The reviews are in!

"The writing is deft, the acting is spot-on and the staging is clever. A definite must see." 

-Ed Huyck, City Pages

"Strong acting, clever writing and wonderful design." 

-Eric Ringham, Star Tribune

"The dialogue is witty, the story silly and the cast terrific." 

-Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

Shelby Company is proud to be back for our fourth consecutive year at the Minnesota Fringe premiering Jonathan A. Goldberg's Font of Knowledge! 

This continent spanning comedy follows a burned out former font maker Eli Calibri and gal librarian Korinna Goudy (head of the Secret and Evil documents section in the National Archives) as they try to stop the world's most deadly font, HELVETICA, from falling into the wrong hands.  Eli and Korinna must sift their way through seedy punctuation bars and dangerous train cars, fighting font gangs and Commies along the way to an all-but-inevitable conclusion in this mash up of 1950's genres and styles from the classic detective noir to the mannered emotions of Douglas Sirk, to politically charged science fiction and everything in between.  

Shelby Company Presents

Font of Knowledge

Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg

Directed by Patrick Vassel

With Lauren Glover, James B. Kennedy, Nathaniel Kent, Dan Moyer and Ariana Venturi

Scene Design by April Bartlett, Costume Design by Deanna R Frieman, Sound Design by Chris Rummel

Props Master Laura Taber Bacon, Fight Choreography Rod Kinter, Lighting Consultant Dan Henry

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Cast + crew

Jonathan A. Goldberg
Role: Playwright
Jonathan A. Goldberg is thrilled to have another play at the Minnesota Fringe. He has had work produced at Ars Nova, The Public Theater, The Flea, and many other NYC venues as well as at Fringe Festivals in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and of course Minnesota. He’s won The Rita And Burton Playwriting Prize, The Israel Baran Award, and the 2012 L Magazine Literary Upstart competition. He is a professor at Ramapo College and holds an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts.

Patrick Vassel
Role: Director
Patrick David Vassel is a director, writer, and teacher from Akron, Ohio currently based in New York City. Directing credits include The Little Dog Laughed (The Gallery Players), Blood is Thicker than Blogologues (Lively Productions), Boys Will Be Men (TinyRhino), Nothing Left to Burn (Ars Nova ANTFest), War (SoHo Playhouse) and Waiting for Lefty for the Working Theatre Director's Salon. Assistant credits include Magic/Bird (Broadway), Broke House (Abrons Arts Center), We the People: America Rocks! (TheatreWorks Nat'l Tour), Arts & Crafts (Joe's Pub), and WORKING the Musical at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago. Thrilled to be part of FONT and enormous thanks to the entire Shelby Company team.

Lauren Glover
Role: Actor

Lauren Glover is thrilled to be returning to the Minnesota Fringe, after last appearing in Uncle Shelby's Traveling Treasure Trunk with Shelby Company in 2010. As a member of Shelby Company, Lauren has also appeared in You May Be Splendid Now and the monthly sketch show, Ephemerama, at the Magnet Theater in New York. Other recent credits include: Hideouts for Time (Sister Sylvester) and Arok of Java (Exit, Pursued by a Bear). Lauren is also a proud member of the Story Pirates, New York's premier absurdist children's theater company. A recent graduate of Barnard College, Lauren has trained at the Stella Adler Studio and the Moscow Art Theater.

James B. Kennedy
Role: Actor

James B. Kennedy is thrilled to be back at the Minnesota Fringe! James is a founding member of Shelby Company, & performs monthly in Ephemerama at The Magnet Theater in NYC. Recent theatre credits include Dogs Of Oklahoma written by Eric John Meyer & directed by Luke Harlan; Sousepaw. A Baseball Story written by Jonathan Goldberg & directed by Luke Harlan at the Minnesota, Indianapolis, & San Francisco Fringe Festivals (Winner - Best of SF Fringe); His Beauty by Ashley Jacobsen; New Beulah by Dan Moyer; and Couples Counseling by Carey Lovelace. James would like to thank everyone who helped bring Font Of Knowledge to life. It has been an honor to work amongst such creative, hilarious, wonderful people with brilliant ideas & endless reservoirs of talent.

Nathaniel Kent
Role: Actor

Nathaniel Kent is thrilled to be back at the Fringe! He was last seen on stage at the Fringe in Uncle Shelby's Traveling Treasure Trunk in 2010, but he has co-produced all of Shelby's previous appearances including Winnemucca (three days in the belly) and Sousepaw: A Baseball Story. Other Shelby Company productions include The Land Whale Murders, New Beulah, and The Luck of the Ibis. Other Selected Credits include Bea Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and The Fantastic Adventures of Teen Girl Scientist Monthly (Ars Nova); The Sister (The Brick); The Three Seagulls and Doctor Faustus (Theatre Reconstruction Ensemble). He is the Executive Director of Shelby Company and holds a BFA from NYU Tisch. www.nathanielkent.com

Dan Moyer
Role: Actor
Dan Moyer is an actor, playwright and Shelby Company founder. His plays Winnemucca (three days in the belly) and Uncle Shelby's Traveling Treasure Trunk (co-written with Jonathan Goldberg) have been seen at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. Each month he co-writes and performs in Shelby Company's weird comedy show Ephemerama.

Ariana Venturi
Role: Actor

Ariana Venturi is psyched to be back at the MN Fringe after performing last year in Sousepaw: A Baseball Story. Venturi was most recently seen in the world premiere of Greg Kotis's Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards at the 2012 Humana Festival at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville. New York credits include: CKT (The Flea/Adam Rapp), Dance Dance Revolution (Les Freres/Alex Timbers), Recess (The Flea/Kip Fagan), and the title role in Clubbed Thumb's Vendetta Chrome. She has a BA from Vassar College and is a current MFA student at the Yale School of Drama.

April Bartlett
Role: Scene Design
April is a freelance Scene Designer and the Art Director for NBC Universal’s The Today Show. She holds a BFA from Emerson College and an MFA in Scene Design from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama. April is a member of USA Local 829. Designs to mention: Fires in The Mirror and Twelfth Night (Long Island University); Megs New Friend, Love, The Most Damaging Wound (The Production Company NYC); Dido and Aeneas (Opera, Bard College of Music), The True Story of The Murder of Helen Jewett (CMU), I Used to Write on Walls (Working Mans Clothes) and The Pearl Merchant (Threads Theater Company). Love to D-M, P&A. Shelby Co Rocks My Socks Off.

Deanna R Frieman
Role: Costume Design
Deanna is an NYC based designer who enjoys bringing to life new works. Recent: Bea Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (ANTFest), Spelling Bee, Servant of Two Masters (PPAS), Home/Sick (The Assembly), The Land Whale Murders, Uncle Shelby’s Wunderpantry of Possibilities (nominated Best Costume Design for Planet Connections Theatre Festival), The Luck of the Ibis (Shelby Company), Blair Singer’s Meg’s New Friend and The Most Damaging Wound (The Production Company). Deanna is a teaching artist for Roundabout Theatre Company and a merchandiser at Housing Works Thrift Shops. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon. You can visit her website at www.deannarosedesigns.com.

Chris Rummel
Role: Sound Design
Chris Rummel is currently an MFA candidate in sound design at Carnegie Mellon University (designs there include Star Trek Live: Mirror, Mirror, and Mad Forest) having previously designed hundreds of projects in and around New York City over the course of seven years as well as serving as a teaching artist at Roundabout Theater Company. His favorite thing is to collaborate with Shelby Company - previous designs include The Luck of the Ibis, Uncle Shelby's Wunderpantry of Possibilities, and selected pieces in Ephemerama. This is his first design in the great state of Minnesota and he couldn't be happier about it! Listen to his work at www.rummelsounddesign.com.

Laura Taber Bacon
Role: Props Master
Laura Taber Bacon is a freelance scenic, costume, and prop designer based in NYC. She also is the assistant art director at the Dr. Oz Show. Selected Credits: The Libertine (Playhouse Creatures at Theatre Row); Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game (Amas Musical Theatre); I'll Never Be Hungry Again, Honus & Me, Over the Tavern, The Pajama Game & Lend Me a Tenor (Mountain Playhouse); The Consul (Carnegie Mellon). Costume Design: Arrah-Na-Pogue, As You Like It, Tidings Brought to Mary, Noon Divides, The Satin Slipper (Storm Theatre); Footloose, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre West Virginia); The Pajama Game, Hello Dolly! (CRS Theatre); Carmen (Oswego Opera). BFA Carnegie Mellon Univ. Much love to Sam for all his support! www.laurataberbacon.com

Rod Kinter
Role: Fight Choreography
Rod is pleased to join Shelby Company again having worked on the The Land Whale Murders. Currently the resident Fight Director at the Pearl Theatre Company, his work has been featured in multiple productions including Richard II, The Playboy of the Western World, and Twelfth Night. Other off-Broadway credits include Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy and Abe Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party. As Fight Director for The New York City Opera: Dead Man Walking; Harvey Milk; as well as productions of Porgy and Bess and Tosca that were televised on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center. Regional: American Repertory Theatre; The Utah Shakespeare Festival; and The Princeton Festival. Rod is on the full time teaching staff at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and has taught at Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers, Columbia STI, SUNY New Paltz, and American Ballet Theatre School. As a co-creator and fight director Rod worked on the critically acclaimed fight themed shows Duelist’s: The Forgotten Champions, The Jaded Assassin, and Last Life.

Dan Henry
Role: Lighting Consultant
Dan Henry is thrilled to be working with Shelby Company for the first time. Dan holds an MFA in Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon, which he puts to good use daily at an architectural lighting design firm in New York City. He designs nightclubs in Dubai, interactive light art in Miami and everything in-between.

Shelby Company
Role: Producing Company
Shelby Company was founded in December 2008 in NYC. We are a playwright-centric theatre company devoted to creating new works for the stage. We are so proud to return to the Minnesota Fringe for our 4th year running after Winnemucca (three days in the belly), Uncle Shelby's Traveling Treasure Trunk and Sousepaw: A Baseball Story. Winnemucca... was also produced at San Jose Stage and NYFringe, and last year's Sousepaw... was seen at the IndyFringe and San Francisco Fringe, where it was voted Best Of Fringe. Other productions include New Beulah (The Creek, Planet Connections Theater Festivity, and The Pear Ave Theatre); Say Say Oh Playmate (New Orleans Fringe); The Luck of the Ibis, The Mike and Morgan Show, and You May Be Splendid Now (The Access Theatre); Uncle Shelby's WunderPantry of Possibilities (Gene Frankel Theatre); and The Land Whale Murders (Theater 3). They have an ongoing sketch theatre show called Ephemerama which perfoms monthly at The Magnet Theater in NYC.

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User reviews

Helvetica Forever
by Amy Sheppeck
Rating 5 stars
I loved this! Especially the costumes in black/white w/Red and the vision screen...Oh and the fights. Just magnificent!

what am i watching?
by Amber Bjork
Rating 5 stars
So good to see the Shelby Company back in Minneapolis. This production is weird and silly, smart and banal (in all the right ways).

Film noir meets 1950's "B" Sci-Fi
by Scott Pakudaitis
Rating 5 stars
A well-staged and superbly acted mashup of a noir thriller with sci-fi camp.

Fantastically staged, great performances
by Mark LaCroix
Rating 4 stars
I fully recommend this show, with some words of warning. Speaking as someone who is the target audience for them, none of the "font" gags are funny or remotely clever. Also, the premise of a typeface developed as a weapon of war is a completely superficial and totally unexplored concept. It might as well been a stuffed toy or bike tire.

That said, the dialog is snappy and well paced, the performances are broad but precisely measured, and there is a ton of great sight gags (almost none of them are font-based, strangely) that are both smart and silly.

The plot is engaging and fun, and many of the things that are set up at the beginning pay off fantastically in the end.

So go see it, just don't expect anything from the "font" premise.

Loved what I could see.
by Eric Salo
Rating 5 stars
I'm a sucker for good noir. And I'm an even bigger sucker for bad noir! I loved this show from start to finish. The single complaint I have is that during both the first and final scenes there is a VERY bright light on stage turned mostly, but not entirely, away from the audience. It was blinding and I literally had to hold my hand up in front of my eyes to see the stage. And this was during their final show; I would have expected a company of such obviously high quality to have adjusted for this during the course of the run. But otherwise they hit this one out of the park.

Fonts and 50's...
by Bernard McGarrigle
Rating 5 stars
Lot's of word play around fonts, and a send up of the 50's politics and Saturday-afternoon horror, science fiction, and mystery B-movies. Zany and funny! The space aliens were brilliant.

MS sans comic
by Aseem Kaul
Rating 3 stars
I really liked the opening premise of this show, and enjoyed the font / grammar jokes throughout. In fact, I was mostly having a good time as long as the performance stuck to spoofing noir. When they crossed over into sci-fi, however, they lost me. The last twenty minutes of the show were neither especially clever nor especially funny - they were just silly and amateurish. This would have been a much better / funnier play if they'd carried the dry font humor all through.

Fun with Fonts!
by Bradley Johnson
Rating 4 stars
This was a well acted and fun show! Loved the 50's angle.

Letter perfect
by Andrew Troth
Rating 5 stars
This show suited me to a T.

Font Noir
by Benjamin Imker
Rating 5 stars
Rip roarin' good time - brilliant writing executed by a brilliant cast! Wit and physicality combine for an hour of laughs. And those poor robots!

Font color noir
by Rick Treece
Rating 5 stars
Fun, stylized (!) silliness. The premise (a noir detective thriller based on font design) sounds like one of the train wrecks from "The Producers" (e.g. "Hamlet on Ice"), but with a clever script and high production values, this talented and versatile cast pulls off the improbable.

Gothic Dingbats
by Roy Close
Rating 3 stars
An entertaining but messy comedy that mashes a send-up of 1940s noir movies with elements of sci-fi and innumerable references to typefaces, including Helvetica, Goudy, Calibri, Trebuchet, and others. It's set in 1957, the actual year Helvetica was created, but anachronisms and other wild inaccuracies abound (my personal favorite was Ike's cheesy New England accent).

It Slapped Me...
by Patrick Pfundstein
Rating 5 stars
…then had its way with me. I laughed at the font jokes, the great performances, the snappy dialogue, the creative staging, the shifting characters, the shadow puppets, and the aliens! Things got possibly over-convoluted for a bit there, but in the end the hard truths of life were clearly and elegantly spelled out against a backdrop of booze, perfume, and gun smoke.

Garamond.
by Claire Avitabile
Rating 3 stars
The first 10 minutes were fun and gave me high hopes for the story, and that there would be lots of wit throughout... but then the story kept getting more and more obscure and I got a bit lost. Love The Shelby Company, but this is definitely not my favorite of theirs. The film noir spoof in general was the best part of this show. The story, for me at least, was a bit disappointing.

Wonderful Spoof
by Mark Long
Rating 5 stars
I love and hate when a company makes me kick myself for not seeing their previous year's Fringe production. Never again will I miss a Shelby Company show. This was a wonderful spoof of the Noir genre that is not just for grammar geeks and print dorks. It's funny and imaginative with great costumes and props.
Well done folks!

Triple Nerd Score!
by Fringivitis Vulgaris
Rating 5 stars
I'm a word nerd, or so I thought. This clever script is a logodaedalusty winner! It's fast-paced, pun-laden, and ridiculously campy. Listen closely or you'll miss some of the sesquipedalian quips. The costumes are fun too (I liked Ike).

Hillarious!
by Mohamed Yakub
Rating 4 stars
Very cleverly done - I didn't care much for the ending which seemed a bit out of place. The first half hour was so good that it made up for the end! Kudos to the actors... you guys were awesome.

Could be tightened up
by ... ...
Rating 4 stars
Humorous. Plot hung only loosely together, but I enjoyed the zaniness and the jokes I caught. Good, strong acting.

Would I go if I knew then what I know now? Yes.

Fontifically Fun
by Dixie Treichel
Rating 4 stars
Fun and quirky. Lots of clever word play and references. Good to see a show not interested in dumbing itself down. Great sound design- (although I wish the beatnik scene had a jazzier feel). The fight scenes were choreographed well. 1950's noir meets modern typesetting. Worth seeing.

Great Concept, Uneven Reception
by Mark Mikula
Rating 3 stars
This seemed to have all of the elements of a winner: a trusted troupe, the promise of wordplay, a fun premise. But aside from a handful of compelling scenes, the references were likely too esoteric to appeal to a wide audience. I'm assuming the audience either needed to be steeped in sci-fi, film noir, Beatnik culture, philosophical arguments, and B-movies to catch everything, or there wasn't such a careful approach to incorporating all of the elements. The performances were great and committed, but I was rooting for it to be so much more. I'd watch a whole slew of scenes about the efforts to bring down the Courier gang though.

Almost
by Rochelle Eastman
Rating 4 stars
Perhaps my expectations were too high after I read the bios and education of the cast. With all those credentials, I wanted more polish. The play was absurd, fun, well acted, good fight scenes, good costumes, and even had lights and sound. But the script could use some work. (And the job light used on stage was effective but sometimes blinded the audience.)

Communists! Aliens! Helvetica!
by TJ Hara
Rating 5 stars
I could make a disclaimer here of personal and professional bias (my little sister graduated from Vassar College, as did performer Ariana Venturi, and I work in the local printing industry—fonts are rarely far from my thoughts), but that'd be just silly. This was a polished, tightly written, well performed show, and it earned the applause it got with each set change. Sticklers for grammar and punctuation—and yeah, people annoyed that the alien language in Avatar was subtitled in Papyrus—will surely get an extra layer of enjoyment out of this show, but I think the general Fringe audience will appreciate that this is good, silly storytelling. This is one show I aim to get a second helping of before its run here is finished.

Fantastic!
by Donovan Walker
Rating 4 stars
This show was excellent. It did everything it wanted to. The only way to make it better would be to throw tons of money at it... and not point those laps right at the audience. That part hurt my eyes so much I had to look away some scenes... All you have to do is point them down a little bit. ow! ow! ow!

Excellent show. Well done.

Best depiction of President Eisenhower
by Derek Reise
Rating 4 stars
This fast-paced and absurd comedy kept me engaged the entire time. The story contained turn after turn and jokes aplenty.

The physical humor, particularly the fight scenes, were well crafted and probably the highlight of the performance.

Some of the transitions were "clunky"--which sometimes added to the charm but other times was a bit distracting.

Doubt there are any other shows out there quite like this one. Definitely worth checking out.

What Hath Wingdings Wrought
by Jon Skaalen
Rating 3 stars
Likely written for a city like ours enamored of typography, advertising agencies and media buffs, “Font of Knowledge” is totally silly in a dark film noir kind of way. Each crafty, cleverly-costumed character barrels forcefully ahead through the plot and prop machinations more or less steadily toward the climax. The degree of difficulty of their project was even greater than last year’s remarkable “Sousepaw,” but for me the impact was less (admittedly, had it not been my sixth show of the day, I might have kept up better.) The physical and psychological battles matched the verbal ones in a kind of show one does when one is determined to reach beyond Helvetica.

Mash Up Indeed
by Christopher Garza
Rating 4 stars
I saw the out-of-towner preview and was SOLD on the show. The dialogue was clever and the actors captivating. It is indeed a mash up of genres and when the genres switched I was angry. Personally, I wish they had stuck with the tone of the fist 20 minutes but if you go in knowing there's a switch up you'll be fine.

Yes But
by Howard Lieberman
Rating 3 stars
This is a well acted, creative show that others seemed to be enjoying a lot more than me. It bored me. Perhaps it was too creative or I'm not creative enough.

Good but a little strange
by Kelly Rosenthal
Rating 4 stars
Interesting mix of film noir, sci-fi and fonts. Personally, not that into typefaces so some of the font references fell a little flat for me, but some clever writing and nice performances.

It broke my brain a little
by Sherry Merriam
Rating 3 stars
Goofy and bizarre. Fairly well done, but not to my taste.

Font to the Rescue
by Jim Johnson
Rating 4 stars
Who will be the hero in this twist plot? And ....... will they use proper grammer? These and many more questions can be answered by seeing the show. It's fun creative use of the English language.

Clever Word Play
by Michael Merriam
Rating 4 stars
A talented and likable cast bring this 1040s noir-style tale to life. If you like theatre, fonts, and general word-play geekery, this one is for you.

Who knew fonts could be so sexy?
by Heather Baldwin
Rating 5 stars
The Shelby Company demonstrates once again why they are a powerhouse amongst the out-of-towners, and will be strong competitors against the locals as well. A clever film-noir spoof about the sexily dangerous typeface industry, with top-notch acting and a surprisingly gripping plot. Definitely check it out if you can.

Font-tastic!
by Eric Wentling
Rating 4 stars
A fun noir telling of the secret story of the discovery of the Helvetica Font and the fight to prevent the 1950's Communists from using it to destroy the world. Sound wacky? Yup, but well acted with a lot of quick witty dialog and excellent fight choreography. I'd certainly recommend it.

Mr Goldberg, you've done it again!
by re gurgitate
Rating 5 stars
While Shelby Company's mash up of 1950's manias is not up to the level of last years' Sousepaw, a herculean task, it was the most enjoyable show of the fringe for me thus far.

Green Men From Mars!
by Peter Avirom
Rating 5 stars
This play was brilliant. 1940's Noir script packed plenty of punch. What I didn't expect from the preview: sci-fi, aliens, brains in jars, and shadow puppets. Shelby Company is absurd and nuts and I love it. James B. Kennedy showed tremendous acting range for all the disparate roles he played. April Bartlett and Deanna R Frieman deserve awards for costumes and set. The costumes were gorgeous retro and the set was ingenious. Especially enjoyed the ingenious ways they showed '10 years later' and 'special effects' for the train and the mansion sequences. I can't wait to see another show from this company!

Must See
by Kate Armstrong
Rating 5 stars
You'll laugh, you'll groan, when you think it's gotten as ridiculous as it can just stop and wait a minute. A strange noir/scifi roller coaster ride. It starts with a slow drop and then rushes around corners faster than you can see them coming.

Comic Sans...
by Laura Bidgood
Rating 5 stars
Wonderfully fun! Concept was clever, acting fantastic, and stage fighting phenomenal. Well worth your time!

Must-see!
by Michael Curran-Dorsano
Rating 5 stars
Brilliant writing, spot on performances, a soundtrack that transports you instantly into a noir sci-fi adventure story, and a sexy librarian to boot.

The perfect show for the Fringe, The Font of Knowledge is an engaging, hilarious, fun time from the first font related pun to the last.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is asked back for the final weekend, but just in case make sure to see it now!

Non-stop
by Curt Lund
Rating 5 stars
An intense (so many characters! so many quick-changes! so much explosioning!) fast-paced romp through every detective mystery, Red Scare drama and film noir trope you can imagine -- and then some. Shelby Company is deservedly a returning favorite to the MN Fringe, with another smart, sharp script by Jonathan Goldberg played to the nines by the entire cast. Hilarious, clever staging, and especially delicious schtick for design nerds like me who will get a kick out of every. single. font. reference. Keep 'em coming!

Comic Sans Serif
by Cato Brutus
Rating 5 stars
Film noir, grammar humor, clever dialogue. Font of Knowledge has a little bit for everyone, especially for those that know the difference between a typeface and a font.

I had a little trouble early on trying to follow the plot, until I realized that it didn't matter at all.

Fontastic
by Matlisa Semrad
Rating 4 stars
Stage combat was fontastic, some serific monsters and bembos in fishnet stockings. A must see for print nerds.

Talented Font
by Matt Saxe
Rating 4 stars
Didn't know anything about this til I read the summary a few minutes before it started and glad I went.
Really clever word play and the performances hit that 50's noir feel really well. Amazing fight choreography and lots of fun characters. Many of the performers played multiple roles and handled that exceptionally. The romantic leads hit that "I hate you/I love you" 50's detective feel just right.
A few scenes seemed a little unneccesary, and subsequently dragged, but that's really the only negative in a show that has a lot going for it. Overall a solid 4 star show.

Outstanding
by Publius McGee
Rating 5 stars
The plot made very little sense, but was entirely amusing the whole time anyway. The script was SO well-written, with splendid wordplay and grammar jokes delivered perfectly by the well-dressed cast.