As you may recall from my previous post, last Monday we  performed a preview at the Minnesota Fringe For All at the Ritz theater. It turned out that local playwright and Blogger extraordinaire Matthew Everett was in attendance and taking notes. He graciously wrote up reviews/synopsis of each performance for the Twin Cities Daily Planet.  Our review went to the internet press yesterday and it delighted us to no end. We do want to reassure everyone – regarding what Matthew said “I have to admit I’m curious. Which I suppose is the point of the marketing strategy.” We left you hanging for a very good reason, and believe me, it’s definitely worth checking us out at the Fringe.

Without futher adieu, our review:

“You eat the dinner your husband made you. It tastes like tree bark. You tell him it’s delicious.”

Giant Toddler Productions

Foolproof

by: Matthew Everett and found here on the tc Daily Planet site

Jake and Zelda, young newlyweds, hope moving into a new house ends the tension between them. But when Jake confides in his friend Martin how he plans to fix his marriage, the truth of their lives is revealed.

One of my favorite hosting moments of the evening was when Robin Gillette read the above description and injected after “Jake and Zelda, young newlyweds, hope moving into a new house ends the tension between them…”

“‘Cause that always works.”

Because of two of the actors – Lisa Bol and Mark Benzel, I really want this one to work out well. They’ve been very supportive of new work, most directly impacting me and my writing friends by helping out now and then with reading for our writing group. It’s immeasurably helpful to have actors reading the lines aloud as the script begins to take shape, and have an actor’s perspective on where the questions lie, what things might be missing, what things are confusing.

Mark and Lisa are teaming up with this production’s writer/actor Anthony Rydberg, and its director Nathan Wagner, to found a new theater company (I know, I know, another one, but c’mon, that’s part of what Fringe is for, too – a launching pad.)

“Aspect Lab Theatre is a company of artists dedicated to producing quality theatre in its most intimate form. It is Aspect Lab Theatre’s goal to provide a place where writers, directors, designers, and actors will drive each other to grow as artists. Most of all, the company strives to create an ensemble that engages in selfless dialogue with our audiences and our collaborators.”

As for their first outing, Foolproof, it’s hard to tell. The production clings so tightly to the big “secret” that lurks at the center of this story that it almost leaves too much room for speculation.

“Don’t tell my wife what I’m going to do.”

OK, I’ll bite.

It better not involve something as benign as a new addition to the house, or a balloon animal, or a new car, or a puppy.

But on the other hand, I’m sort of dreading anything dire like a whole “Crimes & Misdemeanors” spin on it (my mistress is inconvenient, let’s have her killed), or “I’ve had myself neutered,” or going the “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” route and just getting the former fling erased from his memory banks.

It can’t be any of those things. So what could it be, so that the audience doesn’t just feel like it’s had its chain yanked by some shaggy dog story?

They concluded just as the light was turning yellow. But I found myself wanting just a little more.

I have to admit I’m curious. Which I suppose is the point of the marketing strategy.

Only one way to find out…