Christy DeSmith

“This is city girl meets country boy,” quipped Cheri Peterson, pointing a finger between herself and her husband, Kevin. However, such a coupling can work swimmingly when the pair gets to share a sophisticated yet bucolic life as owners and operators of the WineHaven Winery and Vineyard, outside Chisago City. The Peterson partnership, which manages … Read more

If the three-minute preview we saw in late June (as part of the Fringe For All sneak peek) was a representative sample, this will be a show that typifies fringey humor—you know, jocular and yet acerbic, delivered with wit and plenty of pop-culture references. Last year, the North Dakota show’s originators, Curt Lund and Laura … Read more

If the prospect of staging Jules Verne’s adventure novel seems at all daunting, consider, then, the restraints of the Fringe: All shows must wrap within sixty minutes. Yet if anyone can accomplish this feat, it’s Hardcover Theater, a Minneapolis-based company that routinely transforms novels, short stories, and even poetry into entertaining nights of theater. In … Read more

One of our favorite local freelance directors, Jon Ferguson, directs a company of six teenage performers and theater-makers (from Stages Theatre Company) in the creation and performance of this original play. So far, Ferguson’s Fringe Fest track-record is unblemished; his past hits include 2005’s Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban and 2006’s Kill The Robot. … Read more

Admit it: You think neons push the boundaries of good taste. At the very least, their shocking brightness does little to enhance so many complexions: Canary yellow can make a wide range of pigmentations look jaundiced; hot pink makes even flawless pale skin look as though tinged by rosacea. Even so, now that all other … Read more

Nigerian sensation Femi Kuti didn’t merely ride the coattails of his late, great father, Afro-beat legend Fela Kuti. The progeny did, after all, play sax in his dad’s band for nearly two decades—right up until Fela’s death in 1997—and Femi’s solo projects have not only impressed critics, but even managed to legitimize him in the … Read more

On the waterfront patio of the Harbor Restaurant and Bar, while all manner of yachts floated by, diners in swimsuits chatted happily and passed around a live parrot. Reggae music wafted from the restaurant’s outdoor tiki bar, and when the dreadlocked barkeep took an order (“two caipirinhas, please”), he answered with a Jamaican accent: “Nine … Read more