Forty-eight showings, 22 productions, four stages, three venues. Burlesque, aerial arts, stand-up, improv, drag queens, dancing and so much more. And at the center of it all, a full-fledged period drama production. With so many enticing options, plotting a personal itinerary for Legacy Stage’s third annual Fringe Festival—which took place Labor Day weekend—was no simple feat.

That task was both complicated and simplified by a toothache that left me unable to attend an early sneak-peek showing of the fest’s main stage production of Mary’s Wedding the previous Thursday (Sept. 3). I wasn’t festival fit until Sunday, and was determined to make the most of Fringe’s final day.

I committed to catching Mary’s Wedding and settled on the 2 p.m. (rather than 7:30 p.m.) showing and decided to bookend it with some simulated violence and a debauched take on a Shakespearean classic. So I strapped in for a wild ride through the outlands of Chico’s theater scene, not realizing what an emotional roller coaster I just boarded…