Illusion Theater's 26th Annual Fresh Ink Series Set for Now thru 7/28

Fresh Ink, Illusion's annual summer series focusing on new plays, gives space for artists to develop their creative pieces and try their works-in-progress in front of audiences. For three weekends in July, emerging and established playwrights explore new ground, with a different play on stage each weekend. Now in its 26th year, Fresh Ink has presented more than 120 plays, with many going on to become full-length productions.

This season features WHAT I THOUGHT I SAW: RANDOM ACTS OF BLINDNESS!, a one-woman show by comedienne Leslye Orr of Dreamland Arts who is well-known for her workshops on disability; FRUIT FLY: THE MUSICAL, a 2012 Fringe hit that reveals how uplifting it can be to feel safe, welcomed, loved...and fabulous; and Jeffrey Hatcher'S HAMLET, a new piece by Minnesota's own acclaimed playwright about adapting, directing and performing in one of Shakespeare's greatest dramas when he was 10 years old.

All performances take place today, July 11-28 at the Illusion Theater in the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets for Fresh Ink are $17 per show; $30 for two shows or $39 for a three-play package, and are available at the Illusion Box Office at 612-339-4944 or online at www.illusiontheater.org.

Written and performed by Leslye Orr

Creative Advisor: Michael Robins

A delightful look at the low-vision adventures of one-eyed comedienne, Leslye Orr, and her off-kilter view of life in a 3-D world.

By Sheena Janson and Max Wojtanowicz

Music by Michael Gruber

Directed by Nikki Swoboda

Musical direction by John Linn

Creative Advisor: Peter Rothstein

In this expanded version of the 2012 Fringe Festival hit, Max Wojtanowicz and Cat Brindisi team up to find out whether a gay man and a straight woman - a fruit and a fruit fly - can "quit each other" to find true love? Fruit Fly was originally developed by Wojtanowicz and Sheena Janson, who met as kids in community theater in the St. Cloud area.

Critics described this buoyant two-person musical as "Brimming with affection and honesty.... sweet-spirited, high-energy, crisp as can be and totally delightful" (Pioneer Press). The Star Tribune said, "This musical explores their evolving friendship as a gay man and a straight woman, full of broad physical comedy and sharp, sarcastic wit. Their depiction of gay culture and the emotional complications of this kind of relationship is funnier than 'Will & Grace' (which they reference), and has some delightful songs."

By Jeffrey Hatcher

Directed by Michael Robins

When playwright Jeffrey Hatcher was 10 years old, he adapted, directed and performed in Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was staged in the fifth grade English class of Stark Elementary School in Steubenville, Ohio. It starred every student in the class. The audience consisted of teachers, parents and other kids. The first show sold out, so they added a second. It, too, sold out. It was Hatcher's first hit.

Flash-forward to 2013 while Hatcher re-visits that experience. He says, "The play is a one person show called 'Jeffrey Hatcher'S HAMLET,' all lunatic egocentric pomposity intended. I'll play myself telling the story, with its ups and downs, its disasters and triumphs and life lessons - all scaled to the fifth grade, naturally. It will be about theater as a home, as a refuge, and as a platform. It will be about time and place and politics - an Ohio steel town in the mid-60s. It will be about people who reveal themselves, their talents and weaknesses, when put through the pressure-cooker of putting on the world's greatest play in circumstances not likely to have been repeated since."

Tickets for Fresh Ink plays are $17 each, $30 for two plays or $39 for a three-play package. Group discounts are available for groups of 12 or more people. Tickets are available at the Illusion Theater Box Office at 612-339-4944 or online at www.illusiontheater.org.