AUDITIONS

 

St. Louis theater veteran Joe Hanrahan is a Fringe regular. This year, he presented three short comedies called Auditions!, about the humiliations, absurdities and indignities of casting a show. The burdens apply equally to the actors and producers. I think this was the funniest: a Martian performer with an unpronounceable name shows up expecting a part. Theater is a big deal on Mars. Everyone goes all the time. Casting is not an issue. The right person is always in the right place. It’s pretty hard for the human directors to grok.   

Lots of new stuff to shoot this weekend. We’re into Paint Louis, when top graffiti artists from all over re-decorate a miles-long stretch of the Mississippi River flood wall. And Labor Day weekend brings the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, always a great photo op.                

TINY QUARTERMAN VARIETY HOUR

 

St. Lou Fringe president and artistic director Matthew Kerns has plenty of acting chops of his own. A puppet he had made by a New York master puppeteer arrived just before the festival, leading to a late schedule addition, the Tiny Quarterman Variety Hour. Tiny (and I don’t know where the name comes from) appears to be from another dimension, visiting us from time to time, looking for, um, companionship. Matt proved to be quite the puppet performer. The show was rude, lewd, funny and as gay as the first day of May.               

CAM BURNS’ NOCTIPHANY

 

Yet another Fringe performance. Cam Burns is  a young musician from Kansas City. The title of the show is one of his songs. He plays keyboards with speed and agility, writes songs and sings. Burns falls in the tradition of so many piano player singer-songwriters. In the second picture, his brother accompanies him on guitar.

My spine surgery yesterday went very well. I can stand straighter but still a little woozy from anesthesia. General anesthesia is a strange thing. I was, and then I was not, and then I was. There was no sensation of slipping away or gradually coming back; more like an on-off switch. There is no pain around the tiny incision. Lots of thanks to my wonderful neurosurgeon, Dr, John Ogunlade, and the fabulous team at the Washington University Medical Center - Barnes-Jewish Hospital.                

INFJ

The Fringe is known for out-there, experimental work. However, a dance performance based on the pseudoscientific Myers-Briggs personality test, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator, pushed the envelope. It was once very popular in American business; some of my old colleagues gave it to all new employees. It is a self-assessment instrument,  leading to one of 16 classifications, marked by four letters.

Modern Marvels Dance Company produced a beautiful work called INFJ, one of the 16 categories. A web page on the subject describes it as is a personality type with the Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Judging  traits. They tend to approach life with deep thoughtfulness and imagination. Their inner vision, personal values, and a quiet, principled version of humanism guide them in all things. I don’t know much about dance (and am incapable of doing it) but, although it was lovely, I had a hard time getting the connection.

URINETOWN

 

I’m falling way behind here. Too much going on and far too many pictures to edit. My path through The Fringe is now up to the provocatively-named Urinetown, which ran on Broadway for a number of years. It is a complex story but, in essence: it is set in a future time when there has been a profound drought. There is far from enough water for sanitary systems, leading to the “stinky times.” A crass capitalist manages government-sanctioned toilets which require a steep fee, much to everyone’s, um, discomfort. The workers and people revolt, depose the magnate and restore bladder equity. However, at the end, a return to the stinky times threaten. There is a detailed summary at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urinetown .

The most remarkable thing is that it is performed by immensely talented high school students through Ignite Theatre Company, https://ignitewithus.org/ . We have seen their work at The Fringe before and it is extraordinary.

I may be offline for a while later this week. Spine surgery on Wednesday, which is not as big a deal as it sounds. New, minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedure, small incision, clean out a couple of nerve roots, two hours’ work, home the same day. Still, I may be spacey for a bit.