the Festival. Get to one show, roll for the next. Lather, rinse, repeat.

That plan functioned pretty well, and it would've meant that I would get to see a veritable treasure trove of plays. 40 or 50-some plays, in fact. And the beauty of it is that I'd see some plays that I would otherwise not choose to see. And sometimes I would be surprised at the quality of what I was seeing, thereby uncovering a few unexpected gems. Unfortunately there were a couple of road blocks in my way. First was the fact that I was acting in a Fringe Show. That meant that I was unable to attend all the Fringe Shows I wanted to. Also, I had just rejoined the cast of Carmen at Theatre de la Jeune Lune. That took me away from the festival a bunch, too. Not to mention that I was just starting my gig as Assitant Director of Christmas of Swing at the Great American History Theatre, which was holding callbacks on two nights of the Festival. My schedule was a mess. I only saw plays in about half of the time-slots because of it being that way.

So, this year, I've got the charts going. I've got my d20 (20-sided die). I'm arranging for "Fringe Buddies" to join me on the wild journey. And most importantly, I'm not doing anything in August until after the Fringe Festival closes. I'm doing nothing during the Fringe but Fringing...and that feels good!

I'm even looking into buying a bicycle for the event. It's only been 10 years since I was last on one (not counting the fake ones at Bally's). Should be interesting. I'm currently trying to teach my daughter to ride a bike. Goodness knows it'll be doubly interesting having to re-teach myself, as well.

I guess that's pretty much it. So... Time for Random Bits:

• Ginger Altoids are a wonderful thing. I'm not sure if they are helping my sore throat, or not, but I want to believe that they are. I have an audition this weekend that's going to require me to sing well, and I need this throat thing to go away before then.
• I have four rolls of film to take to be developed. Since the advent of digital photography, it has become much more difficult for me to drive some place to have my photos processed. Of course, that means that I don't get the pictures as quickly, since I am procrastinating. At some point I think I'll need to switch entirely to digital. For whatever reason I have some emotional attachment to B&W film in a legitimate SLR camera. It's hard to let go to old technology sometimes. One merely has to peruse my collection of record albums on vinyl to see what I mean.
• From www.hookedonfacts.com: "One punishment for an adulterous wife in medieval France was to make her chase a chicken through town naked. " -- I'm not sure why, but that just amuses me to no end. What it accomplished, I can't even imagine, but it sure must've been funny to see!
• "There is bound to be some animosity in the beginning." -- from The American Animal Hospital Association Encyclopedia of Cat Health and Care, regarding introducing a second cat into a household...but when you take the time to ponder it, that statement holds true in so many situations.
• There are 11 days until I fly to Spain.
• There are 7 empty Gatorade bottles next to me. It is really a pain trying to rehydrate the sick on what is supposed to be the hottest day of the year. Aargh!

Well, Monday is the first of my articles about the participating companies. Tune in then for a bit o' fun...

Assembling the Parts

Rain falls heavily as what the meteorologist on channel 9 called a gust-shelf blows through. This is my first day in about a year since I've had a break from actively being involved in a theatre production of some sort. The Mandrake closed Sunday night. The run was successful. It made me very happy. Now I have two weeks until I make my way to Madrid. So, in my ongoing effort to make sure that I'm without a single bit of personal free time, I am starting to actively work on my column for the Fringe Festival. It's only 6 weeks away! Isn't that exciting?!

The only problem is that when I finish a long string of stress-inducing productions my body collapses into illness, and so here I sit/lounge on my futon/couch and suffer from the stirrings of a throat/chest malady. Nevertheless I am able to get something accomplished.

I have just begun to figure out my charts for this year's 11-day rush through theatre, but that's not the main thing that I'm working on currently. No, what I am doing is taking a little more time to write non-random things prior to the Fringe. After all, once August 4th arrives my days are fated to follow the will of a 20-sided die. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can check in on tomorrow's column explaining how everything works, or read last year's explanation...Click Here).

So... in order to have a little control of my pre-festival destiny, I've decided to do a weekly feature on 5 different companies as they ready themselves for the 2005 Fringe Festival. That means each week day I'll be doing an article on one of the companies, and each week on that same day you can follow the chronicles of that same production as they get ready to rock the Fringe with their shows. Cool, eh?

Without further ado, here's the five shows that we will be watching together as the Fringe appoaches:

1. Tantrums, Testicles, and Trojans by Michael Shaeffer -- Empty S Productions -- After last year's discovery that not all Spoken Word productions are bad, I have decided to tackle my other theatrical pit-of-dispair...Slam-style Poetry! Shaeffer is a Fringe veteran who is for the first time putting forth his own show. It is a late-night offering with saucy, sassy, and snappy parts. More on that Every Monday until the Fringe!
2. Nibblers: A Musical with Sharks by Brook Berry and Michael Pearce Donley -- Front Porch Theatre -- One of two musicals in the Fringe that involve large aquatic predators, this one is based on a bed-time story crafted by the Donleys for their children. Director Joy Donley has been producing Fringe shows for years, and yet this year is presenting her with new challenges that we'll discover Every Tuesday until August 4th!
3. The Mockery by Christina M. Akers and Jonathan Edington -- CMA Productions --this play is in its second incarnation. It is another musical, and one that will not necessarily be appropriate for the same audience as Nibblers. This one involves the King of France, an illicit affair with a mime, and made its initial debut last year at the University of Minnesota's Xperimental Theatre. Now it is longer and has a new cast... I'm sure there are other changes as well, and that we'll learn about them Every Wednesday for the next few weeks!
4. So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz! by Amy Salloway -- Amy Salloway -- Amy is one of the people who converted me to enjoying spoken word events last year. Her storytelling is very good. This is a one woman show that Amy is putting forth. She's been busy all year with preparing this show as well as participating in other Fringe Festivals. You can hear all about it all right here Every Thursday!
5. Talking With... -- In The Basement Productions -- This is a play about 11 different women. Personally, I am all in favor of more stage time for women...2 reasons... #1, most playwrights write more parts for men, so it's nice to see female heavy scripts. #2, I like looking at women, they need more stage time! Meg Jahns is directing this show for the group that just produced my The Mandrake. And we'll hear all about their next endeavor Every Friday right here until the first weekend in August!

Okay, so that's the plan, for what it's worth. Sound good? Cool. Now, I need to put together my standard list of random stuff for you, and then I'm off to take some cold medicine in hopes of inducing a mid-morning nap.

Here we go:

• I got an e-mail from a guy who runs a language club in Madrid. Essentially the club meets every Tuesday night and provides people who chat in different languages a chance to try out their second or third languages amidst a group of friendly people. I'm thinking that I'll try that out when I'm over there. My Spanish needs work.
• Capitalization pet peeve: whenever the word "president" is used for the President of the United States, it is supposed to be capitalized. Most other uses (other than starting a sentence, or as a title attached to a person's name) are not capitalized. I was reading an article published by the Associate Press this morning that never once capitalized the word President despite the fact that it was talking about Mr. Bush.
• What can I say... i'm hooked on facts! -- "Dragonflies can travel up to 60mph. " -- Now they just need to learn the rules of the road. They're never going to get anywhere if they can't keep themselves off my windshield.
• Today is my daughter's birthday. We'll open presents when she gets home from school.
• Happy Midsummers! Happy Solstice! Have a nice day!

Quick Note...

Not much to report, nor will there be any random stuff today. I just wanted to keep everyone posted that over the next 6 weeks until the Fringe Festival, I'll be interviewing Fringe producers and directors about their shows and doing little articles here for your pre-Fringe information gathering! Hope that sounds like a good plan...

TTFN,
Chris

Three desserts!

Back to "Thirst Theatre" I went this past Monday night. IT has taken me a little time to write about it because I've lost my notes. It was an enjoyable evening at Joe's Garage out on the roof/patio. The plays themselves were all solid, and uniformly more enjoyable than the last time I went. But, that's the beauty of Thirst...It is completely different every time. Sure, you take a risk that you may not like something, but even if you don't you're having an experience unlike any other for a mere $10. Can't go wrong there. The highlight of my night (theatre-wise) was Jim Lichtschidle and Barbara Kingsley in a play written by my friend Dan Pinkerton. Dan is a very good playwright, and was one of the three fellas who orchestrated "Fast Fringe" last year. This little featurette was about a woman at a bar, who happens to meet a puppet at a bar. It was funny, enjoyable, and threw out little barbs at the TC theatre community, and that was refreshing. Not to mention when Barbara started to passionately make out with the puppet, I squealed with glee...yes, squealed.

Another show that sticks out in my mind is "Boys Behaving Badly" by Alan Berks. The dialogue was good, and the twists the script took were very enjoyable. It wasn't exactly a light piece, but it still provided good laughs. Michael Booth, one of the featured actors, was particularly strong. He joined me at my table afterward, and it was nice to chat with him about the whole of "Thirst," The Fringe, and everything else.

The Table/stage was set in the center and I was one table away from it. Surprisingly, at this type of event, the front row isn't really good seating. In addition to the actors, you find yourself watching the audience. An audience made up heavily of actors and playwrights, etc. So, I found my self constantly distracted by a really attractive brunette with curly hair, and a woman who had those fake streaky blond highlights. At what point did those come into fashion? God! They are hideous! There isn't a single woman on Earth who looks good with them. They don't look realistic, nor interesting. They are the equivalent of painting skunk stripes on your head intentionally. Blech!

All in all a good evening, although Joe's was out of an inordinate amount of stuff on this particular evening. In fact, every time I ordered something, it was something they were out of...So, after finally eating a meal of an apetizer that was my second choice and an entree that was my third choice, the waitress brought me all three of the remaining desserts (my first two choices of those were out, too!). The service was great, and I don't hold the selection thing against the restaurant, but what an odd experience that was, all the way around.

Now for something completely random:

• I just bought an Mp3 player to take with me to Spain. It's cool. Now I just have to figure out how to make it work.
• From www.hookedonfacts.com: "A frog can't empty its stomach by vomitting. To empty its stomach contents, a frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again. " -- Ewww...gross! I was at a party this past Saturday night wherein one of my best friends got really sick. She spent the last hour and a half of the party puking her guts up. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that we aren't like frogs, because then she really would've been puking her guts up. And I would not have been willing to hang around for that, at all.
• I hate mosquito bites!
• I just realized that there are 7 pieces of art hanging on my livingroom walls, and yet it looks sparse. I need to redecorate.
• What do you think I should have for lunch? I'm having a hard time making up my mind.
• "I bet you never heard ol' Marshall Dillon say, "Miss Kitty, have you ever thought of runnin' away, settlin' down. Would you marry me, If I asked you twice and begged you, pretty please?" -- "I Should've Been a Cowboy" by Toby Keith
• I got an e-mail yesterday from Gerald Fierst of "Mouth." (2004 Fringe Festival -- One of my favorite shows by far!) It was good to hear from him. One of the best things about Gerald is the amount of love that man has to share with his fellow human beings. Even a short e-mail (what, six or seven lines?) carries the feeling that he really cares about you. That's something special.