A promotional image of The Importance of Living, one of more than a hundred Minnesota Fringe shows coming to the Twin Cities from August 6-16, 2026.

Solo storytelling is one of the most common forms of fringe festival shows. One performer, plus or minus a mic, and the audience. It could be irreverent, it could be intimate, it often is very surprising. It’s hard not to feel that you haven’t been on a journey with someone after hearing them talk, close up, to you over the course of 45 minutes to an hour. How much is truth, how much is fiction, and how much is the artist’s flair? The answer would be telling, so you’ll just have to see the show yourself and guess.

Solo storytelling is also where a large quotient of Fringe presenters get their start, but it’s often not where they remain. As successful Fringe veterans build their following over repeat appearances, many embark on more ambitious projects and collaborations – sometimes at the same time, leading to breakneck journeys between venues for sometimes-competing performances. One Fringe artist whose gamut ranges from solo to ensemble shows, as well as numerous roles in the “regular” or “off Fringe” season, is Ariel Pinkerton, the head of Mermaid Productions.

Amongst her varied and storied life (see: multiple prior, critically acclaimed autobiographical shows and bits), Ariel wears multiple hats. In alternating years, she swaps creative leadership of Fortune’s Fool Theatre with her father Dan Pinkerton as far as which co-artistic director picks the company’s lead project. On the Fringe stage, she might be an actor, a writer, director, or solo artist, landing audience hits on deep-cutting subjects like The Abortion Chronicles or using pop culture to comment on contemporary society in Xena and Gabrielle Smash the Patriarchy.

Ariel sat down with the Arts Reader’s Basil Considine to discuss a Fringe season that sees her wearing at least three hats, starting with Mermaid Productions’ The Importance of Living.

Official Show Description
Samuel and Louise really know how to live; no morals, no regrets, no limits, no future. It’s the night before their reckoning day and they’ve come to crack a bottle of wine, swap tales, and have a little fun.

You’re the founder (and more) of Mermaid Productions. What number Fringe appearance is this for you?

My first Minnesota Fringe show was in 1999. The number of times I have been part of a Minnesota production in Fringe is 19: 18 of them as a performer. 21 including this year.

A few times I was in more than one in a year; for example, this year, I am also in Stories from the Trauma Dump.

You’ve done a few autobiographical storytelling shows over the years. This one has Tim Uren as writer. How did you first come to know and work with Tim?

I had seen a lot of Tim’s work over the years but didn’t know him personally when he reached out to have me become possessed by a serial killer in the original production of Tourist Trap for Fringe in 2014. One of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received.

Let’s just say that visiting the home that has now been turned into a museum for the man who led a serial killer cult  is never a smart idea.  With a cast consisting of Uren, Charlie Hubbell, Ariel Leaf, Amy Schweickhardt and Clarence Wethern, you’ve got a lot of acting power on your side.  They present this story with unrelenting fervor.

Matthew A. Everett, Single White Fringe Geek, reviewing Tourist Trap in 2014

Many years of friendship and admiration later and I approached Tim and asked him if he could use a second-in-command – and now I’m lucky to be a company member of his company, Ghoulish Delights.

What sort of performing experience is your audience in for this Fringe season?

The Importance of Living is a lyrical, haunting, vicious game of cat-and-mouse between two real-life killers in a fictional setting. I play a haughty, proud, murderous Southern woman from the 1930s.

How did this show come to be? What is its raison d’être?

Tim encountered fictionalized versions of two similar but very distinct true crime figures, and he was struck by the difference between the truth and the legend in both cases. He was further fascinated by the idea of how they would react to each other.

Tell me about a favorite moment in this show and why.

There’s an early moment that really sets the tone for my character: when Samuel (Uren) tries to make me uncomfortable with touch and word, and then looks up to discover me unaffected, and I say in a southern drawl “I don’t think I’ve EVAH blushed in my life.”

What else is up for you in the coming theatre season?

We took Living to the Green Bay Fringe Festival in July, then I’m doing Bull in a China Shop with Fortune’s Fool in September, a yet to be announced role in the Twin Cities Horror Festival in October, and Witch Hunt by Liz Duffy Adams (author of Born with Teeth) in late spring.

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Basil Considine

Basil Considine was the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader from 2018-2022. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years, before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar.

Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all)

• FRINGE FILE #5: INTERVIEW – Ariel Pinkerton, Mermaids, and The Importance of Living - July 21, 2026
• FRINGE FILE #3: INTERVIEW – Director Casey Marie Holmes and A Woman’s Place is in the House - July 13, 2026
• FRINGE FILE #2: INTERVIEW – Amber Bjork on The Winding Sheet Outfit and Returning to Fringe - July 12, 2026