There’s just five more days of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which wraps up with several “Encore” performances on Saturday, June 13. If you have yet to see any of these well received and highly recommended productions, don’t delay. All three of them will be presented at Know Theatre (1120 Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine)
Champagne Dreams (5:00 p.m.) This is a delightful piece of storytelling with virtually no spoken dialogue. Instead its two performers, “3 Sticks,” a collaboration between a pair of creators from Alabama who use physical theater, music and sound, puppets and object theater, live video and green-screen technology. It begins in desolate midwinter Champagne, North Dakota, then wanders off into a phantasmagoric reality of a decadent luxury resort. It’s a technological tour-de-force that delivered with earnest commitment — making it both fascinating and humorous.
Colonial Circus (6:45 p.m.) which comes with a subtitle: “Two Brown Clowns Pretending to Be British Colonizers Journey Through the History of Colonialism” might be a tad mystifying at first but play along and you’ll be entertained. This pair from Toronto have well-honed comedy skills and engage the audience in ways that are both amusing and knowingly insightful. The performers, who’ve branded themselves as Two2Mango, have traveled across the USA, UK and Canada, earning an array of “best of show” awards.
A Hollywood Horror Story (8:30 p.m.) is a solo show by Ingrid Garner (who pleased Cincy Fringe audiences in 2024 and 2025 with productions of Eleanor’s Story, based on her grandmother’s memoir of being a teenager in Germany during World War II). This time around Garner, an L.A. theater veteran who has toured to Fringes across Canada, Australia and the U.S., has taken off in a new direction, digging into the life of Maila Nurmi, a creative woman who developed a character she called “Vampira,” based on iconic horror characters such as Morticia and Sleeping Beauty’s wicked witch. A year of TV fame in 1954 established her as an icon, but it didn’t last. Garner lays out Nurmi’s life story — its ups and downs — while also taking on the garb and demeanor of Vampira in full view of the audience. It’s a fascinating transformation and presented with serious authenticity.
Also worth adding to your Fringe docket are a pair of dance performances presented at Gabriel’s Corner (1425 Sycamore Street in Over-the-Rhine).
Tapped In (Gabriel’s Corner, Wednesday, June 10, at 7 p.m.) by Pones Inc., a dance company that always takes its Fringe shows in interesting directions. This time it’s a history of tap dance, from its African roots through 20th-century entertainment and 21st-century contemporary styles. Of particular interest is Jason E. Bernard, a Broadway performer from The Bronx (who appeared in 1995 at age 17 in Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk). Putting this energetic, rhythmic dance style into a historic context adds texture and depth of meaning.
The Mad Women’s Ball (Gabriel’s Corner, Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m.), a “deconstructed” theatrical work by InBocca Performance, the Cincinnati dance company. Set in a 19th-century Paris asylum, it’s presented as a study of women suffering from “hysteria,” a trumped-up diagnosis to put away assertive women whose husbands preferred to be rid of them. In the real world, they became a tourist attraction. The choreography by 11 dancers is emotionally gripping and passionately delivered; by the performance’s end, the audience is thoroughly engaged.
If you’re in OTR on Saturday evening at 10 p.m., stop by Know Theatre (1120 Jackson Street) in its downstairs “Underground” Bar for the “Pick of the Fringe” Awards. It’s a great chance to compare notes and meet many of the performers. Admission is free. Full bar service, of course.
You can read reviews of many Fringe productions by writers pooling their coverage on the League of Cincinnati Theatres website: leagueofcincytheatres.info
For show information and tickets: www.cincyfringe.com