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Home > Arts > FRINGE FILE #19: Touring Artist Spotlight – Band Practice and <em>Don’t Be Scared</em>

FRINGE FILE #19: Touring Artist Spotlight – Band Practice and Don’t Be Scared

by Twin Cities Arts Reader -

The official show image for Don’t Be Scared, presented by Berlin-based duo Band Practice at the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

One of the touring artist ensembles performing at this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival is Band Practice. Their show, Don’t Be Scared, is presented as a bizarre self-help workshop about fear. In its execution, it is a devised, interactive, dark clown show that interweaves physical theatre, music, poetry, and audience interaction.

The road to Minneapolis for international artists is not always linear. For Lisa Ullrich (one half of the duo), growing up German-American meant crossing borders and living between London and Frankfurt. Acting studies took her to Barcelona, and acting work took her to London. Graduate studies took her to arthaus.berlin, a Berlin-based physical theatre center founded by Thomas Prattki, the former pedagogical director of the internationally renown École Jacques Lecoq theatre school.

A promotional photo of artists Ash Willison and Lisa Ullrich, who make up the Berlin-based duo Band Practice. Photo by Javier Elias Photography.

For Ash Willison, the international journey began with moving from Chicago to Kampala, Uganda, where she spent much of her childhood. She returned to the United States to study at St. Olaf College, before an in interest in devised physical theatre took her, too, to arthaus.berlin. In 2021, Willison and Ullrich began performing together as Band Practice, both in Berlin and on the road at the Vault Festival in London, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Malta Festival, and more.

Band Practice’s appearance at the Minnesota Fringe run is part of the ensemble’s first U.S. tour, performing a trio of different shows in their repertoire in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis. Their American engagements are supported in part by the Goethe Institut Chicago and Producer support from the Minnesota Fringe.

Official Show Description

Two zombified post-war corporate professionals attempt to run a workshop with the audience on how to face your fears. Outside, the darkness is creeping in threatening to end the show and maybe their friendship.

Ash Willison (bottom)’s support is foundational for Lisa Ullrich (top) in this promotional image for Band Practice. Photo by Javier Elias Photography.

Here’s a look at Band Practice onstage in Don’t Be Scared:

Light is used to dramatic and serio-comedic effect. Photo by Vince Losanes.
One of the show conceits is that the audience is attending a self-help seminar that is…different. Photo by Vince Losanes.
arthaus.berlin, where both ensemble members studied is an internationally renown center for studying both physical movement and devised theatre. (Also: clowning.) Photo by Vince Losanes.
What could go wrong with corporate, post-war? Photo by Vince Losanes.

Don’t Be Scared runs through August 15 at the Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre, as part of the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

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