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NAKED STRANGERS presented by Out of School Productions as part of the 2016 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. You can read the show description here.
This production is one of several fringe shows this year that uses an ensemble to discuss a topic and impart information to its audience. For me, it was also the most successful.
STRANGERS features a talented and diverse cast of nine recent college-graduates, who are very much at-ease on stage and enjoyable to watch. I was grateful for the overall tone of the show and its underlying sense of humor. I felt included in the experience, the difference between being talked to vs. being talked at. The material was well-written and organized. Properties and costumes were well-chosen and used sparingly. It was nice to see the urge to “kitchen sink” the production was avoided. Credit for this fine production is shared with creator and director Richard Hess.
“Wasn’t that pleasant?” the audience is rhetorically asked several times throughout the production. Indeed it was.
Two performances remain through June 8.
On the front of their program, I HATE IT HERE is described as “A romantic dramedy about two women trying to become one.” It sounds like a good concept for a fringe show, but a concept doesn’t make a show work. You have to be the snake-oil salesman who makes me believe what you are selling. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for me.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 