2014 Minnesota Fringe Festival Update #1
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 2:00AMBetween now and the July 31 kick off, we'll post snippets of info on some of the show options for the 2014 Minnesota Fringe Festival.
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Site-Specific Musical Walking Tour Debuts at Minnesota Fringe Festival
Minneapolis, MN – Catalog Models presents INTO THE UNREAL CITY, a new site-specific musical walking tour with script by Gemma Irish and music by Mark Sweeney. INTO THE UNREAL CITY premieres on July 31st as part of the 2014 Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Where do we find meaning? In each other? Within ourselves? In the twilight cityscape? INTO THE UNREAL CITY begins with a song outside the University of Minnesota’s Rarig Center. From there, the audience is led on a journey (literally as well as metaphorically) back through the memory-scape of our main characters, Zeke and Bet. Actors perform in the doorways of buildings, sing on bridges, fight in the street, and otherwise piece together their lives on the sidewalks of the West Bank neighborhood.
"Bringing a musical into real world locations makes the ordinary seem larger than life,”notes composer Mark Sweeney. “The sound fills in every direction. But also walking down the street and singing feels instantly intimate and builds a connection between audience, actors and emotion."
Playwright Gemma Irish notes: “Our show is about finding meaning in our lives, figuring out how to be who we are and do what’s important. Being able to walk around and explore different parts of the neighborhood feels like a physical representation of the searching that’s happening in the show.”
Audience size for INTO THE UNREAL CITY is limited to 20 people. Tickets can be purchased at fringefestival.org, or at the Rarig Center box office on the day of each performance. The walking tour departs at 7 PM on each night of the Fringe Festival, July 31-August 10. The walking tour (and final musical number) concludes at a convenient distance from the Rarig. The show runs 50 minutes.
A new play by Gemma Irish with music by Mark Sweeney. Directed by Laura Leffler-McCabe.
Featuring:
Amber Davis
Russell Dugger
Shaina Ferguson
Laura Mason
Tristan Miller
Mark Sweeney
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Laura Leffler-McCabe (director) is a theatre maker, director, sometimes playwright, and performer whenever she can. She is the Artistic Director of Savage Umbrella and has directed, written, and performed in over 19 projects with SU since its inception in 2007, notably The Ravagers (co-writer, performer - Hypermnestra) and The Awakening (writer/director). Other theatrical adventures include Fishtank (Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Assistant Director), Come Hell and Highwater (The Moving Company, Assistant Director), By the Bog of Cats (Frank Theatre, Assistant Director), and Beaver Dance: A Holiday Marxist Fur Trade Musical (Bedlam Theatre, performer - Bemidji).
Catalog Models (producers)
Mark Sweeney has made theater in swimming pools, written musicals about exoplanets and robots, and performed on stages all over the Twin Cities. “Sweeney's script and songs are just as notable for the things they don't say as the things they do,” (Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet). Gemma Irishhas written whip-smart scripts about quantum mechanics, gay marriage, and objectum sexuality. She has been described as “a very gifted writer with a penchant for colorful similes and metaphors that nail the emotional tenor of a situation," (Pioneer Press). INTO THE UNREAL CITY is their collaboration -a musical walking tour, a search for meaning, a celebration and an exploration of the human experience.
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WORLD PREMIERE OF AN ORIGINAL LOCAL MUSICAL SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY AT 2014 MN FRINGE FESTIVAL
Stranded off a desert highway on a road trip borne of necessity, a young musician goes on an odyssey of self-discovery with the characters of Greek myth.
That short description truly sets the stage for what might be this Fringe's most personal and uniquely-crafted musical. In an abbreviated format, this production will focus on the original music by the composer and star of the show, Anders Norheim Mattson.
This musical revue of sorts will feature new songs performed by a strong cast of singers, both veterans of the stage and up-and-coming performers. Each song examines the story of a Greek mythological character as well as the thoughts and tribulations of the main character. The composer says about the show, “It encompasses the last five years of my life as I went from a peak of creativity to financial and emotional depression and back, all in one really messed up day in the desert.”
To accompany the singers through this musical journey will be Casey Rusco on piano and the composer's mother, JoAnn Norheim, on violin. Along with the twelve original musical numbers, the show boasts costumes by local designer Ivan Idland.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy premieres at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage, 711 W. Franklin Ave.
• Friday, 8/1 * 10:00pm
• Sunday, 8/3 * 8:30pm
• Friday, 8/8 * 7:00pm
• Saturday, 8/9 * 1:00pm
• Sunday, 8/10 * 5:30pm
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