Rob Ward's "How To Help The Fringe!"

My name is Rob Ward. I am an actor, director, playwright, quasi-psychopath, and choreographer who has called Minneapolis home since 2014. When I first moved to the Twin Cities, the MN Fringe allowed me to kickstart my career in the local theatre scene. This festival gave me a platform for other artists to see my work and say, "Hey, I'd like to work with that guy!

In 2015, I produced my first play, Mendacity, at the MN Fringe. My co-producers and I were able to put up this show because Fringe made it affordable. It gave three young people, straight out of college, trying to figure life out, a place to make adventurous art. 

Since then, I've produced several more shows, two of which were solo shows, both of which won Golden Lanyard awards.

The Minnesota Fringe allowed me to make connections with local and touring artists. It also gave me the chance to meet some of my closest friends. My first date with my now wife, Natalie, was a show at the Minnesota Fringe. 

I love the Minnesota Fringe.

Unfortunately, with arts funding in the toilet, disappearing grants, and ever-increasing venue rental fees, the Fringe is in a bind. Unless $60,000 can be raised by November, producer fees might have to be doubled. 

Help me keep adventurous art affordable for theatre makers. Please donate if you can. If you are on the fence, I have a deal for you. 

If you are familiar with my work, you know that I explore topics that are dark and disturbing with an acerbic wit and high-octane energy. In 2023's How To Kill A Horse! (one of three shows in Phoenix Presents), I took audiences on a journey through the weirdest case of fraud in American history, the Show Horse Murder Scandal. In 2024, audiences witnessed the carnivorous cabaret Welcome To The Food Chain, which featured some of the most notorious man-eating animals in history. (Some audience members still can't listen to "Cheeseburger in Paradise" without getting queasy.)

There's a reason I won The World Crime League's Most Diabolical Show at Fringe Award two years in a row. 

Here's the deal... I have a show that is so dark, so disturbing, so demented that I can't put it up anywhere. It is so twisted, I even had to change the title because it went "too far." What is it about? Well, I will tell you...Once we raise that $2,000. 

If this fundraiser reaches its goal by November 27th (Thanksgiving), I will put on this show, and everyone who donated at least $10 to this fundraiser gets a ticket.  

If you, as an individual, donate $500, I will come to your house (or apartment or other space) and put on a private show for you and your friends/family.

So donate to the Minnesota Fringe and keep producer fees down!