This show is part of the 15th Annual Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, a/k/a IndyFringe, Aug. 15-25, 2019 on Mass Ave downtown. Info, etc., at www.IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

One often hopes to go from treading the boards at little festivals like this to eventually working in Hollywood and on television. Careful what you wish for?

Kurt Fitzpatrick was hoping to get his acting career off the ground, but auditions were exercises in frustration. Then after a failed attempt at a commercial gig, he heard from a friendly stripper (and fellow aspiring actor) that there was a lot of work in being a non-union extra on TV crime dramas.

As it turns out — having been a face in the background of numerous shows and movies, playing cops and bartenders, working invisibly for four Oscar-winning directors — that Fitzpatrick can’t help but see the parallels between what he’s been doing and sex work.

See this fascinating one-man show to find out what he means, and why possibly his face looks familiar (aside from his past IndyFringe appearances). An excellent storyteller, he reflects on his unusual path to quasi-stardom in entertaining fashion

However — he frames the show with a flight of fancy about the “Jungles of the Sahara” that I found hard to follow. It frustrates me that I miss what metaphorical or other purpose it served, and it made for an abrupt and confusing ending. Still, the rest of the content is strong and worth your while.

See the “Great Kurt Fitzpatrick” this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the District Theater (former TOTS location), 627 Massachusetts Ave.,