Robyn Hill Hendrix

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Jay Gabler asked for my opinion.

July 26, 2012 By Administrator

@toddodowd @irrigatearts @robynhendrix @swirlspice @laurazabel @rhubarbism Would love more of your thoughts on this! bit.ly/LNAsBc

— TCDP Arts (@ArtsOrbit) July 25, 2012

I’m not entirely sure on what. In the Daily Planet’s Arts Orbit piece on Bedlam Theatre‘s new location in Lowertown St. Paul, Gabler basically does two things:

  • Lists a bunch of facebook and twitter posts by local people and organizations that essentially amount to “Yay! Congratulations! Exciting!”
  • Points out that opening a space in Lowertown is risky for numerous reasons, with a list of questions on related issues. In a nutshell: transportation and access, attracting people from Minneapolis, effectively engaging in the lowertown community, and Bedlam potentially getting stretched too thin when they do try to open a new Minneapolis location in addition to the St. Paul space.

The social media quotes include those that I posted as Irrigate and as myself, and some of the comments, replies and retweets that we got off of that. None of which were very memorable or controversial. I wouldn’t exactly list my “yay, happy clapping” retweet as a superb accomplishment in 140 character composition. It’s certainly true that the news has gotten lots of positive response; the link to the MPR article that I posted on the Irrigate page got significantly more “likes” than average and we are just one of a gobjillion pages that posted about it over the past day and a half. Yet personally, I’m left wondering: okay, umm, cute, you follow all of my multiple internet personalities, I follow all of yours, we operate in the same social media sphere, and everybody we know is saying happy words about Bedlam. So you are cataloguing them and making an article out of them. I don’t really count that as “journalism” and am tempted to just say “whoop de doo.” What’s the point? It feels a bit like reaching for an angle that just isn’t there. The questions posed at the end about the future of the project also kind of make me go “Yeah, duh. Opening any kind of business is a risk. Opening an art performance related business, even more so. So what?”

Okay, I’m being a bit harsh. And rather jaded. While it does take up at least ¾ of the entire article, you could argue the social media mashup was intended as a light-hearted introduction to the topic, and I should probably stop giving Jay a hard time about it now. ArtsOrbit is trying to get a discussion going about the challenges Bedlam will face when it takes over the former Rumours & Innuendo Nightclub space. I can put in my two cents about that, since he/they asked nicely, even though I don’t really feel all that qualified to do so. [Read more…]

Filed Under: art, Theater Tagged With: bedlam theatre, cclrt, lowertown, mnarts, social media, St. Paul

Friday Fringe Followup

August 12, 2011 By Administrator

Fringe festival, yes, it’s still happening.  Best.  Week.  Ever.

Shows I’ve seen that I recommend:

How Do You See It?

Red Hamlet

Deadline: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story

Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs

FLESH

Red Resurrected

7 (x1) Samurai

I would recommend Four Clowns except that they had their last performance last night.  I had a rather heavy, nervous clown come and sit on my lap. It was excruciatingly delightful.

Remounted shows I saw last year that were great:

Underneath the Lintel

Entwined


Show’s I haven’t seen but that I recommend because I’ve heard good things about them from people I trust:

The Beasts

My Dinner with Andrew

I Love You (We’re F*#cked)

Angelina Jolie is a Zionist Whore! or, Plan 9 from Baghdad

Disney Dethroned: Snowcahontas and the Tangled FrogBeast

You Only Live Forever Once

The Great Midwestern Drug Circus

Your Responsibility for Sex Failure

My final weekend game plan:

4:00 Today Minnesota Middle Finger by Ben San Del Presents at Theatre in the Round

Then house managing the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow…

Then Sunday!  Seeing shows all day.

1:00  Comedy = Tragedy + Someone Else by The Importance of Being Fotis at U of M Rarig Thrust

2:30  The Smothers Brothers Grimm by Comedy Suitcase at U of M Rarig Thrust

4:00  Not sure, maybe The Trunk by Siege Perilous Films at U of M Rarig Xperimental or Balls Out! by Late Night Menu at Mixed Blood

5:30  The Duties and Responsibilities of Being a Sidekick by The Barkada Theater Project at Gremlin Theatre

7:00  Either seeing Tortoise in Flight by Third Rabbit Dance at U of M Rarig Proscenium  or  Death Perception by Schroedinger’s Dog at U of M Rarig Xperimental, depending on my mood.

8:30 Encore Performance.  These are announced 11pm Saturday at Moto-i and Sunday morning on the Fringe Festival website.  I’m hoping for You Only Live Forever Once at BLB.

Of course, Friday and Saturday night will be finished off at Moto-i (Fringe Central) and Sunday we’ve got the Fringe closing night party at the Varsity Theater.  All fringe staff, volunteers, audience members and friends are welcome at both.

All of this will be followed by taking Monday off, and sleeping.

Filed Under: Theater Tagged With: Minnesota Fringe Festival, mnfringe

more fringing

August 10, 2011 By Administrator

Hypothetical Wednesday night Fringe plans with awkward formatting from cutting and pasting, for which I apologize.

5:30 p.m.

Red Resurrected

Isabel Nelson

Lab

7:00 p.m. Brain Fighters Joking Envelope U of M Rarig Thrust
8:30 p.m. Something’s Gone Wrong in the Dreamhouse Scream Blue Murmur Intermedia Arts
10:00 p.m. Your Responsibility for Sex Failure Vintage Remix Theatre Garage

Thursday possibilities:

8:30 You Only Live Forever Once by Four Humors Theater at Bryant-Lake Bowl  (or if I don’t make it to the Wednesday Red Resurrected at 5:30 I might go to that)

10:00 The Beasts by The Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure! at Augsburg Studio

Filed Under: Theater Tagged With: Minnesota Fringe Festival, mnfringe

Hypothetical weekend mnfringe schedule

August 5, 2011 By Administrator

For those of you who already expressed interest in coming to see a fringe show with me, and for those who have not yet expressed this but are keeping it bottled up inside for whatever reason, here are my potential (not set completely in stone) plans for these first couple days of fringe:

Tonight, Friday, it’s all about Uptown.

5:30  Red Hamlet by Red Theater at Theatre Garage

Break for house managing; i’ll be facilitating box office goodyness over at Cult Status Gallery for the BYOV show The 612 by Rogues Gallery Arts.  Sounds really interesting.  Come buy a ticket from me; see 4 short plays plus a gallery show of visual art!

10:00  Deadline: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story by Interplanetary Appeal at Bryant-Lake Bowl  (I saw these guys do choose your own adventure improv at Huge Theater a few months ago, it was really funny.)

Friday will probably finish up with some drinkinating & socializing at Moto-i (this year’s Fringe Central location).

Tomorrow, Saturday, big day on the West Bank:

1:00  Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs by Ferrari McSpeedy Theatrical Productions at U of M Rarig Thrust

2:30  Buckets and Tap Shoes by 10 Foot 5 Productions at U of M Rarig Proscenium

4:00  TBA!  Too many amazing companies in this timeslot!  If I think I can get there in time:  Fletcher & Zenobia Save the Circus (by Edward Gorey) by Live Action Set at Mill City Museum.  Or if i can’t: Disney Dethroned or Brain Fighters or Underneath the Lintel.  Crapola.  Please, someone tell me that you want to come see one of these shows with me and make the decision for me.  I will, for the most part, yield to accompanying friend’s preferences (especially since you’re paying for a ticket and I’m not)

5:30 maybe  Our Freaking Kids Show by Mainly Me Productions at U of M Rarig Thrust, or maybe taking a break, getting some food and lying in the grass somewhere.

7:00  Callahan and Lingo presents: The Last Ditch by ACM Productions at U of M Rarig Arena or possibly another attempt at getting over to Mill City for Fletcher & Zenobia & will try plan to see Allegra* & Rob’s show later in the week.

*I have to put that in, Allegra’s my Fringeboss 😛

8:30  Minnesota Middle Finger by Ben San Del Presents at Theatre in the Round

10:00  Probably Comedy = Tragedy + Someone Else by The Importance of Being Fotis at U of M Rarig Thrust, or maybe Death Perception by Schroedinger’s Dog at U of M Rarig Xperimental

Phew!  I did it!  I mean, I planned it.  Now all that’s left is to go enjoy.  Sunday I won’t be seeing shows because I will be working as a house manager at the Playwright’s Center all day long.  Food donations gladly accepted.  Hint hint nudge nudge.

Filed Under: Theater Tagged With: Minneapolis, Minnesota Fringe Festival, mnarts, mnfringe, performing arts

15 Shows at Minnesota Fringe that will make your brain sparkle.

August 1, 2011 By Administrator

My favorite piece of paper ever.

August has arrived.  The fringeyness has begun to take over the world of Robyn.  Here’s 15 shows I’m looking forward to seeing this year; you can click on all the titles to go to each show’s page on the minnesota fringe website (create an account and add them to your schedule, then come back and read the rest of the list!).

Fletcher & Zenobia Save the Circus (by Edward Gorey)

Live Action Set.  Directed by Sara Richardson.  Starring Noah Bremer, Hans Hauge, Kimberly Richardson, Dario Tangelson, and Emily Zimmer.  A BYOV (Bring-your-own-venue) in the Mill City Museum’s train shed.  The potential for this not to be good is completely inconceivable to me.  I’m not sure what the venue capacity is and would suggest getting their early, they have often sold out in the past.  Worth the wait in line.

How Do You See It?

A split-bill dance show with choreography by Christopher Watson and Jeffrey Peterson.  I was on the radio in December highlighting Peterson’s fringe piece last year “Thinkingaview” in the MPR Art Hounds Best of 2010 episodes.  And he even included that in the show description!  So cute!  Anyway, this sounds like it’ll be another fascinating performance:

“Stand Up” unabashedly unravels female stereotypes and the objectification of women. Just as “Thinkingaview” provided an avenue to unravel social constructs through the creative use of repetition, “Stand Up” does the same, this time flipping the feminist movement on its head, dissecting our cultural tendencies regarding politics, beauty, power, marriage, child rearing and reproductive rights.

Buckets and Tap Shoes

Music and tap dancing.  They always get rave reviews and I’ve never made it to a show.  Hoping to change that this year.

Underneath the Lintel

You might remember me raving about this show last year.  It’s back!  And I think I will go see it again.  It was that good.  An adorable old librarian finds a book that has been returned when it is 123 years overdue, and becomes obsessed with solving the mystery.  It also received the best reviews of any show at last year’s fringe and sold out it’s last show despite being a last minute addition with no pre-festival marketing.  Must-see!!!

You Only Live Forever Once

Four Humors Theater never disappoints, and they are doing James Bond with puppets.  Need I say more?  Three more words: Sock puppet henchmen.

Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs

Courtney McLean and Mike Fotis are in it, so it’s got to be good.

Entwined

Another returning hit from last year, by Amy Salloway.  Abso-frickin’-hilarious.  She likes to rewrite things over and over so it’ll probably be a little different from last year; I know she’s got a different guy playing “Dean” – the unitarian universalist obsessed with buffy the vampire slayer who has given 90% of his heart to another woman who is in a “lesbian phase.”  Anyway, I’m sure it’ll be very funny.  I hope she still does the squeaky sound effects…go see it to find out what I mean.

Tortoise in Flight

By Third Rabbit Dance.  Joyful solo show by John Munger.  Every time I see him dance, my preconception of the limits of expression the human body can accomplish flies out the window.

Callahan and Lingo presents: The Last Ditch

Rob Callahan + Allegra Lingo.  Two storyteller performers create a show at the last minute when they get picked off the waiting list just a few weeks before the festival.  Check out their show page for a preview.  Should be, in a phrase Allegra uses all the time, awesomesauce.  Or Amazeballs.  Or both!

Brain Fighters

By Joking Envelope, written by Joseph Scrimshaw.  Scrimshaw epitomizes Fringe in many ways.  If you haven’t been to a Joking Envelope show yet, you should go so  you at least know what all the buzz is all about.  Generally everything they do is very, very funny.

Reykjavík

Created by and starring Christopher Kehoe.  I’ve seen his last two one-man shows at the last two Fringes and he is simply a phenomenal actor.  Darkly funny, which is my favorite type of funny.  And hey, they are giving away nine $20 gift cards to the Republic on opening night!

The Smothers Brothers Grimm

By Comedy Suitcase.  Includes the OTHER Scrimshaw, Joshua, and Levi Weinhagen.  In 2009 they did the show The Harty Boys in The Case of the Limping Platypus. Which was really cute and funny.  I’m running out of descriptor words other than “funny” so I should probably rap up this list pretty soon…

Disney Dethroned: Snowcahontas and the Tangled FrogBeast

I’ve actually only seen Tom Reed at improv at Brave New Workshop/Huge Theater and as a host of this year’s 10 Second Film Festival.  When he did Parry Hotter and the Half Drunk Twins he was in a crazy tiny venue that was ridiculously sold out the entire festival, and I wasn’t quite as intrigued by last year’s Bite me Twilight since I haven’t read the books or seen the movies.  But he’s hilarious!  And he’s doing a parody of ALL of the Disney princess movies.  So this is definitely a must-see.  Another get-there-early one.

The Beasts

I went to college with this dude, Ben Egerman, and now he makes post-apocalyptic comedy shows, this one involving a wolf puppet with a monocle and funny charts drawn on cardboard.  Previously created “Please Don’t Kill Me Killler Robots.”  Which also involved funny things drawn on cardboard.  Me likey.

Minnesota Middle Finger

Ben San Del creates clever stuff and brings together a great looking cast.  And I adore their promo images.

Alright, I’m done for now.  That’s 15 shows that are 94.28% guaranteed to be either funny, beautiful, inspiring, or intriguing.  I also thoroughly recommend perusing the schedule either online or in print and picking a show that you know nothing about, but that sounds interesting, and taking a chance.  Discovering something new is the best part of the Fringe.  Now…Who’s coming fringing with me?*

*To see shows you’ll need the $4 festival admission button, and regular tickets are $12 per show.  5-show and 10-show punchcards are available which give you a discount of $2 off per ticket; great way to see a bunch of  shows yourself or bring a group!
Psst: The views expressed here are my own and are not perpetuated from nor endorsed by the Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Fletcher & Zenobia Save the Circus (by Edward Gorey) Live Action Set Mill City Museum

Filed Under: Theater Tagged With: dance, Minnesota Fringe Festival, mnarts, mnfringe, mpls, performing arts, Theater

the fringe cometh

July 31, 2011 By Administrator

The Great Midwestern Drug Circus from Sean Neely on Vimeo.

(I can’t seem to get wordpress to let me embed this.  GRRR!  Maybe it just isn’t working in the preview & will kick in when I publish…hmm nope)  Anyway, Umm yeah, so…this is weird.  Which is why it is so, so awesomely fringeworthy.  In the fringe-for-all 3 minute preview,  the cardboard elephant got karate-chopped in half in a demonstration of a feat of unusual strength.  I gave it 4 out of 5 kitties* on my “do I want to see this” scorecard.

More Minnesota Fringe Festival news and recommendations coming soon!  I already have a freakishly long list to divulge.  Will try to make it more concise so as not to overwhelm those who are not quite as obsessed dedicated as me.

* (The MN Fringe review system is based on a rating of 1-5 “kitties”, which are far superior to “stars” in their ability to communicate the reviewer’s experience.  And they’re way cuter.)

P.S. Our Placemaking project at the Friendly Streets Initiative Block Parties is going well!  My group is presenting our pLaYMaGinAtiON sPaCE project at one more block party on August 19th.  The other artist’s projects are also very fun and worth checking out.  I’ve posted some photos of the shenanigans so far which can be found over here on my facebook page.

Filed Under: Theater Tagged With: Minnesota Fringe Festival, mnarts, mnfringe, placemaking

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