Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Minnesota Fringe approaching!

First things first -- Matt Everett, Fringe blogger extraordinaire, has placed Maximum Verbosity at #2 on his top ten list this year. That's out of 163 shows. Woo-hoo! He's been kind enough to do a write-up on us -- the first half is a kind of retrospective of our first four years (can you believe we've been around that long?), the second half a somewhat cranky interview with me about the new show. Worth checking out, if only for the trip down memory lane: http://www.fringefestival.org/blg_showPost.cfm?blogID=4&id=2406

Second things second, the Asian-American Press has done a write-up about the show, complete with a (rather snarky) interview with me about the Asian-American community in the Twin Cities. Also available online, this time at http://aapress.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1185766871&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&.

I've also just returned from touring in the Iowa Fringe. There's a clip of me previewing the show with some comedy for their "Fringe Frenzy" in a local coffee shop at http://www.iowafringe.com/videos. The audience reviews were unanimously glowing:

"phillip low is a straight-up (fantastic) storyteller. Okay, he’s also a slam poet, an actor, and affectionate entertainer. I thoroughly enjoyed his Descendant of Dragons. It’s a journey you should take with him."

"Excellent show, engaging story. He’s physically and verbally charismatic and unafraid to be vulnerable and genuine with the audience. Best of the Fringe for me so far."

"A great story, well written and well told. I enjoyed this best of all I’ve seen, so far."

For my own thoughts on the experience, I've been writing at the Maximum Verbosity Production Blog (http://maximumverbosityonline.blogspot.com). Check out my promotional sonnet!

Speaking of blogging, for those interested in some, er, DVD bonus features, so to speak -- the show being a travelogue, much of it has been collected from my travel writing. You can read early drafts of some pieces that ended up in the show -- and several that were cut -- at the following links:

http://fringefestival.org/blg_showPost.cfm?blogID=23&id=1974
http://fringefestival.org/blg_showPost.cfm?blogID=23&id=1975
http://libertarianrage.blogspot.com/2006/12/notes-from-china-journal.html
http://libertarianrage.blogspot.com/2006/12/more-notes-from-china-journal.html

Want to help me out? I'd like to get the show videotaped, as well. Since this is a storytelling show, and pretty much the least physical thing I've ever done, left to my own devices I'll probably just set up a home video camera on a tripod and hit "Record," much like the infamous Star Wars kid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQibs3albtM). If anybody out there would be willing to undertake anything more ambitious than that, I'd be happy to offer a small stipend for the service.

Fringe Festival starts in two days -- and I open in barely a week! Eeeagh!

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