AT THE FRINGE - MOMMY ISSUES

David Wraith’s deconstruction of his racial, sexual and gender identity through the lens of his complicated relationship with his late mother. Calling Dr. Freud! I include the last image as an illustration of the visual havoc caused by digital projectors on the stage (although it looks kind of cool). The end of the show pushed the limit of the Fringe’s no censorship policy to the point that I lowered my lens.

Need to move on. There are two major photo events here this weekend, the Japanese Festival at the botanical garden and Paint Louis. Hope I can get to both.        

AT THE FRINGE - MORE AERIAL DANCE

I posted one picture of Martha Newsam’s aerial dance performance earlier in this series but did not have time to edit any images of her students. Time to get back to that. Again, the gentle motion and grace were exquisite. The lighting was all blue and I thought that black and white showed the dancers to better effect.                   

AT THE FRINGE - THE COMPLICATED REFLECTIONS OF HIM

A show by Jeremy Watson about the struggles of contemporary Black masculinity on a journey from trauma to freedom. It was difficult for me to follow, but that is not a reflection on the show. The monologue was delivered in the style of choppy, highly rhythmic and rhymed hip hop lyrics, without a musical base. This old guy comes from a different cultural place.                    

AT THE FRINGE: JEANNETTE RANKIN, CHAMPION OF PERSISTENCE

Jeannette Rankin was the first female member of congress, elected from Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. A committed pacifist, she was one of 40 to vote against entry into World War I and the only member to vote against entering World War II. She was a powerful force for women’s suffrage, social equality and was a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union. J. Emily Peabody presented a moving dramatization of her career and accomplishments.           

AT THE FRINGE - JOHN HUGHES CHOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

John Hughes Choose Your Own Adventure was a long, complex and funny show. There were two premises. One was a pastiche of Hughes’ iconic movies from the 1980s such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 16 Candles, Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon’s Vacation (I’ll never forget the seen in which the Griswold family gets off the highway at a very poorly chosen exit in St. Louis), Pretty In Pink and more. The other device was a riff on the Choose Your Own Adventure books popular with young people in the past. At points in the story, readers would be given a choice: would you like she/he/them to go in this or that direction, changing the path of the story. The program said there were 27 possible scenarios and 3,072 possible variations. The result was hilarious chaos.