Minnesota Fringe Festival 2010

“The Tiki War” is a must-see for nostalgia, crime and war buffs who follow the exploits of Don Draper and the hustlers of Sterling Cooper on “Mad Men”, or cheered Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his squad as they scalped their way through World War II Germany in “Inglourious Basterds.” Castro’s takeover of Cuba two years before, Kennedy’s inauguration the next day, the Korean War in which two of the characters served, and the McCarthy witch hunts which drove one of them to his present sorry state, are flavored with ominous predictions of today’s political events. Costumes and set pieces of the period are provided by local novelty emporiums and thrift shops. A recorded soundtrack of classic exotica tunes, lounge music and “crime jazz”, is provided courtesy of DJ Glen Leslie, host of “Jet Set Planet” on KFAI FM.

“The Tiki War” takes place over one night in a tropical-themed bar in 1961 Chicago. Stan Ridgeway, co-owner of the The Tiki Room, tries in vain to go over the bar’s accounts while dealing with an after-hours visitor - Dionne Belmont, a chanteuse who sings at a rival night spot, The Cha. Dionne has come for her regular supply of heroin, but her dealer, Tiki Room co-owner Ray Conniff, had to leave on a family emergency. Even though she is rapidly going into withdrawal, Dionne manages to convince Stan - who has no knowledge of his partner’s side business - that she needs to see Ray about “something important.” Meanwhile, Stan and Dionne must humor Ruby Delgado, owner of The Cha. Ruby has made a surprise visit to The Tiki Room to see her fiancee, Dominic, house pianist at her club and, unbeknownst to Ruby, Dionne’s lover. She knows that Dominic is on his way over to confront Ray about his dope dealing. What she doesn’t know is that Dominic has already arrived ... and is presently “indisposed.”

John Ervin
Role: Writer-Producer-Director
John has worked as an independent filmmaker for over fifteen
years. He wrote, produced and directed the locally shot features "Made in Berlin", "Vixen Highway" and "Proinhibition." He also wrote, produced and directed "Catfight!" for the 2008 MN Fringe Festival. John is a
freelance writer on film, politics and entertainment for City Pages and holds a BA in Film from San Francisco State University. His official Web site is www.ervinflix.com.

Alexandra Gowdy-Jaehnig
Role: Stage Manager
Alexandra received her BA in Theatre Arts from Hamline University, including a semester of training at the University of London Queen Mary. Recently, she worked on "The Biggest Little House in the Forest" (ASM/Intern), Disney’s "Mulan Jr." (fill-in ASM) and "Columbinus" (SM) at The Children’s Theatre Company. She has worked as SM for Theatre Or, 20% Theatre Company, Commedia Beauregard and as ASM with Live Action Set and Upright Egg. She has also worked in the Prop, Costume and Scenic Departments with Peninsula Players and Commonweal Theatre Co.

Jeremy Sutheim
Role: Stan Ridgeway
A veteran of stage, film, radio and television, Jeremy played Dale in
the Emerson Channel TV broadcast "Every Shade of Wrong" and The Good Roommate in "The Bad Roommate." On stage, he portrayed Nestor in The Emerson Shakespeare Society’s rendition of "Troilus and Cressida",
Alfred Schill in "The Visit" and Pedro in "Man of La Mancha." For radio, he wrote, produced and narrated "Apathy in Youth" for Radio 626. Jeremy trained in drama for The Waverly School, in improv for The Westside
Eclectic and playwriting for the Unversity of Southern California.

Tara Lucchino
Role: Dionne Belmont
A native of Pittsburgh, Tara received a BA in Theater
from Penn State University. Before moving out to the Twin Cities this past September, she worked at The Acadia Repertory Theatre in Maine as well as the nationally acclaimed Outdoor Drama, Tecumseh, in Ohio. Most recently, Tara could be seen here in the Cities as Mary Brenham in Starting Gate Productions’ "Our Country’s Good." In September, you can see her performing in Jesus Christ Superstar at Pioneer Place
in Saint Cloud. Memorable roles include: Annie in "Round and Round the Garden", The Girl in "Freakshow", Penelope Toop in "See How They Run", and Rose Red in "Snow White and Rose Red."

Sarah Switanowski
Role: Ruby Delgado
Planet Ant, Zeitgeist and Bonstelle are a few of the interesting
companies which Sarah has parlayed a wide variety of characters in. For Planet Ant, she was Ester in "The Hebrew Hammer" and Amiga Gringa in "In the Blood"; for Zeitgeist she was Cassie in both Parts I and II of
"Desperate Losers"; and at Bonstelle she was featured in productions of "Sweet Charity", "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Dream On Monkey Mountain." Sarah has a BFA in Theater from Wayne State University and trained at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia.

Daniel James
Role: Dominic Frontiere
Daniel worked for ten years as a bartender.

John Ervin
Role: Ray Conniff
See writer-producer-director bio.

Diane Visser
Role: Props Manager
Diane has worked behind the scenes, on stage and in front of the camera
on many film, TV and stage productions. She could most recently be seen in The Coen Brothers’ second Minnesota production, "A Serious Man", Bent Hamer’s "Factotum", and Robert Altman’s "A Prairie Home Companion." Diane has had speaking parts in John Ervin’s films "Vixen Highway" and "Proinhibition", and provided props and acting support for his 2008 Fringe Festival show "Catfight!"

User reviews

flawed production
by kelly C. Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
First: please turn the music off soon after the lights go up. We get it, it's a nightclub, we'll fill it in with our imaginations. I liked the music very much, but letting the music play through the whole show made it hard to hear the softer voices, or those times when the actors speak upstage. Second, better blocking please! Key events happen waaaay upstage, behind a table. A little creative staging and the action could have happened in better view of the audience. Third, please turn the lights up!! Again, we get it, it's a dimly lit nightclub. But we still want to be able to see the play!

Overall, I was disappointed. The acting was fine, but too many other flawed decisions made this average script frustrating to watch.

Well-plotted noir
by Bob Subiaga Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
The cast could use time to practice the physicality of the action in this noir thriller, not to mention more realistic props (especially the guns). Plus the script gets a little clunky when the exposition is woven in about setting and character background. But the setting, the background, the characters who people the story and the plot are all spot-on for this kind of thriller, and the cast fit their roles.

Good Time
by Marvin Joel Rubin Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
I thought of it as film noir on stage. It had hard boiled dialog, dames and guns. What else matters?

Not Bad, But Not For Everyone
by Mark Long Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
The dialogue is good, and acting is mostly good, but the background music distracts and ruins any tension there may be.
I'll ignore the plot-hole with the boy being 10 years old and hope they tighten everything up a little.
Not bad.

Great acting...okay story...
by Chase McCants Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
You know, there is a lot to like about The Tiki War. Here you have a drama set right in the cold war involving mobsters, drugs, and nightclubs. The acting was strong. Each character, from the meek to the mighty, commanded the stage. I loved the acting choices. There was still a bit of heightened reality...almost as if I were watching some old film. The story was...okay. I was with them for a good majority of the show, but towards the end, the story line was a bit unbelievable. Character reactions felt slightly unlikely. Despite that, I think the show is worth seeing.

Painful
by Dave Larson Follow this reviewer
Rating 1 kitty
I was checking my watch at 15 minutes into the show. I looked to see if I could sneak out of the theater, but I would have had to crawl over some other patrons. By the 30 minute mark I was laughing at how horrible the writing, directing and acting were. Only go to this if you want to see how bad a Fringe show can be. Over plotted, ploddingly paced - even the props were bad. Avoid like the plague. I gave it one kitty and not zero because they actually put some work into it, however fruitless it was.