What does the theater ticket say: An anteater waiter? In the “ZooZoo” yes. Photo courtesy of Imago Theatre.
You want tradition? OK, it’s not as old as Santa or Tiny Tim and Scrooge or that pantry fruitcake you don’t want to unwrap. but ZooZoothe sparkling critter fantasy, which reopens this week at the Imago Theater, has roots.
A frivolity of masks and puppets featuring acrobatic frogs, penguins, polar bears, upside-down paper bags and a menagerie of other sly and cheerful fantasies, it’s a mixture of skits with physical comedy that started it frogzthe intimate costume extravaganza that took the stage when Carol Triffel and Jerry Mouawad formed Imago in 1979 continued frogz‘ close cousin Big little thingsand eventually turned into ZooZooa show which, like its predecessors, toured internationally but always returns to its hometown audiences.
And if ever there was a show for kids of all ages, this is it. As Christopher Gonzalez wrote in his 2018 ArtsWatch review The existential frivolity of Imago’s “ZooZoo”, it is “a show for the humorous. The kind of humor that shatters presumption and replaces it with detached wonder.”
Perhaps especially, he added, for the young adults and hearts: “What really happened was that together they realized that it was appropriate, for example, to bark at the animals on stage. In most cases, the animals barked back. Of course, more children noticed and participated with jokes or loud questions. Any promises made to parents in the lobby to “be a good listener” went out the window. The result was a happy fourth wall demolition.”
Veteran imago performer Danielle Vermette on tour in polar bear mode. Photo courtesy of Danielle Vermette.
In her 2019 ArtsWatch piece ZooZoo, straight out of the polar bear’s mouthAuthor and veteran imago performer Danielle Vermette shared the magic of touring ZooZoo and inhabits some of its characters. “The lifelike costumes and hilarious antics of the characters entertain and surprise while also managing to touch some tender spots,” she writes. Hovering somewhere between exhilaration and torment – the territory of all great comedy – the vignettes illustrate our foibles and insecurities wordlessly through the easy distance of an anthropomorphic lens.
“Somehow it’s hilariously entertaining to watch a penguin fail or an accordion collapse in shock, only to stand up and confront the source of that terror. It’s delicious to see a couple suffer, at least when they’re hippos who can’t sleep properly. Watching a frog afraid to jump? Well, can’t we all identify with that? In fact, the first and most valuable of the top five lessons I’ve learned from touring with Imago’s family shows is that pain is often hilarious.”
That’s the essence of the comedy. And with New Year’s Day at Imago, it’s here.
ALSO OPEN
Did someone mention Dickens? An old story takes on a new stage this weekend when Readers Theater Repertory presents David Berkson’s word-for-word stage adaptation of A Christmas song at the new home of Blackfish Gallery, which has just reopened in its new premises at 938 NW Everett St., in the Pearl District. Readers Theater Rep (which, as the name suggests, does staged readings) and Blackfish have a long history together and are now moving onto… let’s call it a new stage. Berkson, Chris Porter and Megan Skye Hale will take on all the roles in a ghostly bravura. Only two performances; Friday and Saturday, 9.-10. December.
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Christmas with CS Lewisa touring performance of the acclaimed author of the Narnia tales, longtime friend of fellow JRR Tolkien and atheist-turned-Christian makes a stop at the Winningstad Theater of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts December 15-18.
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PassinArt: A Theater Company, fresh from an all-too-brief series by Langston Hughes Black Nativitytakes on a different kind of American classic with the latest show in its Play Reading Mondays series: the Neil Simon comedy God’s darling. Monday, December 12 at the June Key Delta Community Center, 5940 N. Albina, Portland.
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The peppermint bear dates back to Portland lore before tattoos and flannel shirts (except for sailors and lumberjacks) and the latest peppermint bear show, The Taming of the Shoe, opens December 10-22 on the Side Door Stage of the Lakewood Theater in Lake Oswego for a series of daytime children’s shows: Seems like a renegade elf named Percy Ulysses Featherby has been demoted to shoe salesman and gummed the toy supply. Meanwhile, on December 10th and 17th, the main stage will host the children’s show during the day Eleven the Musical Jr.in a one-hour condensed version.
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Kristina Wong stars in Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, a Portland Center Stage and Boom Arts co-production. Photo: Jingzi Zhao/courtesy of Portland Center Stage.
Portland Center Stage continues two well-received shows. This was enthusiastically received on the PCS main stage at The Armory It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play lasts until December 24th.
And in the intimate Ellyn Bye Studio, Kristina Wong’s solo show Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord lasts until December 18th. It’s a hard-edged comedy about the pandemic and Wong’s efforts to organize a group of Chinese-American “aunts” to sew anti-Covid masks to distribute while the federal government delays. ArtsWatch’s Marty Hughley wrote that Wong “comes less like a sweatshop overlord and more like a humanitarian commando, stalking the stage, sometimes crawling on his stomach to illustrate a point, and the sense of urgency and spirit.” , which drives her mimics through a time of confusion and scarce resources. … [I]t is a tale of survival and arguably success, and as such it is heartwarming, even inspirational – especially how clearly it evokes the loving camaraderie that develops among the “aunts,” Wong’s “warriors behind sewing machines.”
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The very popular musical version of Portland Playhouse A Christmas songwhich has become an annual must for many people lasts until December 30th.
Broadway Rose’s light-hearted musical revue A very happy PDX-mas lasts until December 22nd.
The wit of the American humorist Erma Bombeck, played by Helen Raptis, continues in the solo exhibition At the end of the joke through December 17 at Triangle Productions.
Blythe Woodland cuts a carpet with Santa in Broadway Rose’s A Very Merry PDX-mas. Photo: Craig Mitchelldyer
Playwright Lindsay Partain performs at the CoHo Theatre, Oregon The way you made meabout a woman who “shares her gift of words with an unseen lover” continues through December 18.
John Patrick Shanley’s breakthrough hit Danny and the deep blue sea runs through December 18th at Bag&Baggage Productions in Hillsboro.
Fuse Theater Ensemble’s queer-sensitive version of Thornton Wilder’s American classic Our city lasts until December 24; Read Max Tapogna’s ArtsWatch story here.
And Hannah Kahlil’s futuristic virtual reality play, metaversecontinues in depth in Corrib on December 18: Read Bobby Bermea’s ArtsWatch profile of the show’s director, Holly Griffith, who is Corrib’s new artistic director.
LOOKING AHEAD
The mostly annual events of the Anonymous Theater Company have become a must for many theater fans from the Portland area and also for many theater makers. The twist is this: Aside from the name of the show, no one knows who is starring in it — not even the cast themselves who do know They are in the cast but don’t know who their fellow actors are until they meet them on stage. This also requires extraordinary sensitivity in the rehearsal process, because basically everyone is rehearsing for themselves. The result can be a triumph of adaptation and quick thinking in a single performance.
The latest Anonymous show, Fezziwig’s fortune, is also the first original play the company has produced: Its performance on Monday, December 19 will premiere the latest work by Portland-Plawrights Josie Seid and Sara Jean Accuardi. It will also be Anonymous’ first appearance on the stage at Beaverton’s new Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.
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A radio Christmas carol, from the venerable Willamette Radio Workshop, returns to the live stages after a three-year absence with all the fun of radio studio bells and whistles, including live Foley effects. Directed by Sam A. Mowry from an adaptation by Cynthia McGean, it features a polished cast of radio theater regulars and music by – what’s this? – the Holly Jolly radio singers. Performances on Saturday, December 17 at the Victorian Belle Mansion in North Portland and Wednesday, December 21 at the Kiggins Theater in downtown Vancouver, Washington.
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After a pandemic absence, the beloved Portland Revels family tradition returns to the stage with a show December 16-18 Midwinter Revels: Andalusian Night – A celebration of the Solstice. Set in 14th-century Spanish Andalusia, it will feature Spanish and Moroccan musicians Seffarine, the Portland Brass Quintet and flamenco dancer Laura Onizuka, among others. 16-18 December at the Newmark Theatre, with a children’s show 29-30. December.
