Marquette Fringe Festival features local theatre
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MARQUETTE -- Marquette Fringe Festival was held this past weekend, celebrating unconventional performing arts across the city. One performance, put on by We the People's "Swoletariat Street Crew," was a dramatization of local government.
The play, titled "Collective Comment," recreated a December 2025 Houghton County Commission meeting in which the commission was set to vote on a resolution which would decree two "chromosomal sexes," male (XY) and female (XX), in Houghton County. That meeting is notorious for attracting over 300 in-person attendees and featured over 6 hours of public comment (another 300 people attended the meeting virtually). The resolution ultimately failed 4-1.
"Collective Comment" premiered on Saturday to an audience at Ore Dock Brewing Co., featuring 11 local actors in roles including county commissioners, Michigan Tech college students and local faith leaders.
"The opposition to this resolution was overwhelming," said Ruby Miller, one of the performers and play organizers. "We take care of each other. Within, between and beyond a gender binary, regardless of what any county resolution says."
Public commenters in "Collective Comment" pointed out that not only was the resolution inaccurate (there are many reasons why a person might not have XY or XX chromosomes; for example, those with Turner Syndrome have only one X chromosome, and those with Kleinfelter Syndrome have XXY chromosomes); it was also targeting trans and nonbinary people in Houghton County.
One Houghton County Commissioner was quoted in the Mining Journal back in December saying that they believed the resolution was in violation of the Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act.
"(The resolution) transformed into a powerful affirmation and expression of deep love for our undeniably gender diverse communities,” said Miller. "… I got fixated on the idea of telling the story somehow."
Many of the lines in the play were direct quotes from commissioners and public commenters; Miller and other play organizers interviewed many people involved with the December meeting in order to paint an accurate picture of what happened.
"Having a large cast crammed onto a little stage actually feels reminiscent of packing the (Houghton County) courthouse that night," said Miller.
More information about Marquette Fringe is available at https://marquettefringe.org/about-us/.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.