Let’s Go Out Tonight: Blood Ties — August 12, 2008

MOTHERLY APPEAL The New York International Fringe Festival, celebrating its 11th year, is currently blossoming across the city’s downtown neighborhoods. Tonight, a California-based company, EMP Theatricals, presents the premiere of “Now That She’s Gone,” a one-woman show written and performed by Ellen Snortland. If you’re pondering whether it’s a good idea to spend quality time with your family — or if you’ve already taken the plunge and are spending said time with your family — then this is a good play with which to contemplate blood ties. Ms. Snortland, a writer and self-defined activist of Scandinavian descent, reminisces about her life with stories of sex, drugs, Eleanor Roosevelt, and lutefisk (a Norwegian specialty of cod that’s treated with lye), along the way painting a comedic portrait of her relationship with her Norwegian-American mother. Though Ms. Snortland recounts her individual upbringing as a child of Scandinavian heritage, the play is notable for highlighting commonalities among all kinds of parent-child relationships. John Mitchell directs, and Leanne Fonteyn is the choreographer. 10 p.m., SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam St., between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street, 212-691-1555, $15.