Venue-by-Venue 07/31/2013 12:27pm

After the months of lead-up, the constant references in the Minnesota Playlist blog, the deluge of Facebook invites, and the constant chatter among performers, technicians, and attendees, I'm ready for this 2013 Minnesota Fringe to strip and streak through Minneapolis. But "fringe au naturel" isn't the angle I'm tackling for this here blog (try the Villain of the Fringe tumblr for that). Instead, I'll be looking at the Minnesota Fringe down at the venue level, asking questions about location and adjacent attractions, audience and show ecology, and where to shove off for a drink and meal. I've fringed by venue previously, but never with a focus primarily on the venue itself. Fringing for me, and most people, is show and talent-centered--you want to see the next Ferrari McSpeedy production or you're really interested in what Jena Young is doing and hitting all her shows is your goal for the festival. Sure, you might take a "Rarig Day," and see all the shows you want to hit therein (and for the purposes of this blog, I'm counting the Rarig as a single space). And if you're like me, you might have taken a "Gremlin Day" or a "Theatre Garage Day" or a "I'm Going to Stay at Home Today Day" because you might find yourself a little drained during the middle of the festival don't want to worry about parking, biking, or catching the train between shows. But only one venue for every different day of Fringe? I don't think I've heard of one person who's tried to schedule their entire fringing experience that way. "But Josh, what about all those shows you'll miss if it doesn't line up with your schedule? Won't you miss out?" You may have noticed this already, but there are 16 venues and 11 days of festival, so I'm faced with too few days to hit all the venues. However, having done the Fringe challenge of seeing every slot known to fringer, I can say that I've still missed out. You can't see everything--it's impossible. And rushing between venues to try to get to everything, while exciting, is also draining. Doing a venue/day psychologically feels almost leisurely. It's slowing down to smell the Fringe, as it were. I'm still going to see a lot. I'm looking forward to the perk of staying at a venue and letting shows wash over me like a fringenami. There will be shows I would never have seen otherwise--that is the great chance of this experiment. I may stumble on the best show ever, or I might just have a new appreciation of "non-juried." I'm not 100% on where I'm starting this journey. An unexpected difficulty of scheduling by venue is it's actually really difficult. It seems simple in conception--just plunk yourself down at Illusion or New Century and done--but when there are a few shows you want to see at any given venue, you try to find a night where you can see all of them. But then suddenly that displaces your lineup elsewhere. But I won't be beaten by scheduling. I'll see you out there, one venue at a time. July 31th, 2013: 12:19 pm Current venue: My office. Audience: At lunch. Temperature: Cool. Outside: Cloudy. Watering Hole: Hubert's. Mood: Excited. Expectations: High.