Minnesota Fringe Festival

As a first-time Fringe producer, I've been impressed with the level of organization for such a large festival. The website is top notch, venues are all fairly centrally located so that it is easy to skip from show to show, and everything actually runs on time! Kudos to all of the festival staff and volunteers. This really is a big machine, and it runs smooth!

Relationship: I've been either an audience member or a fringe artist consistently since 2015. The Minnesota Fringe Festival is how community, passion, and art should be joined: polished and rough, hilarious and horrifying, great and terrible, but always risky and beautiful. From professional artists sharing their craft to community members bubbling with a message to share, you'll never see a broader span of styles, themes, and energies in a year than you might see during one Fringe day. Fringe and risk-taking are one in the same. As an audience member, especially during the first weekend, you have little to go on but a short show description. While you can play it safe by waiting until later during the Festival to go to shows well-reviewed, but the sheer pleasure of the unknown and talking with your friends afterwords about what you saw ("That was such a beautiful moment!" Or "Seriously, I have no idea what just happened) is what makes Fringe so unique. Do yourself a favor. Go see Fringe, even for only one show. Be willing to gamble an hour of your time; no matter what, you'll come out the other side with a story of your own.

I was quite pleased with my Fringe experience. Shows start and end on time, theaters are easy to find thanks to a wonderful website. A wide variety of programming ensures something for everyone. Bravo to the Fringe staff for running such a well-oiled machine!

They make us wait outside until the 10 min prep time, which we don't argue about because we agree that it is part of the rules and it will make all the shows to be enjoyable for every, but then email us saying we were going in there too early when it was the staff themselves who let us in. It will be nice if the staff place themselves in our shoes as well. Other than that, it was definitely a great experience, aside from the sung backstage and the waiting issue.

It's great that Minnesota Fringe supports and provides a forum for the skilled, talented and creative artists in the state. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, acting, staging and production of "Cursed," by Mark Rosenwinkel. It was provoking, intense and impactful. Appreciation is also extended to the Actors' Equity Association and Concordia University, St. Paul.