Coppertone III: Asylum

Matthew Posey and his rude puppets of the Pioneers of the Suavante-Garde troupe pull out a third short saga in the life of Coppertone Jones, "the pope of Chilitown." Performed with bunraku-style puppetry, this comedy finds three ragged half-human, half-puppet characters locked in a sordid sanitarium. One's a burn victim (puppeteered beautifully by Trenton Stephenson) still sending off puffs of smoke from his smoldering torso. One's a phobic (Josh Jordan) afraid of everything. And Coppertone (worked and voiced by Posey) is just confused about why he's been committed. Sending up Cuckoo's Nest and Celebrity Rehab, the show makes a villain of its only human character, a vicious nurse (Elizabeth Evans) a little too eager to wield the needles and pills. Rated R for naughty language, Asylum, which has a couple of fun musical interludes, is an hour in an adult Sesame Street whose junkyard Muppets are rattled from electroshock therapy. Through September 19 at The Ochre House, 825 Exposition Ave. (near the front gates of Fair Park).
Wednesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Sept. 3. Continues through Sept. 19, 2009