FALLOUT FRINGE FESTIVAL 2026-Day 16

By Erik Engman

Author, Clown and Improvisation Teacher, Theatre Critic EatMoreArtVegas.com

IG: ErikReviewsVegas

It’s day 16 of the Fallout Fringe Festival as I head into the final weekend. Tonight is music, more music, and menopause. I review a one-person play and two bands. You can access the full schedule at www.falloutfringe.org/schedule.

STUNTDRIVER - band   

Delicious ★★★★★

One year ago at the first Fallout Fringe, Kym Priess brought us the incredible clown show Loser Lion Party Bus. This year she’s back, and she’s brought some friends. STUNTDRIVER is a genre-bending, proto-punk band based out of Los Angeles, comprising Priess as lead singer and bass, Jimmy Rixx on guitar, and Jeannette Lawler on drums, along with “alt-girl neo-burlesque babes” the Warped Whores: Dahlia La Mode and Blue Lightning. Priess is a force of nature. Part Joan Jett, part Courtney Love, she is dressed as if she stepped out of Blade Runner or Mad Max. Rixx and Lawler are fantastic. And Dahlia La Mode and Blue Lightning dazzle with their sexy, succulent dancing and burlesque. The music was incredible, if you like loud, hard rock, and we were the first to hear their latest song “Tit Town” (about Priess’ experience with the big C). But this was more than just a concert. This is an interactive show. You feel like you’re a part of it, either when you’re in the midst of the performers coming out to rock with you, or when you’re crawling through a large tube, or scrubbing yourself with sponges. Now, I have to admit that I’m biased. This is my favorite genre of music, and I’ve been following STUNTDRIVER for a year now, so I’m already a huge fan. Be aware: There is some nudity, and it’s very loud, so bring earplugs (if necessary). This is another highlight of the Fest. This is what rock ‘n roll should be. See this show! I’m definitely going back before they leave. Hope to see you there.

@ Bizarre Bar: June 20 and 21

Things I Shouldn’t Tell You by Shannan Calcutt      

Delicious ★★★★★

(Full disclosure here, due to the dreadful parking at THIRD Street - apparently, there was another event, and it took me a long time to find parking anywhere near the venue - I arrived a few minutes late, so I missed the very beginning. But as it’s 75 minutes, I still experienced most of the show.)

Things I Shouldn’t Tell You is about Calcutt’s journey going through perimenopause, while also dealing with her mother’s dementia, and her daughter’s period. Yes. Definitely too much information to share in polite society. But we’re theater people. We only pretend we are a polite society. Ha! Calcutt honestly and beautifully goes into intimate detail about everything, weaving it all in with life as a director, performer, mother, daughter, and wife. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, and sometimes gut-wrenching. Her performance is captivating and pulls you in to the point where it feels like you’re talking to a best friend. This show is a masterclass in one-person shows, showing us how easy - and hard - it is to bare it all for an audience. And the result is that our entire theater shared a most wonderful hour and fifteen minutes of what it means to be fully human. Another highlight of the Fringe. See it if you can, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it's sold out for its final performance.

@ THIRD Street: June 21

Real Big Top - band    

Scrumptious ★★★★

A microphone stand with a rubber chicken. Orange plastic tube men flailing about on either side. A large screen television is smack dab in front, showing creepy clown and circus clips. This is the setting for an hour of demented rock music in the Alt Cirque Rock genre. The band consists of lead singer Barry G Boogie, guitarist Zelda Rey Skywalker, bass player Grrrn the Dare Devil, drummer Gabriel Hanson-Carillo, and a dancer who was amazing and sexy with black flags and juggling pins (but whose name I can’t find anywhere). The music is very fun, dark, and disturbing, and the band has a very rough edge. (Anything else would be inauthentic and boring.) I especially liked their opening song, “Real Big Top,” and their rendition of “Teddy Bear’s Picnic.” I don’t think Majestic is the right venue for the band, as it’s not really conducive for dancing and general buffoonery (Bizarre Bar or Swan Dive would have been better), but it was a great space to sit back and enjoy some inventive, sloppy, and delightfully gross music and mayhem. I really enjoyed this, and if it sounds like your bottle of blood, then check it out tonight. (Again, refer to Spotify, YouTube, and the like to see if this floats your death boat.) 

@ Majestic Repertory: June 20