Fringe Fest Wrap Party

What: Wrap party for eleven days of theater
When: Sunday, August 10
Where: First Avenue and 7th Street Entry
Why: To celebrate a successful fifteenth Fringe Festival and reward everyone involved

Dancing Queen seems to be the universal call to action for the Twin Cities theater world. The checkered dance floor in First Avenue's Main Room was bare until a techno-remix of the famous Abba song began. Oh sure, there were a couple of people here and there dancing in the shadows before that, but when the cast and crew of more than 100 Fringe Festival shows hears Abba and descends on the dance floor all at once, there's no show quite like it. Just like some of the shows in the festival, it seems many of the dances this evening were experimental as well. After eleven days of rigorous show schedules, I was impressed anyone had the energy for such ecstatic dancing. Reid Knutilla, who donned a giant furry costume for the key role in Joseph Scrimshaw's An Inconvenient Squirrel, said he felt like the party was "the last day of summer camp. Like all of our parents are going to show up tomorrow to pick us up." Nobody was covered in dirt from hiking in the woods though; no ticks were spotted at this party. At the very most, I spotted some heavy, colorful theatrical makeup and a few people still in costume from their final Fringe performance of the year—all of which seemed to be coming off in degrees on the dance floor.