Clayton Center presents Imago Theatre's 'ZooZoo' show

Photo by Fritz Liedtke, Fritz Liedtke

Imago Theatre's "ZooZoo" production includes a performance by these hippo-like creatures who suffer from insomnia. The show is at the Clayton Center for the Arts on Oct. 13.

A preview of Imago Theatre's "ZooZoo"

Creatures are coming to the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville. Fantastic, strange dancing creatures that could be part animal, part human. Sleepless hippo-like beings. Restaurant-going anteaters. Constantly blinking bugs' eyes.

The Portland, Ore.,-based Imago Theatre presents "ZooZoo" at the center on the Maryville College campus 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13. Tickets to the show at the center's Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre at $15 to $25 for adults, $12 to $20 for students or senior citizens. Tickets are at www.claytonartscenter.com or 865-981-8590.

"ZooZoo" is a performance that's so hard to describe that even co-founder Jerry Mouawad has problems defining some of the acts. It's part mask theater, part dance, part aerobatics, part suspended disbelief and part mime.

"If I could explain it, we probably wouldn't be doing it," says Mouawad in a telephone interview.

But he knows what makes Imago's shows like "ZooZoo" appeal to audiences internationally since the theater was founded in 1979. It's fun — and funny.

"Comedy is what makes the work appeal to audiences worldwide," says Mouawad. "There are plain old funny moments."

"ZooZoo" is sort of a "best of" from Imago. Its pieces are taken from the shows "Biglittlethings" and the theater's signature "Frogz" that's played twice on Broadway. Mouawad says the show is designed for families with children ages 4 and older.

Five performers take on all the parts in the show that includes 11 pieces performed without words and set to music. Each actranges from four to eight minutes in the show that goes on about an hour and 20 minutes.

Each performer is masked, disguised and dressed as what Mouawad calls a "creature." Not animal and yet not human, these creatures are transformed by the costumes made by Imago fabricators.

"They are definitely creatures although some pieces are more realistic that others," Mouawad says. "They are not animals; we are not trying to recreate animals. We are using animals to look at ourselves, to bring small moments to life."

These creations embody human qualities, what Mouawad calls the "human spirit," as they perform often comedic routines to a background of original music. "You could say each piece goes into its own universe," he says.

So "ZooZoo" include half-hippo, half-human creatures who suffer from insomnia. And one piece starts with 10 blinking eyes of bugs. Another shows a hungry anteater-like creature at a restaurant.

After years of determining how to create its masks and costumes, Imago employees have discovered "more and more it is the simplest things that entice an audience," says Mouawad. The show's anteater must roll out his tongue to grab his dinner fare of ants. After studying different ways to make that happen, Imago employees came up with the simplest idea. A simple party horn blower — the type that rolls out when it blown into — became the tongue.

"It sounds really simple, and it is simple. But the simplest things are the hardest things to achieve," says Mouawad.

The last performance in "ZooZoo" is an unmasking of its human performers, showing the people behind the masks, costumes and mime.

"When we audition for a show we are looking for the depth of an actor, the grace of a dancer and the timing of a comedian. You need that combination," says Mouawad.

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