Kansas City Fringe Festival — Check Mate, Downtown Replay, Road to Verona (Reviews)
The 13th Annual Kansas City Fringe Festival started Friday, July 21, and runs through Sunday, July 30. This year’s festival features more than 400 performances across 17 venues from almost 90 different local and national performing groups. Programming features plays, musicals, dance, film and visual arts. Admission to each performance is $10 (plus a one-time purchase of a 2017 KC Fringe button for $5), and each show runs an hour or less.
I’ve seen a number of shows so far, with more to come throughout the week. Three in particular may be of interest to No Proscenium readers and other fans of immersive theatre.
Check Mate is Kansas City playwright David Hanson’s third piece of immersive theatre for Fringe audiences; the first two, Bird in the Hand and Audience, played in the 2015 and 2016 festivals, respectively. Check Mate is a science-fiction piece about a group of scientists working to bridge the gap between alternate realities and a power-hungry madman seeking to exploit their findings. Various interpersonal dramas unfold over the 25-minute show, leading to a sinister climax. Sharing much more would give away too much of the plot.
My favorite part of Check Mate was the role-playing. When you enter, you are asked to choose one of three roles to play: Security, Science Assistant, or Rich and Powerful. I chose Security, as did a friend; two other friends chose the remaining roles. Upon getting your role, you are given a costume (lab coat, etc.) and a dossier with your character’s name and a brief history. I was the tough but fashion-conscious muscle you call when you want a job done on the down low. (Typecasting?) After reading your dossier, you are escorted upstairs for the performance. Different roles are ordered to do different functions throughout the show. For instance, my fellow Security friend and I spent a lot of time guarding entrances, while my Science Assistant friend timed experiments and my Rich and Powerful friend drank champagne.
A lot of thought went into this show, and it’s the type of thing we don’t see often in Kansas City. I’m glad I went and may try to catch it a second time before Fringe is over. As a huge fan of both immersive theatre and science fiction, this was a natural fit for me — and a combination I’ve not yet gotten to see performed.
That being said, it had one glaring flaw for me: sound issues. Unlike other immersive works I’ve seen like Sleep No More and Third Rail shows, dialogue is spoken throughout Check Mate, but depending on what role you play and where you are assigned, you may or may not be able to hear this dialogue. The idea seems to be that you’ll only hear some conversations, while other members of the audience will hear different conversations, providing everyone a unique experience. This idea was very much present in last year’s show, Audience. However, in Audience, the patrons could freely move from performer to performer. In Check Mate, you are assigned where to stand or sit. I was frequently placed in a spot so close to two different scenes that they each drowned each other out, and I was unable to make out the words for either. Others I’ve spoken to ran into the same issue. The show’s total square footage was less than a quarter of the large loft space it was performed in, and I kept wondering if spreading things out more throughout that space would have kept the audience in range of individual conversations. Plus, with no air conditioning, large fans blew for most of the show, making the sound issues even more difficult.
Fortunately, the cast was excellent. Even when I couldn’t discern individual words, I could clearly see emotions, shock revelations and power struggles. This really added to my enjoyment. In spite of the sound issues, I consider this a must-see for anyone who wants to see the boundaries of Kansas City theatre pushed. I’d like to see it come back for a return engagement (as Audience did) with sound issues worked out.
Check Mate plays at Arts Tech (1522 Holmes Street). There are two remaining performances on Friday, July 28, at 7 and 9 p.m.
Downtown Replay was an odd little show. I’ve never seen anything like it. Its producers, KC/MOtion, call it a “full sensory experience featuring interactive dance, sound, and video,” and I don’t think I can top that summary.
The show originated as a piece of improvised dances filmed throughout downtown Kansas City. Those dances, along with the locales they take place in, are shown on a movie screen with a variety of visual effect, including close-ups, overhead shots and kaleidoscopic views. In front of that screen are five dancers with (presumably) choreographed/non-improvised moves. In front of the dancers is an audience that has been handed various noise-making devices, such as mini-xylophones, harmonicas and whistles. (I had a strange wood and metal wedged-shaped instrument that made clicking noises when you turned a crank; I am dubbing this device The Thing Google Has Never Heard Of.) The audience is encouraged to play their devices, talk, sing, dance, use microphones placed around the room, etc. Near the end, the dancers come into the audience and interact. For instance, a dancer near me moved to the beats of the instrument I was playing. Or, perhaps, I was playing my instrument to her dance movements. It was fascinating, because it wasn’t always clear who was leading and who was following, and I suspect that was the point.
I enjoyed this show. I would strongly recommend it for dance enthusiasts and fans of experimental theatre. My recommendation for others is a bit milder. The on-stage dancing — though quite good — got a bit repetitive near the end. Soon, though, the dancers started to come into the audience, and it go much more interesting. Unfortunately, by that point, the show was almost over. I would have preferred about five to 10 of on-stage dancing replaced by five to 10 minutes of audience dancing, but that’s a minor quibble. I am glad I went and don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
Downtown Replay plays at Phosphor Studio (1730 Broadway). There is one remaining performance on Friday, July 28, at 6 p.m.
On the Road to Verona is presented by the Minnesota SkyVault Theatre from Rochester, Minn. The cast is made up of eight performers, all of whom I suspect are under 18.
And they are simply amazing.
I cannot recommend this show enough. If you are in Kansas City, go see it before Fringe ends. If you are in another city, pray to the immersive theatre gods that this touring company comes to you. If you are in Rochester, Minn., go tell these kids how fantastic they are.
The entertainment starts before the show’s scheduled start time with an unannounced pre-show. As soon as seating begins, you’ll find the performers running around the stage, giving each other piggybacks throughout the audience, and slyly asking the audience to do them favors. They’ll come by and take selfies with you and encourage you to leave you phones on during the show; you see, the characters in the show will post status update on Facebook giving you a deeper look into their thoughts. (Example: Julia posted this during the performance I was at: “That awkward moment when you dress up as a man to stalk your boyfriend… but he’s cheating on you… so you follow him into the woods… long story short: I’m a woman.”)
When the show begins, you’ll see a tale of earnest young thespians who have been abandoned by their bard, “Will.” He’s run off to London, leaving them just the notes for his latest play, Two Gentlemen from Verona. Using just the skeleton of an outline, they decide to perform the play. In this endeavor, they acts, sing, dance, play musical instruments… and bring out a ladder. Oh, the ladder. I never knew “ladder humor” was a thing, but now I do. While various members of the cast carry the ladder, various other members of the cast climb on it, do gymnastics from it, and use it for slapstick humor. Throughout all of this, the cast ventures into the audience frequently, interacting with the viewers and making them part of the story. I ended up wearing a crown of roses for half of the show.
I loved this show, and highly recommend it. It reminded me a lot of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (which I also loved).
On the Road to Verona plays at the Unicorn Theatre’s Levin Stage (3828 Main Street). Remaining performances are Wednesday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, July 28, at 6 p.m., and Saturday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m. I’m hopeful this show will get named “best of venue” for this theatre, which would give it an additional showing on Sunday, July 30, at 4:30 p.m.
I’m fringing for the next several days and will post updates if I see anything else of interest to NoPro readers!
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