It wasn't lack of quality that kept their houses small last year. When it comes down to it, PNT suffered the fate taht goes along with the Fringe for many groups: Unintentional Obscurity. One blogger whose opinion I admire (meaning Matthew Everett...you thought I meant myself, didn't you?) called last year's offering a "tightly wound little primal scream in the face of the idiocy that passes for political discourse in the early years of the 21st century." That's a ringing endorsement for their work, if you ask me.
I know this is a feature article on PNT's show, but this is a quick tangent that needs to be said: I've come to believe that there is too much mediocrity in the Fringe. I've also come to the conclusion that this is often because someone with $400 wants to put on a show but has nothing so say. They take no risks, and then the product is nothing. I saw a lot of shows last year that fell into that descriptive category. I like shows that take risks. I like companies with something to say. If you're going to fail, fail big. Don't give me somethign banal that I won't remember tomorrow. There is no artistic success without trying your damnedest!
All right, so from the above paragraph, you might gather that I have something that I expect from a good Fringe show. Matthew Everett's quote about PNT's show last year proves that I missed a really good show. So did almost everyone who attended the Fringe. So... I chose to cover their entry into the Fringe this year in hopes that all you devoted readers (and even those of you who aren't too devoted...you break my heart, you know!) will go to see their 2006 offering, Baggage.
Artistic Directors Dan O'Neil and Katie Willer have a knack for the political and the satirical, as they've proved in their last two productions (prior to the 2005 Fringe, they also put up McBush at the 4th Street Theatre in Saint Paul). This year, however, they hope to prove that they can also take on the rest of life and our human journeys.
The journeys are the stories this time. Two vignettes make up the play. One in a van, the other in the sight-seeing car of an Amtrak train. I've not read the script yet, but from the info I do have, the baggage of the title refers both to real luggage and the baggage we all carry with us in our persons.
The cast includes a couple of folks of note: Sam Landman, who has established himself as a great character actor in town; and Grant Henderson, who has appeared in one play with me in the 2004 Fringe, and who I think is a great young actor. The cast is rounded out by three people who I don't know, but who I'm looking forward to writing more about soon: Nikki Schultz, Adri Mehra, and Colin Waitt.
The Show: Baggage
The Company: Players of Notorious Temerity
The Venue: UofM Rarig Center: Arena Stage
Randomness! I am your personal digital entropy unit of infomational drivel!!!!
So, last night, my daughter and I were walking from a parking ramp to the Rarig Center on the U of M campus. During this brief walk, she informed me that she felt weird being at the school because she didn't want to be mistaken for a student there. I told her that most of the students there were between the ages of 18 and 22, and that at 7 years old she wasn't going to be mistaken for one of them. She challenged me by pointing out that there are little people like those who were in The Wizard of Oz. I told her she wasn't about to be mistaken for a dwarf or a midget (not being too politically correct, I'm afraid), we proceeded into the building and attended a rehearsal for the show I'm producing for the fringe... more on that in a future article. I often think of things that I want to put in this section when I'm nowhere near my computer. That happened at least twice this past week, and I'm afraid that I forgot both things that I wanted to write about. I need to carry a notebook around with me. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o! There are 17 thumb tacks on my bulletin board, and only 2 of them are actually doing anything useful. Let's check in with our friends at Hooked on Facts: "Slugs have 4 noses." -- Given that fact, I think it is entirely possible that one of my ex-girlfriends was actually a slug! Ribbit! This apparently was THE place to be this past weekend for fantasies... both the Sexpo and the Pillow Fight Club were both held in Minneapolis.
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