Watching Howard Petrick perform his self-written, autobiographical, one-man show, Breaking Rank! was a bit of a time-machine trip for me. Petrick is just a few years older than I, and his cultural frame of reference — growing up in the 1960s and resisting American aggression in Southeast Asia — was very much the same as mine.  

The kids are all right. They know everything about the birds and bees, to say nothing of blow-up dolls, and they’ve been watching the grownups. Very carefully.  

From the opening moment of Grim & Fischer, presented by Wonderheads, a two-person troupe from Portland, Ore., you know this is going to be something special. A lone figure slinks on stage to the strains of Mozart’s Requiem, carrying a black letter. His movements are precise, with the intense comical elegance you get from the best of the old Warner Brothers animations.   

Steven Strafford is one hell of a performer. But his young adult life as a promiscuous, gay, crystal meth addict was one hell of a mess. He courageously and humorously lays it all out in Methtacular, a monologue of 80 entertaining and unpredictable minutes.   

With imaginative but rudimentary costumes and minimal sets and props, the ensemble cast of The Sweet, Burning Yonder, directed by Michael Burnham, brought John Ray’s often poetic, streaming language to vivid life in its opening performance.   

There’s a rift between Joe and Hannah, the couple at the epicenter of New Edgecliff Theatre’s Fringe piece, Quake: A Closet Love Story, by Tyler Olson. Once upon a time, the two were married and in love. But recently, they’ve split.   

Tommy Nugent is a familiar Cincinnati Fringe performer: Starting in 2007, he’s been here with Tommy Nugent’s The Show and Tommy Nugent’s Burning Man Redux. He’s a monologist grounded in public speaking — not exactly a theater guy, but someone who’s totally comfortable in front of an audience. Although in the program for this year’s Fringe offering, American Badass in Cincy, he writes, “I’m no longer compelled to put my name in every show title,” his subject matter is focused completely on … Tommy Nugent.   

Female Desires is a collection of monologues expressing the desires, needs, challenges and fears of young women today. Written by Eliza Martin, the piece is organized into four quartets of interwoven stories, loosely connected to each other thematically.    

You Will Have 25 Minutes To Complete This Essay is one of two teen-created shows in this year’s FringeNext category. Written and directed by Alexx Rouse, it is a happy breeze of a piece that plays against teen stereotypes by speaking directly to them and then surprising you again with odd little twists.  

By the time you read this, the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival will be fully under way. Even if you can’t see every show, you owe it to yourself to come for an evening or two and sample the creativity that will be flowing throughout the 10 venues across Over-the-Rhine.