Producing Perhaps

So, last year's Fringe Festival inspired me to consider re-entering the fray of theatre producer. I haven't produced a show since the 2002 Fringe Festival. That was "Screwed Squared" by David Schlosser. It was a good show that didn't get nearly enough attendance. But, who's bitter?!

Anyway... I took the step that I never expected to for this upcoming Fringe. I submitted an application to produce a show. The deadline was this past Friday. Once all the applications were in, it seems that the Fringe office staff compiled a list of the producers, assigned us each a number, and then started to prepare for the upcoming Lottery to assign slots in the next festival. It is my understanding that there are 140 slots this upcoming year. There are a good number of companies vying for those spots... Let's just say that the number I've been assigned for the lottery is 190, and there are many, many more on the list after me.

I think the lottery is a great thing. The fact that the thing is truly random reminds me a lot of how some guy decided which shows to see this past summer.

Well, cross your fingers for me. If you want to send some positive energy my way on Monday night, visualize the number 190 for me.

Well... Time for the random bits of information:

• I just started my second term of grad school. Somehow I managed to get all A's in the first term! That's the first time that's happened to me since 5th grade... consider me completely blown away!
• I honestly think that the title "Minute Maid" is misleading. Even the instant kind takes me more than a minute to make, and I have a hard time believing that the non-instant juices that they sell under that name took only a minute to process.
• The Vikings lost today, and I don't feel at all sad for them. In fact, I'm surprised they made it this far into the playoffs.
• Random fact from www.hookedonfacts.com: "If you put a T-Bone steak in a bowl of Coca - Cola Syrup, it will dissolve in 2 to 3 days. " -- Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo Stick! There is no way I'm ever drinking another glass of Coca-Cola... That just scares me!

Carmen Closes

Well, since I kept everyone updated as to the fact that I'd rejoined the cast of Carmen at Jeune Lune right during the heart of the Fringe Festival, I thought I'd also let you know that we closed last night. Yes, I know it was a Monday night, and no, I don't know why we closed then. But, it was a nice night to close. A good house, and a lot of fun. It was sad, though, as TJL is my favorite theatre to work at (no offense intended to any of the other theatres I've worked at). The process there is unlike any other, and it produces great work. If I were able to structure a perfect environment for artistic growth through work, it would be a nearly perfect image of working at Jeune Lune.

Since I'm here, and you're here, let's do a bit of this random stuff:

• This is the second warm day in a row here in the Twin Cities. That excites me. I was wondering if we'd get enough warm weather for my tomatoes to ripen. I have a new variety (a German green & pink) that I was afraid I was going to lose copletely to the cold and wet of this summer.
• A bit from www.hookedonfacts.com: "There is one slot machine in Las Vegas for every eight inhabitants." -- Makes one wonder how exactly you go about inhabitting a slot machine, doesn't it?
• Rehearsals start tonight for "The Father," the next show I'm directing.
• I have 10 fingers and 10 toes!!!

Best of the Fringe

The announcement is official, and the 2004 Fringe Festival has its two "best" shows. They are "Knock!", which was presented by Theatre Latte Da, and "Buckets and Tapshoes", which was put on by Ten Foot Five. I didn't get to see either one during my randomly determined Fringe-capade, so I'm looking forward to their soon to be remounted productions. They'll be showing at the Loring Playhouse starting August 20th and going until September 5th.

This link made up of silly designs: jI;jf))_*DShsal, will take you to the page with all the info that is fit to print about the production. I won't be able to see it until the last weekend, due to Jeune Lune commitments, but you can catch it ASAP...do so!

I'll give some silly bit of feedback after I get a chance to see it, but not for a while, you know...

So... just for old times sake, here's some random thoughts:

• My friend Bucky is sitting in Germany right now, getting ready to go to Kosovo where he'll be teaching College Courses on the military base. It sounds like the chance of a life time. He's going to be teaching an acting course over there, which should be a hoot. Yes, I said a "hoot!" That's a fun word to say...say it with me, Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
• "There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met," -- Gonzo the Great, The Muppet Movie.
• Although my cats are only 8 years old, one of them is starting to show the signs of aging quite rapidly. Her claws are sticking out and catching the carpet all the time, rather than retracting properly. She's getting drastically thinner, too. That makes me sad. They're both good cats, but she's sort of my favorite, and I don't like to see her getting old so soon.
• A smattering of something random from www.hookedonfacts.com: "You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world. " -- This makes sense, but I wonder if it is completely true. What about people who are born on the 29th of February? Or is that the "At Least" part of the statement. Perhaps the rest of us share a birthday with far more people. I don't know.
• I was hoping to have a statistics column put together by now to let you know what numbers came up most often on my dice, what percentage of the things I saw were comedies, one-man shows, and all that sort of stuff, but I've not had as much time as I thought I would. Tomorrow maybe...
• Dang, Yo!

Correction: Apology

In an earlier post (now amended to correct the earlier error), I wrote about CalibanCo's space, and through a misunderstanding, the situation around the lease that they are currently negotiating. At that time negotiations had not begun, and I am happy to report that through further communication with the parties involved, I have found out that YPC (Youth Performance Company) had nothing to do with the delay in negotiations. That was the understanding with which I wrote the earlier comments. However, after speaking with Calibanco's artistc director, Christi Cottrell (one of the nicest people on Earth) and Jackie Knight (I'm sorry if I've misspelled that, Jackie, I've never known how to spell it) of Youth Performance Company, it is clear that YPC is fully behind the development of new companies blossoming in the Twin Cities, especially Calibanco, who is their neighbor.

I want to apologize for the confusion my earlier comments caused. I will put forth two things that were in the earlier column, but in a different context... 1) Calibanco is an immense boon to the theatre community here in the Twin Cities, and I second the columns of fellow blogger, Matthew A. Everett who pointed them out for their generosity and support of the Fringe this year. 2) From an earlier column, which is still on this site in an unamended form, Youth Performance Company's Fringe show "Goddess Menses and the Menstrual Show" is a great production, which since its inception a couple of years ago has been a great success for the group, and I'm hoping that this isn't the last time that it is produced. I originally mentioned the production in my column about "Meaning-of-life" plays, and how despite the young age of the authors how much wisdom was contained therein. It is productions like these that makes YPC what it is. Ms. Knight has given teens (and other youths) a place to say what they've got to say, when other places might not. That's a bold and beautiful thing. Side thing: This production was the most reviewed show in the Fringe, and it still managed a complete 5-star rating...that speaks tothe quality and the art.

Day 10: The End

This is the way the Fringe ends. About half of the performers and most of the staff congregate at Fringe Central late at night to enjoy a beverage or two, or three, or four. In my case it was merely one martini. With two olives. For me the most important part of a Martini is the olives. In fact, If you filled a cocktail glass with olives and then put in the requisite amount of gin to cover them and allowed them to soak, that would be the perfect Martini for me. I actually pass judgement on bars and nightclubs on how well they follow my instructions and requests regarding the olives. If I say "Tanqueray Martini-up-lots of olives" and it comes with two. That's not so cool. If it comes with 4 on a little cocktail sword, that's a little better. If they dump the olives in the glass, that's great... And the best I've ever had was at the Monte Carlo in the warehouse disctrict of Minneapolis where the server brought me a glass chock full of olives soaked in Gin and vermouth as well as another tumbler full of olives on the side. She got a 100% tip from me that evening.

Anyway, for me who'd not eaten since breakfast (big meal, but not recent enough for heavy drinking), one beverage was more than enough to make me unable to drive for a while. And so instead I chatted with Geral Fierst and Nancy Donoval for a while, as well as a couple of other "Mouth" groupies (if you can call Nancy's boyfriend a groupie). And I also chatted with a few others, including a few of the folks who used to make "Horror Incorporated" at Channel 45. One of my favorite up-and-coming playwrights Brian Watson-Jones was there with his Girlfriend, whose name I still don't know, and talking with them was a lot of fun as usual.

After a while we all got called up on the stage to be recognized for our contributions to the Fringe this year. That was nice.

I enjoyed this whole voyage this year, so I hope I get to do it again next year, especialy since I won't be able to do much of anything else for the Fringe, since my July will be in Spain or France as part of my Graduate degree work. Hard to rehearse a play for Fringe in another country.

Well... since the "Best Of The Fringe" shows is going up over the next couple of weeks, I'll probably write a bit about that when it happens. Until then, toodles!!

Day 10: The Shows

I saw "Feeling Faust" by CalibanCo, oddly enough in the CalibanCo space. I then stayed at that space (free parking!) to see "When Worlds Collide: Talking Dirty at Bobby and Steve's Autoworld." And finally I saw "The Testimony of Gary Alan Richards" at the Acadia (Free parking at the Howard Conn Center parking lot).

All three were okay. The Faust play was notable for the acting of Jeremy Cottrell, who is one heck of an actor. That and the twist ending of having the devil be female (kind of a twist, anyway). The one man show that followed was a bit of mis-billing. The play had very little, if anything, to do with Bobby & Steve's. The play was really about the guy's various sexual encounters over the years. It was entertaining, I guess, but not at all what I expected. The "Testimony" play was not terribly good, in and of itself, but the performances of the actors were very realistic and fulfilling. The street theatre ending of the guy being hauled away in a real ambulance was kind of cool, too.

That was it for the final Fringe day, because then I was off to the world of Carmen.

Day 10: The Beginning

This is the last day. Not a lot to say, other than I'll be ditching the dice-rolling in favor of free parking. When it comes down to it, even with a pass that got me into a large number of shows for free, I still spent more money on this Fringe Festival than I was intending. So... I'll be starting my day at CalibanCo. There's free parking in the church/YPC lot, and on the street. We'll see where I end up after that.

On to the random crap:

• I have a hat that was made for me by Benjamin Berlovitz-Debois. It is my favorite hat, and I'd like to thank him for making it for me.
• I'm too tired and have too much of a head ache to think straight.
• Breakfast today was a family event with three generations of Kidders heading to the New Louisiana Cafe on Selby in St. Paul. Immediately thereafter, my parents took my daughter for a visit that ought to be at elast a week long. Yay! I love being a dad, but I also love being able to do things that aren't kid oriented. I've only seen two or three movies over the past 4 years that weren't animated or made by Disney.
• The olympics used to hold more importance in my mind when we were still int he cold war. Then it was a "Us against Them" situation. Now, it's Us against the rest of the world, and that's hard to get excited about in either the Olympic realm, or in public/political policy (and you can be sure that the situation is the same in either one).
• www.hookedonfacts.com: " Americans eat nearly 100 acres of pizza every day - that's approximately 350 slices per second!" -- I don't know what to say about this, but that is surely a lot of pizza. What I guess I'd like to know is how that breaks down topping-wise. I mean, I'm sure that pepperoni is the number 1 topping after cheese, but how many people actually get anchovies?
• According to CNN.com, it is perfectly legal to marry a dead person in France. It takes being able to prove that you were going to marry prior to the death, and it takes the permission of the President of France. Nevertheless, I'd have to think that this could really throw a wrench into the works of inheritance situations. It's an easy way to become a rich widow without all that icky obligatory sex stuff. Think about it. If we had similar laws, Anna Nicole Smith could've made her millions even easier.

Day 9: The Summation

I just got back from Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and I'm just too tuckered out to do a show by show break down like I have every other day. So... you get it all in one fell swoop.

I started my day by rolling the dice and getting A Good Year for Garanimals. I enjoyed all of the performances that made up this Spoken Word Fringe entry. However, I'd like to point out one person specifically. Dot Cleveland. She is a performer who I gave a horrible review earlier in this blog. I still stand by that review. However, I also say that the performances she gave in this collection of monologues were absolutely great. One was a story of her growing up in the woods, and another was the story of "Little Red Cap" which was a variant on Little Red Ridinghood. Both were electric with the excitement that she was putting into the tales. It was a refreshing change from when I saw her "LoveWise" performance. Clearly, though, she is a good story teller and that former performance was an off night.

After that I returned to another episode of "Mouth" by Nancy Donoval and Gerald Fierst. It was superb again. I'm hoping that these two performers are going to be a recurring part of my Fringing for years to come, if not a part of my life. I broke my own self-enforced blogging rules to attend this show. I didn't roll dice. I just decided that the first time I saw it was so powerful, that I could not miss a second version of the show. They promised that every show was different, and the two shows were completely unalike, except in the fact that they were both moving worthwhile conversations.

The last Fringy thing I did today was performing in the final showing of "Dandelion Snow." A few words... I loved doing this show with this cast, and I'll work with any one of them again. The Playwright, too. Matthew blessed us with a terrific script to start with. With that said, I'm so glad this show is done. Talk about an energy-suck of colossal vacuum/black hole proportions. Writing a blog, acting in two shows, and doing all the preparation that goes into directing another show is too much to do, especially with the mini-soap-opera that went on with this show. I love shows with directors who are skilled, insightful, and over all decent people. I think I'll do one of those next time.

At last it was off to Origami for sushi before a performance of Carmen.

I'm looking forward to the last day of the Fringe... see you then...

Day 9: The Beginning

I've rolled my die. It isn't the same die that I rolled all the rest of the Fringe. I've lost that one. So, I went into my bag of dice (something that all true gamers have), and pulled out another one. It is a blue one. The old one was an orange and yellow one that was suppoed to look like it was made of elemental fire. But, it's gone now...gone.

I rolled my die for the 1 p.m. time slot already, and I'll be starting my day with "A Good Year for Garanimals." It's part of the Spoken Word Fringe. Haven't seen any of their stuff yet this year. Cross your fingers for me. I get to see shows all afternoon, but then I'm off to "Carmen" at Jeune Lune. My parents are coming down to see it, so that'll be nice. They missed it last time around. My work with Jeune Lune is the work I'm most proud of, and so it is important to me that they see it.

Random Crap...

• I'm hungry
  
• What can I say? I'm hooked on facts! www.hookedonfacts.com: "More than ten people a year are killed by vending machines. " -- Idiots!
  
• There used to be a type of bugspray that had mint as its wasp-killing poison. I bought it a couple of times a couple of years back and I loved the stuff. Does anyone know where you can find it these days?
  
• Down by the station, early in the morning, see the little pufferbellies all in a row!
  
• On my desk in front of me at this moment is a CD case, a rolodex that is tipped on its side, and a set of stereo headphones along with about 5 or 6 post-its that I am currently ignoring.
  

Day 8: 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Time Slots

Well 8:30 was our second to last show of "Dandelion Snow." It was a really good performance.

So anyway, I thought it went really well, and after the odd way that our Fringe started with this show, I am glad to say that we're going to close having had a positive experience overall. The other actors have made it a huge success. And the playwright has been exceptionally helpful. Thanks guys (and gals).

After that we all were wiped out, so we went to Fringe Central, caught snippets of performance by 10 foot Five, whose "Stomp!" inspired footwork is really good. And also scenes from a couple of other pieces.

Frign Central is a terrific addition to the Fringe, and I'm glad that we're able to have such a place. I hope it is ther again next year. I also hope that there will be some real food there. Pretzels just don't cut it for the guy who hasn't eaten all day. One beer can mess you up pretty well if you don't get some food into you.

Anyway... there's that... On to day 9...

Day 8: 7 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Punk Rock Awesome
Die Roll: 14
Venue: Brave New Workshop
Company: Ferrari McSpeedy

This is a great group of guys for comedy. And you'll remember that I even though I challenged everyone to see some artistic works furing the fringe, I also said that it is important to go see some that are entirely just for entertainment value. Well this one is exactly that.

The two clowns that make up Ferrari McSpeedy are smart, witty, and brilliant clowns that manage to take esoteric knowledge and physical comedy and smash them together in a way that makes everyone laugh like giddy hyenas.

Essntially Ferrari McSpeedy is blends equal parts Ari Hoptman, Jim Lichtscheidl, and crack, and blends them up together, shaking in a dash of paprika for color at the end.

I can't criticize what I saw. It was pretty straight forward and entirely honest in its lack of artistic merit. However, the timing was good, the self-awareness was good, everything that happened was good. Too bad that it is the last of the "Punk Rock" trilogy by these guys. Let's hope they have at least three sequels, too.

Day 8: 5:30 p.m. Time Slot

Food! I need Food!

I got Food!

I went to the New Dehli Restaurant on Eat Street. I had three dishes that I've never had before anywhere, and all three were great. I don't remember what a single one of them was called, though.

Day 8: 4 p.m. Time Slot

Show: If I Don't Marry Davy Jones I'll Just Die
Die Roll: 20
Venue: MCTC Mainstage
Company: Mary Hirsch

The moment you sit down and read the program for Mary Hirsch's show, you are being entertained.

This show is more of a stand-up routine than a play, but it is entertaining and well-don nevertheless. I didn't take many notes on the whole thing though, as I found that it was easier to enjoy this show if I didn't analyze it. So, for an hour I just enjoyed hearing stories about growing up in the early 60s and turning 50 in the new millenium. And I had fun. That's all you can really ask for out of a stand-up show.

Thank you, Mary, I had a nice time. I'll buy one of your books someday when I'm not caught by other theatre folk. -- Mary sells her book after her show, and I would advise picking one up if it is even half as funny as the rest of her show.

Day 8: 2:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Fast Fringe #1: The Agony
Die Roll: 8
Venue: Loring Playhouse
Company: The Spanish Ladies

Hey! It's the first time that I've rolled the same venue twice! That's tremendous! Hey! I get to see the other installment of the "Fast Fringe!" That's not so tremendous...

Same held true this time as with the other set: inconsistent writing, acting, and directing. Overall a luke warm review. The shows in this chunk were slightly better, though. Too bad that the name of the thing, "The Agony" would better have fit the other ones.

Day 8: 1 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Fast Fringe 2: The Ecstacy
Die Roll: 9
Venue: Loring Playhouse
Company: The Spanish Ladies

Okay, so something that I've mentioned before... I'm a playwright. Specifically, I am a playwright that has up until recently focused on the short play format. The ten- minute play specifically. So I was glad that at least one of the "Fast Fringe" shows came up, even if it was #2. The subtitle "The Ecstacy" is the more positive of the two, so I was hopeful that that was a good sign.

This production was five ten-minute shows. I liked some, I didn't like others and the acting and direction were inconsistent at best. The ladies were generally better actors than the men, and it seemed that some plays received far more attention in rehearsal than the other ones.

The hour started with the least impressive of the works. "All About Words." All I can say about it was that it had me wondering "MY GOD! Is this what happens to my plays when I send them in to contests?!"

But the production quickly rebounded with a well written and well performed "Limbo Lounge." A play about the place that re-written characters go to die.

Plays #3-#5 didn't standout to me in any special way, except to say that I still didn't like the play that involved a father as a hired killer.

Anyway... I'm glad that the Frigne now has its own 10-minute festival, I'm just hoping that the quality continues to improve as it gets produced year after year.

Day 8: The beginning

Today's fringing started with a quick bit of phone calling to find Fringe Buddies. I lined up a couple of folks who were willing to see a randomly selected show with me. It has gotten pretty lonely at some of the venues, doing my fringe this way. Sure, I see people that I know at each venue, but it isn't the same as going to a show with someone and having someone to swap sotries with. So today'll be nice.

Random stuff:

• I'm going back to an old established way to come up with my random topic for the day, I'm asking someone else for a topic. I sent my daughter to her mother, who sent back the word "Pan." So, I figure this means that I'm looking at either talking about the Greek God of the Wild, or I'm going to talk about cooking. Since I haven't eaten yet this morning, cooking and breakfast are coming to mind. When I cook, I like to make things without following recipes. I just like to make things that I think will taste good together. I "worked" for my family one summer cooking all the meals and doing all the planning, etc. and that helped me acquire enough rudimentary knowledge of the mechanics of good cooking, that I'm never terribly unsuccessful in my culinary experiments. Although most of what I cook doesn't have a name, at least that I know of.
  
• A note to those people who talk down to little kids: They aren't stupid. In fact, I would contend that my daughter has more mental accuity and agility than I do at any given moment. She's five. The thing is, I still have vivid memories about life at 5. I understood the what I was saying, what the grown-ups were saying, and pretty much everything else that was going on in my immediate universe. I didn't understand everything, but I got enough that I didn't need to be talked in cutesie child-speak.
  
• Today's fact from www.hookedonfacts.com: "Almonds are a member of the peach family." -- Kind of explains why an almond in its shell looks like a peach pit and vice-versa.
  
• What goes up, must come down...spinning wheel, gotta spin 'round.
  

Day 7: The Beginning

Today is another one of those where I don't get to see anything. I am going to be in "Dandelion Snow" at 5:30, and if you love me, you'll come see it. And then I'll be appearing in Jeune Lune's "Carmen" this evening. That means there's no time for Fringing.

Since I've now given you the entire rundown of the day, I'll launch into random stuff:

• Normally, I wait until near the end to do the fact from www.hookedonfacts.com, but today I'll put it first, just to be random: "The first product that Sony came out with was the rice cooker." -- Now that's just amazing. You go form one small house appliance and you grow to a corporation that can take over entire segments of the world's economy. I need to invent a small houshold appliance. Oh dear! Wait! Could Ron Popeil be our next great dictator?! Aaaaigh!
• I finally notified everyone that didn't get cast in my next show. I can't even tell you how relieved I am that that is done.
• Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
• The Friends School of Minnesota is about to launch into their bulb sale. They have a plant sale every spring and I get my heirloom tomatoes from them... I've never bought anything from their bulb sale, but that's because I've never planted bulbs at all. I might try it this year. I was raised Quaker, so I always feel that I have an odd obligation to support them.
• Since there is Google for searching and Froogle for shopping, I'd like to propose Smoogle for fencing illegal goods, and perhaps Zoogle for animals. I think the -oogle ought to gain as much notoriety as the -izzle.
• I sometimes wish that I was a more direct person when dealing with people who frustrate me. It is hard to balance politeness with irritation.
• John's Pizza in Frogtown is one of the best places I've ever gotten food from.
• I've got nothin' else right now.

Day 6: 10 p.m. Time Slot

You know, I tried to make it without eating, but when it comes down to it, sustenance has to happen. I took my daily time slot off during the final slot of the day. I went with two other Fringers to Jakeeno's which is a pizza joint just up the street from the Pillsbury House. I had a Spinach and Feta pizza in honor of the "Goats" show. Mmm... goat cheese...mmm.

Anyway... long conversations were had, time was enjoyed, and then it was the end of the Fringing night.

More on day 7...

Day 6: 8:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Goats
Die Roll: 3
Venue: Pillsbury House Theatre
Artist: Alan Berks

You know, for a guy who doesn't like one man shows, I'm seeing an awful lot of them. I'm starting to see an inherent problem with the system I've got set up here.

My one overwhelming thought with this show was that profundity is not always profound the second time around. Having seen the first ten minutes of this show at the Fringe Preview a couple of weekends ago, I was very excited to have it come up on the charts. Yay!

But...it wasn't as funny, insightful, or attention-grabbing as I initially thought. Berks is an able actor, and many of the things he had to say were very entertaining, but the whole thing felt a little empty. Perhaps it was this performance itself. Maybe he was having a low energy day the same way I was at my show. It's possible.

All I know is that when I was laughing (at least during the first half) it was because I felt obligated to due to the fact that I'd plugged the show early on. Now, the second half was different. Alan found his groove somewhere along the line and I settled into actual enjoyment. The thing is, the show is well written. I enjoyed the writing a lot. That's why I'll give him the benefit of it just being a down performance.

Alan did a lot of living in his 24th year. He was a goatherd in Israel. He had to learn to think like a goat, how to just "be", he had to learn how people are capable of hate, and much more. He learned enough about live that he is qualified to write a meaning-of-life play.

There are two quotes that stuck out for me, only one of which could I write fast enough to get on paper. That one was "The only thing thatmeant anything is the touch." Communication with goats is what he was talking about, but he was really talking about so much more. The other had to do with waitin patiently without fear and taking care of the things that you're supposed to take care of. But, since I only got part of it down, I'll just say that the end of the show returned to a place where the profound was present again.

Day 6: 7 p.m. Time Slot

Show: LoveWise
Die Roll: 8
Venue: Intermedia Arts
Performer: Dot Cleveland

So, I found myself back at Intermedia Arts for the second time in one day.

Before I say anything about this show, I want to tell you about my lobby experience. Here it is in sequential segments:

1. I arrived and got my ticket from a box officer who looked shocked to see me. I assumed this meant that I was a bit early, and that I'd caught him off guard and unprepared.
2. I sat down on a chair near to the theatre's entrance. Normally when I go to Intermedia Arts I look through the galleries while I wait, but since I'd already been there once that afternoon, I didn't feel the need to peruse the same art that I'd gawked at earlier.
3. I watched the performer arrive, and chat with two of her friends. Somewhat rudely eavesdropping, I heard her say that she'd been playing to ridiculously small houses, and that if today's audience were just those two of her friends she'd do a shortened version of the show and then the three of them could go imbibe something elsewhere.
4. I got up and got myself an astoundingly good iced chai from the cute chica in dreadlocks behind the coffee bar counter.
5. I bumped into Katherine Pike who is performing Something Else Occurred as part of the Fringe. She's also been getting small houses, but her show has been a sell-out at other festivals, so I'm hoping that I scare up some business for her with this plug.
6. I went through the process of giving my ticket to the usher, and walked in ahead of Penny Dale, who is appearing in Assassins.

The best things that happened to me at this venue were numbers 4, 5, and 6. Number 2 is just in there to fill in the chronology. But numbers 1 & 3 should've sent up red flags all over the place.

I spent an hour and 5 minutes (yes, this show ran long) watching a story being told by a woman who wished she was somewhere else doing anything else than telling this story. It is painful to watch a story teller who has no interest in her own story.

I would've walked out, but the house lights were up at full, so I couldn't sneak.

The story itself was an odd one that I'd never heard before, although it is by the Brothers Grimm. The title, "The Handless Maiden." It's a story of love, betrayal, the devil and trickery, and I'll bet it would be quite good if told by someone who didn't hold their material in contempt. She even made snide comments about how she disliked the Grimm style of story while whe was telling it.

I could fill a column the length of the Declaration of Independence with my negative thoughts about this performance, but I won't. Only because I have other columns to write.