The Power of the Local Fringe: A Reflection on Minnesota Fringe

Picture yourself, if you will, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a warm August day in 2019. You are presented with a Fringe festival full of local favorites and touring superstars. With so many word-class shows to choose from, you say to yourself, “Never mind those fools, I’m going to the confusingly-titled play from two young nobodies to see their $20 folding chairs from Target.”

Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly in "10 Minutes Between 1:50 and 2AM"

And thus, you find yourself at 10 Minutes Between 1:50 and 2AM, the inaugural production of Melancholics Anonymous.

Flash forward seven years later, and Melancholics Anonymous has become an established theater company that is fiscally sponsored, produces full seasons of theater, which include an annual new play workshop series, and has gotten some serious buzz. And yet all of our growth and incredible experience trace back to that first Fringe opportunity, which started as a simple dream. Very literally. 

Artistic Director Rachel Ropella and Managing Director Timothy Kelly (that’s us!) were students at St Olaf College when Rachel had a dream about performing an original play based on a surreal late-night conversation we’d actually had. A few weeks later, she stumbled across the Minnesota Fringe Festival application. Armed with a half-formed script idea and a wildly optimistic belief that we could be plucked out of the lottery of hundreds of applicants, we submitted.

Before 2019, we had dabbled in every aspect of theater making – we were liberal arts students, after all – but only fleetingly. Timothy’s semester-long lighting course made him the resident tech expert. Rachel’s arts management class and Canva proficiency made her the marketing department. In reality, we were complete beginners.

Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA by Melancholics Anonymous at MN Fringe (2025)

That’s when Minnesota Fringe’s set-up completely changed our artistic path. The barriers to entry were remarkably low: affordable application fees that even broke college students could afford, a lottery-based selection process, and a genuine openness to new artists. Once we were in, the incredible Artist Liaison Amber Bjork (a true advocate for all artists!) guided us through every administrative hurdle. Meanwhile, free workshops on marketing and budgeting demystified parts of producing that had previously felt completely inaccessible while connecting us with other first-time artists asking the same questions we were. With an incredible built-in community and new producing skills, we were able to learn as we created. By making a new Fringe show year after year, we developed sustainable practices and established collaborations with incredible friends that helped us build and solidify our own theater company.

Each year since has become a little easier, even as our ambitions have grown. We’ve gone from $20 folding chairs to incredible sets and puppets by our designer Mady Smith and choreographed musical numbers with original songs by Bee Davis. Fringe is a time in which our whole company works together to push our artistic abilities and highlight incredible local talent. Now entering our eighth consecutive Minnesota Fringe Festival, we feel like seasoned professionals who can support and cheer on younger producers who are on a similar producing journey. We are blessed with a dedicated audience who have followed us for years (none of whom would know we exist without the built-in platform of Fringe) and become year-round patrons.

Melancholics Anonymous in rehearsal for "Watership Down"

Minnesota Fringe is our home, and our production this year is very much a love letter to the power of home, community, and a simple, profound adventure. Melancholics Anonymous is thrilled to be producing the first-ever musical adaption of Watership Down by Richard Adams at the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival. It’s a play that feels exciting and ambitious while bringing us back to our roots. Because, ultimately, the festival is both a home base and an opportunity to stretch and explore. Everyone who is producing is selected by luck, doing something scary and vulnerable, hawking our postcards and wares, and yearning to be part of something bigger than ourselves. It is a great leveler, a spectacular opportunity, and a cherished tradition.

We are extraordinarily fortunate to have such a vibrant Fringe festival in our hometown, especially one that helped nurture us from a nascent idea into an organization with legs of its own. Every year, we eagerly return. Our hope is that everyone who comes to Minneapolis, whether local or visiting, feels the same thing we do: that our Fringe is their Fringe. That when they come to Minnesota Fringe, they’re coming home. 

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Melancholics Anonymous' Watership Down is premiering at the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival in Minneapolis from August 6-16.

Learn more about Melancholics Anonymous HERE.