Billy: The Haunting of William Howard Taft Press & Reviews

Cincinnati Fringe Festival: 10 shows to watch out for

David Lyman, Cincinnati Enquirer

April 24, 2018

Hang on to your hats. It’s time for the 15th Annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

Fringe, produced by Know Theatre of Cincinnati, is a 13-day, 45-production festival of theater, dance and visual arts.

This year, there were 109 festival applications, just shy of last year’s record of 111. Stylistically, the 2018 line-up is, as always, all over the place. There are one-person shows and musicals. There are plays with mental health themes. And political themes. There are shows with women’s themes and LGBTQ themes. There are comedies. And horror shows. There are two that feature puppets. And one that includes magic.

Some will be cheeky, others entertaining. Some will be perplexing, others provocative. And some will be dreadful.

But that’s life on the Fringe. It’s a crapshoot. But at $15 a ticket for shows that rarely last more than an hour, it’s worth the effort. Think of the Fringe as the R&D department of the theater world. Not all of them will be great. But every so often, you’ll find a production that is memorable, something you’ll talk about for years to come.

For veteran Fringe-goers, there are familiar faces; Queen City Flash – the team of playwright Trey Tatum and director Bridget Leak – will present “of Monster Descent,” described as “A supernatural solo show about inherited traits, claws and all.” New York City-based Animal Engine, a favorite of past Fringes, will be there with “The Mountains Did Quake, The Hillsides Did Tremble.” Northern Kentucky University grads Alexx Rouse and Zach Robinson have the interestingly titled “Bad Poetry Night.”

Here are 10 shows that, on paper, might just be worth a look.

“Billy: the Haunting of William Howard Taft,” by Sean P. Mette

Mette is a well-known and quirky presence on local stages. Past Fringes have seen him present shows about a dinosaur (“My Darling Dilophosaurus”) and folks who long for life as furry creatures (“Furlesque”). His newest show, in which he also stars, is about the 27th U.S. President who is “about to have a rough night.”

On the Fringe - Interview with Sean P. Mette

Jackson interviews the biggest person he has interviewed yet, the president William Howard Taft! ... and Sean P. Mette, the guy who portrays him in the Fringe show Billy: The Haunting of William Howard Taft. Let's Be Artful!

The Artfuls

FRINGE 2018 REVIEW: 'Billy: The Haunting of William Howard Taft'

A riff on a "A Christmas Carol," this show follows the President-elect on the night of Jan. 15, 1909

Bart Bishop, City Beat Cincinnati

May 31, 2018

Not everyone knows that William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati. Yes, the 27th president of the United States served one term (1909-1913) just before the outbreak of World War I, and then went on to be the 10th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, the only person to serve in both offices. For those reasons and many more, Taft and his family name are well remembered in Cincinnati, including via a statue outside the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law (he was the dean there before his political career) and many notable sites bearing the name.

One hundred years after his time in office, the Cincinnati-based Autumn Kaleidoscope explores a “favorite son” of Cincinnati in Billy: The Haunting of William Howard Taft, presented at Memorial Hall. This same company produced Furlesque and My Darling Dilophosaurus for previous Fringes; this production is directed by Audrey A. MacNeil and features Sean P. Mette as the titular character.

The show follows the President-elect on the night of Jan. 15, 1909, writing his inauguration speech. It plays out as a riff on A Christmas Carol, even going so far as to quote from that story, with three spirits (or are they the same spirit?) visiting Taft through the night. The last president to have facial hair, an intellectual who believed in the law and loved his wife Nellie with all his soul, is tempted with the promise of power. The resulting 60 minutes is an existential battle of wills as Taft struggles with whether or not the ends justify the means. 

That might sound heavy, but the show is at its heart a comedy and its four actors are game. Playwright Mette plays Taft with a sense of dignity and humanity, while Spenser Smith, Miranda McGee and Hannah Gregory alternate as the three aspects of “Billy,” as in Billy Possum, the stuffed animal that almost replaced the Teddy Bear. Smith revels in chewing up the scenery, prowling around the stage as an unseen specter while the stuffed possum sits in an easy chair. McGee, meanwhile, is playful and has masterful comic timing as she handles the dual responsibility of mugging as herself and as a puppet disguised as Teddy Roosevelt. Gregory, however, commands the stage as both sympathetic muse to Mette’s Taft, with whom she shares potent chemistry, and as a portentous femme fatale. The weight of conveying the fatalism of the 20th century, and beyond, falls on her and she pulls it off with aplomb.

Balancing tone is a delicate thing with this kind of show. It strives to be both delightful and relevant, taking jabs at the current political climate and even drawing a subtle parallel to the popular Broadway show Hamilton. The fever-dream tangents which turn into wrestling matches and dance numbers, however, are a little off-putting at first. Still, Mette and director MacNeil pull off their contextualized intent, telling a fun tale with an intimacy to the setting and interactions that reveal Taft as not so larger-than-life and relatable but still a man to respect.

‘Billy’ features William Howard Taft and three marsupials

Raucous good fun, featuring marsupial foils, a surprisingly adorable incarnation of Theodore Roosevelt and a tribute to one of the most beloved legends attributed to Cincinnati’s most recent U.S. President.

Hilly Kenkel, Artswave Guide

May 31, 2018

Last night I found a seat in Memo Studio, a space in the basement of Memorial Hall, ready to take in my first performance of the 2018 Cincinnati Fringe Festival: “Billy: the Haunting of William Howard Taft,” a production of Autumn Kaleidoscope that was directed by Audrey A. MacNeil. I have to admit that I picked this show from the long list offered by Fringe because I, like playwright and actor Sean P. Mette, find President Taft to be pretty entertaining. I first learned that he had a fondness for opossums several years ago while going through a presidential trivia phase. He was so fond of them, in fact, that I heard he bred them for White House dinners, specifically because opossums found in the wild tend to feed on anything from fruits to insects to detritus — the last of which would seem particularly unpalatable to White House guests. Don’t fact check me on this, though.

Mette clearly appreciates the eccentricities of America’s 27th President — so much so that he opted to play the man himself. The play is set in January of 1909, and Taft is attempting to pen his upcoming Inaugural Address after a large dinner. He assures his assistant, who scolds him for his indulgence, that he plans to write as late into the night as he can. I wasn’t sure where this story was going until he made a crack about late-night indigestion that I realized that this American Presidential story was about to become a Dickensian comedy.

“Billy” is filled with gems of American humor, both historical and modern. The story follows a structure laid out by Charles Dickens in “A Christmas Carol,” but with a few more references to Presidents who may or may not play golf a little bit too often, and 100 times more references to opossums. Mette’s energetic performance of William Howard Taft is complemented by the dynamic performances of his three marsupial foils, played by Hannah Gregory, Miranda McGee, and Spenser Smith. The play is raucous good fun, features a surprisingly adorable incarnation of Theodore Roosevelt and ends with a reference to one of the most beloved legends attributed to Cincinnati’s most recent U.S. President.

“Billy: the Haunting of William Howard Taft” runs June 1 at 9 p.m., June 2 at 7:45 p.m., June 7 at 7 p.m. and June 9 at 4 p.m. If you enjoy playful interpretations of historical figures, I suggest you add it to your Cincinnati Fringe Festival agenda.