EventAugust 14 - 26, 2013

Critical Praise for CalArtian Edinburgh Fringe Productions

Edinburgh Festival Fringe is in full swing and the CalArtian productions we reported on in a previous post, Mask, Goose and Whispering in the Dark, are receiving their share of critical praise.

Michael Yichao Wang’s (Theater MFA 13) Goose garnered a positive review from ThreeWeeks, the festival’s oldest review magazine:

A fairly solemn and sad story is kept light-hearted by Yichao’s [Wang] well-timed and well-formed charm and humor… The drama is delightful, thought-provoking and leaves you feeling deliciously satisfied and happy. I could have listened to Yichao’s monologue-style thoughts for hours.

Outside of CalArts Festival Theater at Venue 13, another alumnus is drawing rave reviews. Allan Trautman (Theater MFA 78) is a cast member of Henson Alternative’s Puppet Up! Uncensored, a show that combines comic improvisation and live puppet theater. Although it features puppets and puppeteers from The Jim Henson Company, Puppet Up! Uncensored is an adults-only departure from Sesame Street. Fest gives it four out of five stars, saying it “highlights the raw artistry of Colleen Smith, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Ted Michaels, Drew Massey and Allan Trautman, all of whom appear not only to be masters of their craft, but genuinely funny people,” while Wow 24/7 raves:

These guys are marvelous multi-taskers—as well as operating the puppets with seemingly effortless dexterity, they make silly voices, sing, improvise jokes and exhibit intuitive comic timing as they relive the first date of a couple plucked from the audience, create a Bond film opening sequence and rap a kids’ story.

Above, we posted a photo gallery from John Michael Johnson’s (Theater MFA 15) Mask and Wang’s Goose.

Event Details

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Puppet Up! Uncensored Aug. 14 through 26 Assembly Hall Mound Place, EH1 2LU, Edinburgh Tickets and full schedule

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