By Joanna Miller, Staff Writer 

Angie Kinser may be the only Prior Lake resident who knows the secrets of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

This year, she’s touted by coordinators as the Shakopee-based festival’s sole entertainer from neighboring Prior Lake.

There are few closed doors at the Renaissance fest (which is held at a quaint outdoor locale 3 miles south of Shakopee off of 169), but Kinser said she’s learned fun festival facts as she enters her sixth year of work there.

She’ll put in her time again this fall, as the festival opens today, Saturday, Aug. 16, for weekends and Labor Day through Sunday, Sept. 28. The festival is on from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine.

“Every weekend, it’s about a 12-hour day,” Kinser said.

Actors arrive for a cast call at 8 a.m. and need to be ready in full costume.

Secret No.1: The morning warm-up includes a harmonized version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” sung by the cast as the sun rises in the sky.

“It’s a great way to start the day,” Kinser said.

For guests, she suggests getting to the gates at the beginning of the day, too.

A cannon boom kicks off the event, and then there’s singing as the front gates swing open, and a procession.

“If you get here early, it pays off,” she said.

Also, with no lighting on the festival grounds, workers wrap up the event at dusk. So, guests get their money’s worth by coming early.

Secret No. 2: The party doesn’t end when the guests go home.

Many Renaissance festival entertainers stay at adjacent campgrounds for the weekend, especially if they travel from areas outside of the metro. Some festival workers make the national tour of festivals and work for multiple events nationwide, much like band groupies. Kinser said they won’t earn much, but it’s enough to pay for fuel to make it to the next location.

When the festival closes down, the actors often stick around and socialize.

“Sometimes, we hang around and just be with each other to sing, dance and make merry,” she said.

While there are many festival couples, and even families, who pass along the traditions, Kinser said her husband typically makes one visit to the festival each year.

“He thinks it’s a bit outlandish. Opposites attract,” she laughed.

Not-so-Secret No. 3: Corsets aren’t always comfortable.

While actors say they get used to the good posture of corsets, they also say you learn to breathe from the diaphragm.

It can also be hot under all of those layers. Kinser said there are inserts for the costumes called “bodice coolers,” like mini ice-packs, that help actors stay cool, and when in a pinch, swaying side to side in a hoop skirt helps keep actors from overheating.

Secret No. 4: The royalty actors are on a tight schedule.

From processing and parades to dinner feast appearances for a seven course, two-hour ticketed meal, the royal actors have a schedule to keep during the day.

They also “make sure everyone’s goblet is full” at the dinner,” Kinser said.

Secret No. 5: There’s even a society.

Kinser said the Society of Creative Anachronism “is basically people who delve into the past and recreate.”

The society is a good source for festival entertainers, who do their own costuming.

“I am not a very good seamstress, as of yet,” she said. “There are people who do historical costuming.”

Kinser’s clothes have added up to hundreds of dollars, if not topping a thousand, over the years.

The hand-stitched beading and high-end fabrics make the costumes difficult to create, she said. Also, the costumes need to be washable, since the entertainers work rain or shine, which can mean hiking through the mud on a Saturday and needing a clean costume for Sunday.

Secret No. 6: Actors create their own characters, from class and nationality to names. From there, they expound on the character’s personality, quirks and attitude.

Kinser created two characters for her performance at the festival.

She said class is a very important part of the character process. Peasant, merchant-class and nobility dictates language and dress.

The noble class costuming can be expensive, she said.

“I’ve always been noble or royal,” Kinser said. “It’s a chance to pretend I’m rich and famous.”

Her first persona is Countess Genevieve.

“She is a governess to little princess Rosalyn – we like to call her Tiny Hiney,” Kinser joked.

Many jokes border on bawdy, but actors are taught to imply rather than use fowl language to keep it fun for all ages.

“Genevieve is someone who is a social ladder climber,” Kinser said of her character. “She tries to marry above herself.”

Kinser said Genevieve’s husbands always seem to mysteriously die, leaving her with their inheritance and titles.

“It’s lucky that she marries such ill-fated husbands,” she said.

Anastasia, her second character, makes her way into the noble class by less, ahem, subtle means.

Anastasia provides noble couples with a “womb for hire” when they cannot conceive, as a surrogate to royalty.

“I help out desperate royals who need heir to throne,” she said, taking on an accent and broken English to speak as Anastasia.

Kinser said some performers take on real characters from the Renaissance era and enjoy the research and discussion with guests.

For her, “my characters happen to be completely fictitious,” she said. “Many people do base their character off real people who lived in history, but you have to make it believable.

“What we do is improvisational acting.”

Secret No. 7: Kinser might be your child’s singing instructor.

When she’s not living in the past, Kinser works as a private singing instructor and as a music teacher in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District.

Visit www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/ for more information.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com. 

To go

What: Minnesota Renaissance Festival

Where: Located 3 miles south of Shakopee on Highway 169 (follow signs visible from roadway)

When: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekends Aug. 16-Sept. 28; Friday, Sept. 26 (rain or shine)

Information: Call (800) 966-8215 or visit www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/ for more information on special festival events; advance tickets are $16.95 (adults) and $8.50 (children age 6-12) or $18.95 and $10.50 at the door; senior tickets (65+) are $17.95; parking is free; pets are welcome on the grounds; corporate/group ticketing is available.