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naomikritzerThe Minnesota Fringe is underway. I look back at my pre-kid days, and wonder why Ed and I didn't ever make it to the Fringe back when we didn't have to worry about babysitters. I think we assumed that it was all mimes with accordians. It's not (though there's a show this year that mentions mimes and accordians in the description).
The Fringe includes plays that are appropriate for small children. Molly's first live theater show was a Fringe production in 2003 ("The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet," which we went to in part because Romeo was being played by an old friend). Unless I'm forgetting something, Kiera's first live theater experience was tonight, when we saw Cinderella at the Fringe.
Molly and Kiera both liked it. Kiera was initially puzzled by the entire concept: she saw the Disney movie of Cinderella, and when I told her we were going to see Cinderella performed on a stage, I think she was still expecting a movie. Molly liked it a lot but noted on the way out that she thinks it would have been even more fun to be IN the play. Ed and I enjoyed it as well: it was funny, high-energy, and generally well-performed.
It was put on by high school students, and I commented to Ed afterwards that it's a play that was written very well for a high school cast, right down to a female-to-male ratio of approximately 25 to 1.
Anyway, for my Twin Cities readers with small kids -- pick up a Fringe program (they're tucked inside of this week's City Pages) or check out their website, and take your kids to a play. It's dirt cheap for live theater, the shows are fun, and everything is 50 minutes or less. Cinderella was a hoot, though if its schedule doesn't work out for you or you're the parent of little boys and you think the sheer girlyness would make them break out in hives, check out one of the other shows from the Kids' Fringe.
For Twin Cities readers who DON'T have small kids (or who have babysitters), let me also mention my mom's show, Baghdad Burning. Mom directed this at the University of St. Thomas last year, as part of a Sacred Arts festival. The play is based on the Riverbend blog, a blog kept by a young Iraqi woman. Large sections of her blog were also published as a book, which I think was how my mother found it originally. I found it hard to imagine a blog translating well to stage, but it does. It's a fascinating, powerful play, and I highly recommend it.
The Fringe includes plays that are appropriate for small children. Molly's first live theater show was a Fringe production in 2003 ("The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet," which we went to in part because Romeo was being played by an old friend). Unless I'm forgetting something, Kiera's first live theater experience was tonight, when we saw Cinderella at the Fringe.
Molly and Kiera both liked it. Kiera was initially puzzled by the entire concept: she saw the Disney movie of Cinderella, and when I told her we were going to see Cinderella performed on a stage, I think she was still expecting a movie. Molly liked it a lot but noted on the way out that she thinks it would have been even more fun to be IN the play. Ed and I enjoyed it as well: it was funny, high-energy, and generally well-performed.
It was put on by high school students, and I commented to Ed afterwards that it's a play that was written very well for a high school cast, right down to a female-to-male ratio of approximately 25 to 1.
Anyway, for my Twin Cities readers with small kids -- pick up a Fringe program (they're tucked inside of this week's City Pages) or check out their website, and take your kids to a play. It's dirt cheap for live theater, the shows are fun, and everything is 50 minutes or less. Cinderella was a hoot, though if its schedule doesn't work out for you or you're the parent of little boys and you think the sheer girlyness would make them break out in hives, check out one of the other shows from the Kids' Fringe.
For Twin Cities readers who DON'T have small kids (or who have babysitters), let me also mention my mom's show, Baghdad Burning. Mom directed this at the University of St. Thomas last year, as part of a Sacred Arts festival. The play is based on the Riverbend blog, a blog kept by a young Iraqi woman. Large sections of her blog were also published as a book, which I think was how my mother found it originally. I found it hard to imagine a blog translating well to stage, but it does. It's a fascinating, powerful play, and I highly recommend it.
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The accordion playing mime
Date: 2006-08-14 08:56 pm (UTC)It turns out the mime -- whose name is Wilson -- is originally from São Paulo, Brazil. We ended up talking after the show and going out to dinner later that night.
Re: The accordion playing mime
Date: 2006-08-15 01:20 am (UTC)