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Ongoing	Tue-Thu, Sun, 8pm; Fri-Sat, 7pm, 10pm; Sat, 4pm; Wed, Sun, 2pm; Sun, 5pm

Profile

This three man show, ensconced in the snug, cave-like Astor Place Theater since 1991—became an international sensation (Chicago, Vegas, Toronto, Berlin, London)—by good-humoredly layering performance art with viewer participation. Not so much an actual story as a series of wacky vignettes, this long-running revue might make allusions to heavier issues such as the loss of community, the effects of modernity, and postmodern art pretensions, but when it does, the players always do so with a light-hearted, good-natured, interactive touch. Some of the show’s more inspired moments are inexplicably so: a comical Twinkie-eating skit, a music jam-out with plumbing pipes, and a tube-swinging, strobe-lit finale with plenty of toilet paper. If the idea of making paintings created by banging on color-splattered drums or by slamming an upside-down audience member (soaked in blue) into a giant canvas sounds silly, well, it is. But with the production’s child-like energy and general wordlessness, teenagers and non-English speakers will probably pack the seats for years to come. Who knew that what began as a street performance in the 1980s would evolve into such a global, tubular enterprise? — Leaya Lee

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• Still Playing at a Theater Near You (10/10/06)