Wednesday! Mimes, sexy overload, a war, and a fish bowl

by Kate Hoff | 8/6/09 • The home stretch Fringe panic is starting to set in. A week ago I had all the time in the world to see shows and I squandered time slots on stupid luxuries. Want to take a break for a hamburger? It was an easy choice last week, but now every missed slot means a show I will not see… ever. So much pressure.

I started my Wednesday with Silent Poetry 2 presented by Kirsten Stephens and Dean Hatton at the Rarig Proscinium. This show presents an astounding range of mime scenes, car chases, even dancing with a corpse. Funny and clever, you won’t have to worry about straining to hear the dialogue. Bring your parents, bring your kids… (though really little ones might not appreciate it). Last shows Friday at 5:30 and Saturday at 2:30.

I’ve been searching for the right words to describe The Return of LICK! produced by the Mechanical Division at the Southern Theater. Sexy, yes. (A friend asked me if they were really banned from the Fringe for being too sexy. Yes. Yes, they were.) Filling the stage of the Southern with their special* blend of sexy, the dancers are back, reprising their successful 2005 Fringe theme. *“special” is the operative word. If you’ve had your shots and can’t stay away from the red hot dance moves, check them out Friday at 5:30 or Sunday at 1:00.

Feeling a tad faint from all the sexy, I grabbed a turkey sandwich at Jimmy John’s on the way to The Rise of General Arthur presented by Maximum Verbosity at the Augsburg Mainstage. Phillip Andrew Bennett Low is a very talented storyteller with a very big brain. In this war story, Phillip pulled ideas and dialogue from a range of source texts, some of which needed translation (of course, there’s Phillip with the source texts again). The end result is a damn fine story. Last chance Saturday at 8:30.

I closed the evening with Holding Patterns presented by Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart at the Southern Theater. Historically my favorite Fringe dancers, Monica and Dan present another lovely collection with interesting props and elegant movement. Last chance Saturday at 10:00.

Kate Hoff is a fundraiser, printmaker, and alternative-theater denizen. Her prints were included in the Visible Fringe show in 2004—also the year she began blogging about the festival. A few years, countless blog entries, and a hundred-some Fringe shows later, Kate joined the Fringe board in early 2008. The views expressed here are hers alone and do not represent the official position of the Fringe (unless noted).