The 2016 Cincy Fringe wraps up on Saturday evening, so you have just two more days to find something that appeals to your own sense of “weird,” that commodity that the folks at Know Theatre (the Fringe organizer/producing organization) likes to promote. CityBeat’s team of Fringe reviewers has covered all the shows and published reviews on an online hub, so you can read all about more than 40 productions. About a dozen received a “Critic’s Pick” from the writer. Last week I made note of four of these (Darlings, The Gospel of Fat Kathy, Baby Mama and You Are the Hero); this week I’m sharing additional picks of the shows reviewers liked.
Ice Candle (9:15 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Graydon Head) features Erika Kate MacDonald in a 60-minute monologue about her experience as an 18-year old exchange student in Indonesia at a time of unrest in that Pacific nation. Read Joe Gorman’s review HERE.
Daddy Issues (7:30 p.m. Friday at Art Academy Studio) is a 60-minute monologue by Peter Aguero, a regular contributor and host for The Moth Radio Hour, about his difficult relationship with his father and how that shaped his own life. Read Alan Jozwiak’s review HERE.
Fruit Flies Like a Banana (2:30 p.m. Saturday at Gabriel’s Corner) performed by a trio of classically trained musicians who also happen to be dancers, actors and music educators. They perform 22 musical vignettes in 60 minutes, with the order dictated by the audience. Read Stacy Sims’ review of these “high art shenanigans” HERE.
I Hope There’s a Radioactive Spider in Your Future (2:30 p.m. Saturday at Graydon Head) is one of four FringeNext productions by local high school students. Students from Seven Hills School assembled this hour-long piece, a “ridiculous comedy about the ridiculousness of growing up.” This show was reviewed by Walnut Hills High School student Griffin Daly; read his commentary HERE.
My Left Teeth (9:15 p.m. Friday at Art Academy Studio) is a 65-minute two-hander by past Fringe monologist Paul Strickland brought to life by two excellent local actresses, Miranda McGee (Cincy Shakes) and Annie Kalahurka (Madcap Puppets). They play women dealing with the household of a woman who’s died — and their own perspectives evolve as they learn more about her. Stacy Sims praised “the beauty of good storytelling” in her review HERE.
Punk’s Not Dead and Neither is Sam (Yet) (6:30 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday at MOTR) is a “smart, frenetic, fun, wannabe punk fest” (50 minutes long) by some “damn good actors who can also sing,” according to reviewer Joe Gorman. Read his review HERE.
Clara (6:15 p.m. Friday at Know Theatre) is about director Aly Michaud’s real-life grandmother, recreated onstage as a child, an adolescent and a middle-aged woman. The 60-minute show uses aerial silk (familiar to fans of Cirque du Soleil) in ingenious ways to tell stories of Clara’s life. Read McKenzie Graham’s review HERE.
The Unrepentant Necrophile (6:30 p.m. Saturday at Know Theatre) is perhaps the oddest show onstage during the 2016 Fringe, a Punk Rock musical about a real woman who stole a dead body and took it on a road trip. Reviewer Ed Cohen called the show “as unapologetic a piece of theater as I’ve ever seen. It takes a true story and tells it in an amazingly unique way, without commenting on its admittedly difficult subject matter.” Read Ed’s full review HERE.
Rick Pender’s STAGE DOOR blog appears here every Friday. Find more theater reviews and feature stories
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