Fearless Fringe Sponsorship
When we started talking about Fearless Comedy, one of the things I was really interested in doing was a sponsorship program for the Minnesota Fringe.
The idea was pretty simple. I wanted to help encourage comedy producers to give the Fringe a try. I know that navigating the Fringe for the first time can be pretty challenging and the costs can look a little daunting. If we could make navigating that experience a little easier, I felt that it would be a great initiative for our new company and for the Twin Cities theatre community.
Today we announced the Fearless Fringe Sponsorship program and I couldn’t be happier.
A podcast all about The Shat!
On Friday, the hosts of the “Look at His Butt” podcast came to see The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged). After the show, they sat down to interview the cast, writers and director.
Fortunately, they loved the show. If they hadn’t, it would have been really awkward.
If you’d like to listen to their review of the show and the interview that features me, Bill Stiteler, Windy Bowlsby, Brandon Ewald, Tim Uren, Duck Washington and John Newstrom, you can do that by clicking here!
I am a podcasting MACHINE!!!!
Shit that pissed me off this week – 8/24
Todd Akin says “Legitimate Rape” Rarely Results in Pregnancy
Yeah, yeah, a lot of people are talking about this one so it may seem pointless that I even bring him up so late in the week. Ignoring his messed up statistics and knowledge of biology for a moment, what really has me upset is the concept of “legitimate rape.”
Now by this I assume he meant to insinuate that many women who claim to have been raped are lying. That is a pretty common tactic. Point out that some cases of rape are not legitimate (which is true) and you cast doubt on all claims of rape.
Because we’re stupid, we think that if one woman lies about rape, any claim of rape must be viewed as suspect. That’s what Akin taps into here. He is trying to diffuse the question of abortion in the case of rape by suggesting that women are lying about rape in order to get an abortion.
He may have issued an apology but the language was no accident. He knew exactly what he was saying and to whom he was speaking.
Note that Akin has brought all sorts of other stupid people out of the woodwork who have interesting thoughts about pregnancy and “legitimate” rape.
Stop Talking: The Video
Windy shot some amusing video from stage during last Thursday’s performance of Stop Talking: The Game of Talking. If you want to watch the videos, they are embedded below the fold.
2012 Fringe Wrap up
Well, I counted them up and I saw 28 shows at the Fringe this year (I watched one of them twice). The vast majority of them were very good shows. Some of them weren’t.
As a producer, I find myself much more forgiving of a failed work because let’s be fair – none of us are trying to produce bad work. Before we put it in front of an audience, we believe that what we have is something that will speak to them, make them laugh, make them think and, yes, make them like us.
What we discover by putting a show in front of an audience is whether or not we actually succeeded in reaching the audience in the way we envisioned. There is a sense of relief when things work out as we planned and, if we’re smart, a desire to learn what we will do differently if the show fails.
So I have a hard time talking about “bad” shows because I’ve done “bad” shows and it sucks. Plenty of talented people have produced failures. The really talented ones figure out how to turn those failures into future success.
All that is a lead up to my personal Fringe awards. I won’t dwell too much on the failures because I believe it is best to celebrate those who succeed and encourage those who fail.
So here we go:
Fringe Reviews – Day 9
Even with two shows yesterday, I managed to watch a couple of shows to close out the fringe. Reviews are not particularly helpful at this juncture but I shall write them just the same.
Fringe Reviews – Day 8
Big day of Fringing yesterday. I actually skipped a time slot so I could have a leisurely dinner and I went and watched my favorite fringe show again.
Here’s my thoughts on what I saw:
Fringe Reviews – Day 7
So last night, I think it is fair to say that “Ash Land” won at Fringe. They sold out the Rarig Thurst, a 460 seat theatre. By “sold out,” I mean that not a single person from the Artists’ rush line got into the theatre. Every seat in the theatre was a paying viewer. That has never happened before. It could happen again, though, because they have one more show today. Good for them.
And good for me because I’d already seen the show!
So here’s what I saw yesterday:
Fringe Reviews – Day 6
Three more shows last night plus one of my own. While the Rarig Experimental is a small theatre, I was super happy that Stop Talking managed to sell out our 7:00 show.
But who cares about my show? How about the other ones I saw?
Fringe Reviews – Day 5
I’m still basking in the glory of team Rock-it Man winning the Fringe trivia contest last night thanks, in almost no part, to me. I did know the exact number of seats available in the Rarig Experimental so I feel like I earned the share of the $75 gift certificate that paid for my dinner.
I had performances of both of my shows last night so I was only able to catch two others. One I loved. The other…
