I DON’T BELIEVE IT

Crowds queue up for snacks at the Festival of Nations. I guarantee you there is no such thing as a Korean corn dog. Mozzarella? Italian, degenerated in this country. Hot dogs? Based on German sausage but first served in this form at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Coating it in corn meal and deep-frying it? American county fairs. And, moving right, Chan  is a Chinese name but teriyaki is Japanese. You can’t believe anything these days.               

IT’S A SMALL WORLD

Seen at the Festival of Nations. Maybe this globe provides a sense of scale. It rolls a little when the children push it but I’m guessing the bottom is a bit flat so it doesn’t go bounding into the street.

                         

 

FESTIVAL OF NATIONS

Time for a change. Last weekend we had our annual Festival of Nations, put on by the St. Louis International Institute. It’s a wonderful organization that provides services for immigrants, English classes, transportation and anything our new residents might need. The festival was almost canceled after the administration pulled most of its funding. The community came together, though, and the event was packed.                   

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. The audience sure got it, though.                    

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. You can see much of it at www.thornproductions.org.          

AT THE FRINGE - JOHN HUGHES CHOOSE 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 scene 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 her/him/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.                   

AT THE FRINGE - WHEN BILLIE & FRIENDS MET

A terrific musical review, based on the lives and music of Billie Holliday and Dinah Washington. Wendy Gordon portrayed both singers, with Marvin Cockerell, the music director, on keyboards, Stanley Coleman on saxophone, Willem von Hombracht on bass and Bernard Long Jr., on drums. Billie Holliday always wore a large flower on the left side of her head when performing. The show explained that early in her career, before going on stage, Holliday burned the left side of her head with a curling iron. She covered it with a flower and it became a trademark.             

AT THE FRINGE - PLAYING DRESS UP

Mary Schmidt presented a show about the meaning and poignance of clothing from our pasts. Families of limited means would reuse, repair and recycle, wasting nothing. Did you have hand-me-downs in your family? Do attics and thrift stores give you a feeling of connection to your heritage? By the way, love her Kansas City Fringe tee shirt.                    

AT THE FRINGE - THE MAGICAL MAYHEM SHOW

 

The Fringe usually has magic shows and there were a few this year. Back for a return engagement were Professor Longhair and John Johnson, who perform as The Magical Mayhem Show. Plenty of audience participation.                  

AT THE FRINGE - WE ARE THE WHOLE CAST

Late post. I got an early Covid booster yesterday since we’re traveling abroad soon and it knocked me out.  Anyway, another favorite show. Carmen Guynn and Ieshah Edwards presented a series of poignant scenes, each with a different character. 

They include: a formerly enslaved woman who channels resilience through a Bomba dance; a warm-hearted waitress; a Bible-toting and liquor flask carrying neighborhood matron; a broom-carrying sass machine; a 16 year old with an intellectual disability who  finds pride and joy in her work and love of beans; a former Broadway star who receives a lifetime achievement award; and an unapologetic woman of the night who uses humor and grit to confront judgment and survive.

Sorry  for the streakiness. Digital projectors and digital cameras don’t play well together. 

                      

AT THE FRINGE - MIDSUMMER NIGHT: A TALE OF PUCK

Potosi, Missouri, is a small town 72 miles / 116 km southwest of St. Louis. It was the center of a lead mining region and has fallen on hard times. Nevertheless, there is a wonderful organization called Sonder Performance Company that gives local girls an opportunity to participate in sophisticated music and dance productions and take the shows on tour. This show was derived from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, centered on Puck finding her identity. It was the most charming thing I’ve seen in a long time and I could not resist the temptation to show several pictures.