LOGOMANIACSBy Paul Fleischman
Directed by Colette Rice
WHEN: Thursday, December 9, through Sunday, December 19; 7:30 PM on Thursdays and Fridays and 3:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays.
WHERE: New Jersey City University’s West Side Theater, 285 West Side Avenue near Culver Avenue), just minutes from Routes 440 and 1-9, and the N.J. Turnpike extension I-78.
TICKETS: $30 general admission, $15 for students and seniors, and children under 15 pay their age. All tickets for the December 12 opening are $30 and include Meet the Playwright and the reception following the show. ALL TICKETS FOR DECEMBER 9 OPENING PREVIEW PERFORMANCE ARE FREE (OR PAY WHAT YOU WILL)
For information, or to make reservations, call the box office at 201.200.2390 or visit www.ascnj.org. To order online, visit www.theatermania.com and search “Logomaniacs.”
Like a barker at the circus, this new play by the Newbery Award-winning author dares us to step past the curtain and examine the oddities of life in the form of those whose passion for words carries them to extremes. In quick-change manner, a troupe of four actors narrates, acts, dances, duels, and delights the audience. The tone is light, the style physical as well as verbal, the material progressing from the merely odd to the jaw-dropping.
Describing the work as “a tour of wonders built with words,” Fleischman says, “Logomaniacs is an intellectual freak show exhibiting 26 real-life word-obsessives—one per alphabet letter—in a series of swift scenes.”
From Georges Perec and his novel without the letter “e,” to the Russian futurists and their invented language, “Zaum,” Logomaniacs is a hymn to our instincts to play and create.
“Don't know what a lipogram is? A Hobson-Jobson? Zaum? Esperanto? Come see Logomaniacs,” says Fleischman, no doubt a word-obsessive himself.
On Sunday, December 12, the official opening performance, there will be a reception in the lobby of the West Side Theater. The audience will meet and greet the Logomaniacs cast and some of their real-life counterparts, who promise to be on hand. This follows a Question-and-Answer session with the author and cast after the performance.
The West Side Theatre is wheelchair accessible. Large print programs and assisted listening devices are available. Some performances are audio described. Call 201.200.2390 for more information and requests.
