Frogz offers illusion, puppetry and acrobatics

MORRISTOWN — Penguins in musical chairs, a cat trapped in a giant paper bag, huge frogs doing calisthenics, larger-than-life alligators taunting the audience — Frogz features illusion, puppetry, and acrobatics that are goofy and packed with giggles for both adults and children.

Imago Theatre's Frogz comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $19 to $39.

Defying classification, Imago Theatre has populated the stage with characters and beings such as comedic amphibians, acrobatic larvae, circus boulders, and metamorphosing humans in works which tantalize the senses, the intellect and the passions.

From adaptations of classics to excursions into vaudevillian existentialism, Imago's repertoire is as vast as the forms they shape. With commissions for stage, film, and television, Imago blurs the lines of the expected to break new ground, exploding performance boundaries yet maintaining humor and humanity.

Frogz is Imago's signature production. Dating back to 1979, founders Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad began creating masks and costumes and developing movement to bring the essence of their creatures to life. With the addition of new actors, designers and original music over the years, Frogz has earned its status as an international success.

Imago's work has been seen on television and on tour in Europe, Asia, and throughout North America, including twice on Broadway at the acclaimed New Victory Theatre, and an extended run at the Tony Award-winning American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. The show, which evolves over time, currently features such favorites as the introverted frogs, slippery lizards, a playful paper bag, dancing strings, mysterious orbs, a curious giant baby, an acrobatic larva and mischievous penguins.

The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St. in Morristown. For more information or tickets contact the box office at 973-539-8008 or www.mayoarts.org.