Blending ingenious masks and creative costumes and astounding invention, Imago Theatre creates a living world of animation in Frogz. Imago's productions transport audiences to mysterious, absurd and fantastical universes difficult to describe yet hard to forget. Larvae perform acrobatic feats; an introverted frog challenges a bunch of athletic amphibians to a leap of faith; and a group of penguins waddle through a mad game of musical chairs.
Frogz turns the world upside down and inside out with fantastical illusions that explore the absurd nature of the world. In this live show, artistic directors Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad have designed clever vignettes that move sinuously from screwball comedy to high drama to abstract movement and back. Without spoken text, each piece is performed by the five-member cast to a diverse soundscape composed by Katie Griesar influenced by silent movies and circus melodies.
Imago Theatre began in 1979, performing mask theatre in small communities in the Northwest. Within six years, the company's international touring began and continues to this day. In 2001, the company performed Frogz in a successful two week run on Broadway and they returned to New York City's New Victory Theatre for a four week run in May of 2002. The company's work has been seen on national television on several continents with extensive tours of Europe, Asia and throughout North America.
Creators Triffle and Mouawad are trained in the methods of theatre genius Jacques Lecoq with influences from Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, Alain Platel and Trisha Brown. These mentors have aided Imago's creators to produce some of the most innovative performances in the United States. The company's ingenuity has manifested itself in numerous technical stage 'theatrics' for other theatre productions such as a vertigo induced tilting stage in Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, a monstrous 14-foot metallic wheel in Richard Foreman's Symphony of Rats, the underwater soliloquies of Carol Triffle's Oh Lost Weekend and a matrix puzzle of a set for Mouawad's House Taken Over.
Frogz will be hopping onto the RLAC theatre stage on Friday, February 27 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $22 for adults, $15 for students and seniors and $9 for children age 10 and younger. Limited seating availability. Please call in advance for tickets. Box Office phone (717) 231-ROSE (7673). The Performing Artist Series is online. Click on the Website link below.