We're diving into the vibrant world of the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, which is about to kick off for its 13th year from March 19th to 28th! I’m Chris Lindstrom, and today I’m chatting with the fabulous Alexandra Marar, who's bringing her storytelling show, "Guardian Stranger," to life at the Attack Theater Studios. She’s got some wild tales about how ignoring the whole "don't talk to strangers" advice actually led to some life-saving adventures while exploring the globe. Picture this: a small-town girl from Ohio, navigating through cultural landscapes and meeting some of the most colorful characters along the way. We’ll explore how being open to experiences and connecting with the locals can turn an ordinary trip into an unforgettable journey. So, grab your tickets, because this festival is a treasure trove of creativity and connection!

Guardian Stranger

Company: She's So Ohio/Alexandra Morar

Date(s): March 26, 2026 - March 28, 2026

Time(s): 8:15 pm

Genre: Comedy

Venue: Attack Theatre Studios - Creative Learning Lab

https://pittsburghfringe.org/events/guardian-stranger-how-talking-to-strangers-saved-me-from-danger/

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Bean Roasters

Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. Use promo code Lunchador for 15% off your order! https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

It’s A Lot

Check out It’s A Lot on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/itsalot/

Mind of Magnus

Check out Mind of Magnus at magnusapollo.com, and leave him factoids at 585-310-2473! https://mind-of-magnus.captivate.fm

Well, that music means it's time for another episode of Just Can't Not.

I'm your host, Chris Lindstrom, and this is part of our preview for the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival.

I know this is outside of the typical Rochester and surrounding area content, but the Fringe is universal and we're thrilled to partner with the Pittsburgh team for their 13th year running from March 19th through the 28th.

To learn more about all the shows and get Tickets, go to pittsburghfringe.org Tickets cap out at $20 and an entire event passes only 150.

So make sure to get your tickets today and join the action for over on Pen Ave. And I have a guest.

Why don't you introduce yourself?

Hi, everyone.

My name is Alexandra Marar and I am from Boardman, Ohio, currently living in Pittsburgh, and this is my first time doing the Fringe.

Super excited.

Yeah.

And your show is over at the Attack theater Studios on March 26 and March 28.

And these tickets are absolutely free, so there's no excuse for you not to come out and check out the show.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about what the show is and then we'll dive into the whole history of it.

Yeah, absolutely.

So the title of my show is Guardian Stranger, and it's all about how your parents tell you growing up, don't talk to strangers, don't take candy from strangers.

And I'm here to tell you why me not listening to that advice actually saved my life.

It's a storytelling show, a little bit of comedy, all real life stories, and.

And it's about how a small town Ohioan girl like myself finished college and decided to travel the world.

I've been to Spain, Northern Ireland, Ireland.

I've been to Amsterdam, a whole bunch of different cities, different countries, and it's all about different bus drivers, friendly strangers I've interacted with that have changed my life and saved it as well.

Well, I mean, that's.

You can't condense a show's description to that much and like, not make people excited to learn more.

Like, that's.

That's a lot.

And I think that's also.

It's one of the truisms of being open to experiences is really engaging with the places you go and not just hitting the tourist destinations because that's how you actually get to really embrace.

I think that's what travel is, is being open to an experience that doesn't have to be dangerous.

It's just being open to saying, hey, you run into somebody, let's talk, let's Learn something.

Let's be involved.

Exactly.

And I love so much how you worded it that way, because it's something I travel for adventure.

Right.

You don't need to be a millionaire to travel.

I was a broke college student with almost nothing in my bank account.

Right.

And just because of host families that adopted me, people that let me couch crash, strangers that let me onto the bus.

Right.

I traveled, I learned about culture and, and so I really want to open people's minds, just what it can mean.

Change up your world, take that adventure, talk to someone sitting next to you and get a different experience in life.

Yeah.

And I think the thing that, you know, people use words sometimes flippantly, and when you really dive into it, there's a few words to me that really identify with what you can really gain and what can change the way you see the world.

And part of that is culture.

And culture is such it can be so lightly used, which bothers the hell out of me because is, you know, it's that mutual understanding of history, it's that mutual understanding of diversity.

It's the mutual understanding of how do we interact with each other and why and what, what created this, you know, melting pot of wherever you are.

And for me, that's always been through food and drink, because that's my, like, that was my root in all this stuff.

As somebody who wrote restaurant reviews and has worked with small minority owned restaurants in my city, there's something so special about being open to learning about that stuff.

And that's, I mean, that's the whole thing is when you go somewhere is really trying to learn about the culture.

And part of that is talking to people.

Yeah.

What about you?

What about you?

And your experience made you open to that?

Open to just, just being and going to, talking to people.

Yeah.

So I've always been a little different, Chris, if you can't tell.

I'm a little quirky, very energetic.

Right.

Aren't all artists, but it's something I really try to live my life trying to make others smile.

And so I've always wanted to do something different, you know, as I travel.

And so I used to, I used to knit hats and I would be in the airport with my loom knitting a hat.

And you know, whether it was a Spaniard speaking or somebody, they'd be like, oh, that's so cool.

I haven't seen that.

What are you making?

And if I finished it, you know, I'd give it to a stranger or just chat to them about what knitting was and get to know about their life as well.

And so doing that, it just.

You know, it would make a boring train ride so much more enjoyable.

And, you know, sometimes I would learn a cool, fun fact.

You know, I would learn about paella or.

Or I happen to be sitting next to a cool football player.

Right.

And he would tell me about his life story, you know, and so just.

Just talking to people, not being glued on my phone, I really wanted to interact with more people, and I really want to encourage others to do it as well.

Just because when you're locked in that screen, you can miss out so much on the world.

But when you talk to others, you get to experience their culture.

Right.

And I don't want to overuse the word, but this idea, you could just learn more about their food.

Right.

How they spend their free time.

The loco discotheca that tourists don't know about.

Right.

So the parties will be better.

Just things like that.

That just liven up life.

Yeah.

So when you were.

When you were deciding about where to travel, what were the things that drove you before you started to travel?

And you're making those decisions, what about those places?

Were the things that appealed to you?

Yeah.

So the truth is, I really just wanted to travel in life.

When I was younger, my family and I, we grew up in a small town in Ohio, but we lived in an apartment complex until I was about 13.

What area of Ohio were you in?

Say that again, sorry.

What area of Ohio were you in?

Yes, I grew up in Youngstown, technically, Boardman.

Small town, but kind of near Cleveland.

So LeBron James grew up near my hometown.

I feel like that's our claim to fame.

You know, I missed out on the sports gene, but I'm glad he had it.

And so, you know, growing up in an apartment complex, my family never really vacationed.

I really just wanted to go places.

I wanted to see the world.

And I took Spanish classes in high school.

I really wanted to improve my Spanish.

And a teacher of mine recommended, like, yeah, when you're in college, you should go study abroad.

So my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to study in the south of Spain and Sevilla.

And to be honest, Chris, I hated it.

The first month, I. I was so paranoid I was gonna get pickpocketed.

I was gonna get kidnapped.

Right?

And so I went over there, and my Spanish was awful.

I could only say hello.

That was it.

Like, no one stand up.

High school Spanish really isn't.

Like, it's not real conversational Spanish.

You're learning a certain version, and Spain is, like, so is so widely different from region to region.

Like that.

Well, they have five accents over there, which is like five different languages.

It's insane.

Yeah.

Even if you were in technical Spanish, it's like formal Spanish, and people don't speak formal.

People don't speak formal Spanish.

Like, when you're in all of this lingo, it's.

And so I have a funny story, Chris.

I Sometimes I would cheat with the Spanish because cognates, right?

Like, television is television.

So a friend of mine, I wanted to tell her that I really liked Spanish bread because they didn't have preservatives in it, right?

And so I was trying, like, okay, how do I say preservative?

It's got to be like, you know, preservativo, right?

That's similar.

So I said preservativos, and my friend was like, huh?

What?

And I was like, you know, like, preservativos.

Like, there's none in there.

Well, apparently, Chris, preservativo means condom in Spanish.

I'm.

I didn't know that.

Right.

Not many.

Most of the time.

Right.

And so I guess the word I was looking for was chemicals, which is chemicals.

Another cognate.

So I just was like, wow, what are the odds?

So that was the first impression I had with someone.

That's pretty good.

But needless to say, as I was finally gaining grasp with the language, Covid happened.

And I was heartbroken because I was like, wow, I finally like the country I'm in now.

I want to be a world traveler and go be cool, and I can't.

And I really.

I'm actually thankful that happens.

Obviously, it was a devastating time for the entire world, but if I wouldn't have been kicked out of the country, I don't know if I would have gone back.

And because I always felt like I was robbed of the rest of my study abroad experience, I paired in Spain for a year after I graduated.

And just flights are so cheap in Europe.

You've got Ryanair £15 to country hop.

And then later that year, Shayla Bachelder invited me to go to the Edinburgh Fringe and help her out.

And from there, I just became addicted to traveling.

So that's my story in a nutshell.

And I think that's another thing, too, is, like, when you got to experience fringe at one of, you know, the core sites and to see the.

This.

The insane diversity of shows and how fervent, like, the crowds are and how, you know, all the different venues that have been Doing it for a long time like that had to be very formative as well.

Oh, absolutely.

I had no idea what I was signing up for.

So you went into the deep end.

The reason I know this woman, I had her husband as a history professor at Waynesburg University.

We were a small college.

Right.

I think I graduated with 400 students, maybe.

And I kept in contact with my professors.

Cause I was a nerd.

And, you know, Dr. Batchelder invited me saying, oh, his wife needs help for this theater festival.

And so I don't think you really can explain the Fringe unless you've been to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Because I looked up a little bit online, but I was like, all right, 100 shows maybe going on in this, in a couple cafes here and there.

It's not going to be big.

Yeah, no.

You're just bombarded with flyers and people on stilts and people juggling fire and clowns and thousands upon thousands of shows happening 24.

7.

It's just.

I couldn't.

I couldn't, like, understand what I was walking into.

It was insane.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I just.

It ran for almost a whole month.

2.6 million tickets.

50.

Almost 54,000 performances across 300 venues.

Like this.

This super bowl of oddity performing all in one place.

Like, it has to be just so overwhelming.

And also, like, just this, like, burst of, like, creative energy around you all the time.

Yeah.

And honestly, there's such a sense of community there, even though it's huge and it's overwhelming with crowds.

But I learned a lot of artists, they don't make money at the Fringe.

Right.

You're lucky if you break even.

But they go because you have people from Australia and China and from countries in South America.

You know, met somebody from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Just random countries all in one city just to get to know other artists, have inspiration, happen, support each other, and it's so beautiful.

So I'm thankful.

You know, we have lots of cities in the US that do that as well.

So when you're thinking about.

You mentioned, you know, a bunch of European countries.

When you're.

When you're thinking about your next.

Your next adventure that you're thinking of, are you thinking about getting even further outside of your comfort zone and going to, you know, non Romance language locations or what.

How.

What are you thinking about right now?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

I, obviously, I've traveled a lot of Europe, but I haven't been to other continents.

I've technically been in Morocco For New Year's I took the ferry from Spain down with a friend and we actually got stuck over there story for another day.

But I would love, I want to learn other languages.

If I could learn French and go back to Morocco, but actually get to travel the country or go somewhere like Niger or just see other countries that would be different than, way different than what I grew up in, or utilize my Spanish and go to Chile, go to Argentina.

I would love to travel and see more of the world.

Yeah.

And I think that's kind of one of those, you know, as somebody who hasn't done that the way I've always, you know, I've, I love learning about, learning about the history of a country through the food.

And for me that's, that has opened up so many doors of understanding and for people that live in my city that, you know, that live in Rochester, that I get to know them and we get to have a different relationship because I got to learn about their, to learn about, you know, where they came from and how, how did all of their things and how did their country exist?

It's one of those, one of those delights.

And you learn, sometimes you learn something you never would have known just because you have eaten enough.

I'll bring up a weird example.

We were.

Yeah, yeah, in, in Rochester.

We have like one Yemeni restaurant in the city.

I grew up in Buffalo, there's a huge Yemeni community.

But here, there was one and I went in, ate there and I had, you know, this great stewed lamb dish.

But the bread it was served as with, was cooked in a tandoor.

I'm like, wait, wait a second.

This, this is very odd because I can tell a tandoor bread when I've, when I see one.

And I was like, this doesn't make any sense.

This is a West Asian country bordering on, you know, northeast Africa.

And how did this exist?

And then I started researching and it turned out that because the British had, you know, colonized Yemen, they brought in Indian, they brought in Indian workers, mostly on, you know, non voluntary workers.

And, but that, that perfumed the culture of food.

And now a lot of the bread is made in tandoors.

And there's some, you know, more, some Indian inspired dishes that are now part of the culture.

But that can be one of those ups and downs of learning about the history of a place.

Yes, with the pain, yes.

With colonization and forced labor and other things.

But that became the truism of what that food is and what the culture became has to be colored by the History, the ups and downs.

And that's.

To me, the joy of learning is, yes, you can't ignore those things.

But when you learn and it becomes celebrated later, it's not just perseverance.

It's that real fusion of, all right, this happened.

But we also love the food.

It's delightful.

And that's that positivity that sometimes is a struggle.

I don't know, for me, I struggle with positivity.

I don't know about you.

Yeah, no, I definitely view myself as an optimist, but.

Right.

We still have to acknowledge all of the pain and suffering that happened in the past.

But I think food, definitely, it can be a way that we remember the past.

Right.

Especially over in the U.S. i mean, Pittsburgh has a hodgepodge of neighborhoods with.

Right.

We have Latino corner.

We have lots of Chinese restaurants.

There are just so many different cultures thrown throughout the city.

And it's a way when immigrants come over, they can remember their ancestors, Right.

Where they grew up, and share that food with us, and then we can embrace them.

Right.

And it's the same.

Right.

And countries that have had that more traumatic past, just seeing, you know, we're coming together, we're moving forward, and this food that we're sharing, I really appreciated that in Spain.

That was something.

Food is huge over there.

Right.

A lot of Americans, we just rush through our food.

I'm guilty of eating in the sidewalk, you know, as I'm running late for work, eating my sandwich.

Right.

But for them, everybody stops in the middle of the day.

Husbands and wives cook together.

Everybody has lunch at 2.

And families, whenever you have a big dish, like paella, which is like a grilled rice dish, everybody eats out of the same dish.

So, you know, you could look at it like, oh, that's gross.

Like, my spoon is touching the same thing.

Yeah, that's kind of gross.

Right.

But they don't care if you're sick.

You know, you don't eat from it.

But it's like, I love you, I trust you.

I don't mind that my spoon touched where yours touched.

So it's a way to build trust as well.

Yeah.

So I'm kind of intrigued.

So you mentioned going to Edinburgh, but this is your first time performing at a Fringe.

Do you have a history of performing, or is this kind of a stretch for you?

A little bit.

I feel like I've always had this little actress dream inside of me.

When.

When I was growing up, I was a huge nerd.

School is my life.

I just finished grad school.

Right.

So I'm trying to be the top notch student, you know, ticking every right box like we're going great in life.

But I was involved in speech and debate in high school and I did drama club in middle school.

And I absolutely love performing.

I love memorizing lines and I love shows.

Even doing shows like Little Women, right, where you can see somewhat of a political agenda just to see what, what the time, what struggles were in the time it was written.

And we get to relive that, to remember it, but also compare it to today.

And so that's really why I like acting.

But I figured, you know, you only live once and I help out with the fringe.

I've been doing it for so many years now, why not give it a shot myself?

So that, that's basically why it's, it

is a great stretch too.

And I think that's one of the amazing things about, about a fringe festival is you don't have to be the most experienced.

You can bring that passion.

And if a venue likes what you're bringing, they'll just say yes.

Like, and that's a really special thing because that first yes, when somebody says, yeah, I think that's a good idea, it does put pressure on, you know, the, the planning and the writing and the preparation.

But that's such a beautiful energy that somebody can give to you by just saying yes to something that you haven't done yet.

Yeah, exactly.

No, it's always worth shooting your shots.

I met a few biology teachers that had quit their jobs and were like, you know what?

I'm joining the fringe train.

I'm giving acting a try.

And so it's something, you know, we live in a society where opportunities are possible.

Right.

You know, work a couple years, save up your money, and then take a gap year to try a new career or try out acting, try out music.

And so I just, I think there's so much beauty in the arts.

I've got free time this year, might as well try it.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

So are you in, are you located in Pittsburgh now?

I am, yes.

So what was it about there that made you settle there for at least a time?

Yeah, probably friends and to be a little closer to Ohio.

So being abroad the past few years, I, I've loved all of my travels and.

But I have been a little homesick.

Right.

I've missed my college friends and I actually, I have to give a shout out to Emily Schaefer.

She typed up a legitimate resume for why she would be a good roommate.

She's been Asking me to live with her the past four years.

How can you say no?

Come on.

The best roommate.

That is a performance girly thing if I've ever heard one.

Like.

Right, Yeah.

I need to present this to you.

I need to format this.

I need to make this a thing.

Yeah.

PowerPoints right here.

Take notes.

Here's your little, your little worksheet.

Yes, that.

But that's what she did.

And anytime I would come and visit her, she kept the room super tidy.

Every country I've been to, she's visited me in and, you know, it's kept the room super tidy.

So it's something.

All right, Emily, I'll live with you.

And the year, it's not up and downs, just, you know, the job hunt is always something.

But I'm so thankful I wouldn't trade this year for the world.

That's awesome.

And, and you know, how have you found like, you know, Pittsburgh's a step up in city size from, from Youngstown, of course, but it's still a mid sized city.

I don't know, for me, the way I describe midsize cities and I think the Rust Belt specifically, I have this, it's not a romantic view of them, but there's something special about the towns that have gone through and gotten.

You gotten kicked in the teeth a little bit and had to rebuild.

That there's a different attitude in all of our cities from, you know, from Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, you know, all of those kind of towns that there's something about that where you had to go through the down and you had to rebuild in the way you are and it allowed the personality of the city to come out.

I think Pittsburgh has a very specific personality.

Right.

It's not, it's not, not as combative as Philadelphia, but it's not, it's not a subtle city by any means.

No.

And I again, I think that's a perfect way to describe it.

It's so evident walking around the city.

You can feel the hard past.

Right.

Everybody in Pittsburgh is a hard worker.

It's the same with Youngstown.

Right.

We come from a history of the steel industry that was everybody's main source of income.

And then one day it just stops.

Right.

And Youngstown has seen so, so many drug issues with opioid addictions, other medications being overused.

Right.

A lot of gangs, a lot of violence.

Pittsburgh as well.

But I would say in the last few years, both of them are up and coming cities, especially Pittsburgh.

A lot of innovative jobs are coming around, a lot of computer Science, a lot of engineering.

The universities are booming, and I feel safe walking around.

You know, I'm a solo lady walking around, often taking the bus at night.

I banquet serve as well.

So I come back late and I've never felt unsafe.

It's a great city.

I mean, obviously there probably are sections you got to watch, but you just be smart, right?

And everybody I interact with, they have such a sense of pride and loyalty to their city.

I love all of the sports teams have the same colors, the black and gold, the bridges match.

Right.

Everyone is proud to be from Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

Well, I think that that real pride in that real pride and pride in a place, you know, allows this, something like this to happen and have 13 years, right.

13 years of something that's continuing to grow and expand is a testament to the passions of the people that live there.

Because you want to give something to the community.

You don't do this trying to be the most famous or anything else.

You do it because you love performing, you love trying something out.

I think the spirit of the fringe is really delightful in that way.

And I think the way I've ended up describing is it seems like fringe happens in cities.

You know, it doesn't happen to a city, it happens in a city.

And that's a really special thing.

Yeah, I agree.

Because that spirit is definitely there year round.

Right.

Especially the neighborhood of Bloomfield.

I accidentally stumbled upon this one night, but I think it's the first Thursday of every month.

Shayla can correct me, I'm not sure, but it's some kind of late night art, some kind of art festival that all of the shops open up, local musicians, they'll play on their front porches, they'll invite people into a garage, and it's all free.

Right.

You go in, you listen to the music, you tip what you can.

Charity shops open up.

They have to donate a lot of money to arts groups, different charities.

The activity center is always booming.

And so it's something, you know, in a world where people say the arts are dying, humanity is dying, humanity, study is dying.

You walk in a neighborhood like Bloomfield, that's pretty big in Pittsburgh, and it just comes alive.

Right.

So it's a spirit, obviously.

It's really showcased during the fringe, but it's a spirit that's alive the whole year, and I think it's only going to get bigger.

Yeah.

And it's.

Every time I come down to every time I come to Pittsburgh, it's, you know, my list of Pittsburgh restaurants has gotten so unbelievably big.

Over the years, especially the proge is right.

I love.

So my wife sells it.

My wife sells it.

Furry conventions all over the country, really.

So we, you know, we come to Pittsburgh every Fourth of July because she sells at anthrocon at the convention center, you know.

Right.

Which I think this year was almost 20,000 attendees.

If you're in town.

If you're in town this year for that, make sure you go out for the.

For the parade and see the.

See.

Just see the wildness of that community, like, and how much Pittsburgh embraces it.

There's so.

There's so few places that embrace it, and there's something about Pittsburgh that just.

They don't care that it's weird.

There's like, hey, this brings in less money for our community, and all these people are coming to visit our city, and we want them to feel welcomed, yet, like, it's not my community, but there's something that makes.

Something about that.

That attitude that makes me feel emotional is just like, how much they just like, hey, this is a weird thing.

There.

There's a.

There's a Pirates baseball player, Andrew McCutcheon.

Every year, he would see them in the stands, and the only thing he would do, he tweeted.

He's tweeted furries.

And then every year around the Fourth of July weekend, he would just tweet furries.

And there's something just delightfully weird about those kind of interactions that makes you feel good about a place.

It makes you feel like, hey, they.

They like stuff like this.

They like fringe.

Yeah.

They acknowledge it.

Right.

They're welcoming of it.

Yeah.

No, I really appreciate that, too, because it's something.

You could just be yourself in Pittsburgh, and everybody.

Everybody feels like they've had a rough past, and so it's a really judgmental, free area.

Right.

At least from what I've experienced.

Yeah.

I don't know.

We've.

We've gone on a lot of tangents, but is there anything else people need to know about the show before they come out and see it?

Ooh.

I'm hoping to get the show to be a little interactive.

I love audience engagement, just because as an audience member, I've always loved when performers invite me on stage or others on stage.

Right.

And so I really want this show to be about the audience.

Obviously, I'll be sharing my stories, but I want reactions.

If somebody's got a crazy stranger story, I want them to share it too.

And.

Yeah.

So I'm just excited to get to meet people.

I've got crazy stories to share, but it'll be so entertaining.

You guys will learn a lot from me, and I really hope to learn from you as well.

So.

So please come to the Fringe.

Please support all of our artists and see all the shows.

That's awesome.

So again, you know, the show is Guardian Stranger, How Talking to Strangers Saved Me From Danger.

And that's over at the Attack theater Studios on March 26 and March 28 at 8:15 each night.

And tickets are free.

So, you know, go check out.

You know, go check out something new.

Go check out a show.

It's the amazing part of Fringe.

Any place they should catch you on social media?

I know it seems like you're disconnected, but I didn't know if you have, like a performer page or anything like that.

Yes.

So I'm actually.

I know I try to be disconnected, but I am trying to grow a social media page.

I'm called she.

So Ohio.

And so what I'll be doing as I travel.

Ohio is a big meme state.

Right.

And so is it crazy just because Alexandra is crazy?

Which probably.

Or is it because she's an Ohioan?

So y' all let me know what you think of me and my home state.

That's awesome.

Well, thank you so much for joining.

Just can't.

Not.

If people want to learn more about the lunch at or podcast network here in Rochester, check out lunchadore.org and make sure you go to pittsburghfringe.org to get tickets for all the different events.

And we'll see you out on the fringe.

This has been a presentation of the Lunchador Podcast Network.

I'm an old.

I don't even know what Ohio Riz is.

What it's.

There's a big meat.