Buffoonery abounds in Imago Theatre’s deep-thinking ‘Mission Gibbons’
Literally and hallucinogenically, “Mission Gibbons” is a trip. Specifically, a time-trip. After a trio of stoned backpackers cross paths with a clan of cavemen, the present daytrippers must forge an anachronistic alliance with the burly Stone Agers to stave off the apocalypse. Carol Triffle, co-founder of Imago Theatre, wrote and directs this absurdly enjoyable play, comically couching very real environmental concerns.“Mission Gibbons” runs through April 27 in the Southeast Portland performance space.The show:The minds behind the anthropomorphic-movement shows “ZooZoo” and “Frogz” have been on a creative roll throughout and despite the COVID pandemic. Imago co-founder Jerry Mouawad has produced an opera-theater piece, a comedy set in a roomful of rhinos, and a dreamy dive into insomnia (last fall’s “My Bedroom Is an Installation”).Triffle’s metaphysical musical, “Where’s Bruno?” opened about a year ago.“Mission Gibbons” isn’t as abstract as many of Imago’s past works. Still, Triffle said, “It’s hard to categorize. It’s definitely a play, but there are a lot of songs in it so you could almost call it a musical, but there’s more talking than singing.”Tragicomedy might be the best descriptor, she said — leaning harder into the humor.“It’s funny, but it’s also very deep at some points, when the cavemen actually talk about what’s going to happen to the world if they don’t find a plan to help it. And all the plans are sung,” Triffle said. “It’s really sad when you think about it, but then the sadness comes through as absurd or funny.”The post-Jurassic-World Triffle creates is kinetic. However, don’t expect the animal-inspired pantomime and dance maneuvers of “ZooZoo” and “Frogz,” though several actors in “Mission Gibbons” have appeared in those shows, and are trained in the Jacques Lecoq technique of theater movement.“There is an underlying basis of physical theater in it, but it’s not anthropomorphic in this play,” said Triffle.Buffoonery abounds. From the rough-and-(almost)-tumble way the hikers attempt to scale the mountain (a massive set-piece by Alex Meyer) to some Stone Age slapstick from Caveman Ueh (Kyle Delamarter), it’s go-time from curtain up.Carol Triffle is a playwright, director and co-founder of Imago Theatre in Portland. April 9, 2024.Beth NakamuraWho’s who:The six actors in “Mission Gibbons” have all worked with Imago before — and it shows. Throughout the opening night performance, cast members fiercely maintained their commitment to Triffle’s journey, and the exaggerated quirks of their characters.Anne Sorce, playing hiker Anna, seemed to be channeling Molly Shannon’s “Saturday Night Live” goofball Mary Katherine Gallagher by creepily, hilariously never breaking eye contact with the audience as she delivered every line.Anna even leaned in to sniff Caveman Ueh’s armpits.“Mmm. You smell like dirt. Fresh dirt.”What’s the Big Idea?“All of my plays have an underlying theme of ‘We gotta fix something,’” said Triffle. “Whenever I write, I start writing and then if something pops out at me and it starts feeling like I shouldn’t go there, then I go there. I don’t know why, but that’s been my life, for writing and for watching theater.”Lately, buried under the avalanche of bad news — “everything is a catastrophe, global warming or some other catastrophe is in every newscast” — Triffle felt helpless. Things were “getting to the point of ‘I want to do something, but I don’t know what to do,’” she said.She penned this play to give people ideas to consider how to change the future now. Absurdism is Triffle’s imaginative avenue into environmentalism. That mountain? It’s named Mount Plastic. We and the hikers learn it’s not a landform; it’s a landfill, made mostly of garbage.“I never realized how much plastic I used until I started doing this play,” Triffle said. “I do recycle but I don’t recycle all the plastic. (The play) hopefully just makes you think about that.”Triffle said that her mountain of pollution is meant to mirror the mass of plastic debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, floating between the coast of California and Hawaii.The messaging here is unabashedly unsubtle. But absurdism isn’t a wink and a nudge; it’s a slap and a tickle. Triffle generously swirls eco-activism with song, sci-fi twists and cheeky references to the opening scene from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the goriest scenes from “Cocaine Bear.”Listen for:Music is a big element of this story. The tagline for the show is, “The time has come to listen to the cavemen sing.”“Anytime there is a ‘message’ they’re singing about it,” Triffle said. “I wrote the play and lyrics. Kyle did all the music composition.”Delamarter’s Cro-Magnon crooner Ueh belts out a couple of pop ballads that would shuffle nicely into a “Songs to Sing in the Shower” Spotify playlist.In the final number, as the cavemen mix harmonies with in-sync choreography, audiences may be witnessing Earth’s first boyband.Because they pre-date The Monkees.Line of the night:“You don’t have to be sad. It’s not opera!” shouts hiker Tina (Amy Katrina Bryan) near the optimism-fueled end of “Mission Gibbons.”What should audiences take away from the play?“You can walk away thinking and you can walk away laughing,” Triffle said. “We’re trying to maybe just help a little, and if everybody helps a little, maybe it will be a lot.”“Mission Gibbons”When: Continues 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through April 27.Where: Imago Theatre, 17 S.E. Eighth Ave.Tickets: $23; www.imagotheatre.com.— Lee Williams, for The Oregonian/OregonLive
The tragicomedy by Carol Triffle, Imago co-founder, mixes eco-activism with absurdity as modern backpackers encounter a clan of cavemen.
Literally and hallucinogenically, “Mission Gibbons” is a trip. Specifically, a time-trip. After a trio of stoned backpackers cross paths with a clan of cavemen, the present daytrippers must forge an anachronistic alliance with the burly Stone Agers to stave off the apocalypse. Carol Triffle, co-founder of Imago Theatre, wrote and directs this absurdly enjoyable play, comically couching very real environmental concerns.
“Mission Gibbons” runs through April 27 in the Southeast Portland performance space.
The show:
The minds behind the anthropomorphic-movement shows “ZooZoo” and “Frogz” have been on a creative roll throughout and despite the COVID pandemic. Imago co-founder Jerry Mouawad has produced an opera-theater piece, a comedy set in a roomful of rhinos, and a dreamy dive into insomnia (last fall’s “My Bedroom Is an Installation”).
Triffle’s metaphysical musical, “Where’s Bruno?” opened about a year ago.
“Mission Gibbons” isn’t as abstract as many of Imago’s past works. Still, Triffle said, “It’s hard to categorize. It’s definitely a play, but there are a lot of songs in it so you could almost call it a musical, but there’s more talking than singing.”
Tragicomedy might be the best descriptor, she said — leaning harder into the humor.
“It’s funny, but it’s also very deep at some points, when the cavemen actually talk about what’s going to happen to the world if they don’t find a plan to help it. And all the plans are sung,” Triffle said. “It’s really sad when you think about it, but then the sadness comes through as absurd or funny.”
The post-Jurassic-World Triffle creates is kinetic. However, don’t expect the animal-inspired pantomime and dance maneuvers of “ZooZoo” and “Frogz,” though several actors in “Mission Gibbons” have appeared in those shows, and are trained in the Jacques Lecoq technique of theater movement.
“There is an underlying basis of physical theater in it, but it’s not anthropomorphic in this play,” said Triffle.
Buffoonery abounds. From the rough-and-(almost)-tumble way the hikers attempt to scale the mountain (a massive set-piece by Alex Meyer) to some Stone Age slapstick from Caveman Ueh (Kyle Delamarter), it’s go-time from curtain up.
Who’s who:
The six actors in “Mission Gibbons” have all worked with Imago before — and it shows. Throughout the opening night performance, cast members fiercely maintained their commitment to Triffle’s journey, and the exaggerated quirks of their characters.
Anne Sorce, playing hiker Anna, seemed to be channeling Molly Shannon’s “Saturday Night Live” goofball Mary Katherine Gallagher by creepily, hilariously never breaking eye contact with the audience as she delivered every line.
Anna even leaned in to sniff Caveman Ueh’s armpits.
“Mmm. You smell like dirt. Fresh dirt.”
What’s the Big Idea?
“All of my plays have an underlying theme of ‘We gotta fix something,’” said Triffle. “Whenever I write, I start writing and then if something pops out at me and it starts feeling like I shouldn’t go there, then I go there. I don’t know why, but that’s been my life, for writing and for watching theater.”
Lately, buried under the avalanche of bad news — “everything is a catastrophe, global warming or some other catastrophe is in every newscast” — Triffle felt helpless. Things were “getting to the point of ‘I want to do something, but I don’t know what to do,’” she said.
She penned this play to give people ideas to consider how to change the future now. Absurdism is Triffle’s imaginative avenue into environmentalism. That mountain? It’s named Mount Plastic. We and the hikers learn it’s not a landform; it’s a landfill, made mostly of garbage.
“I never realized how much plastic I used until I started doing this play,” Triffle said. “I do recycle but I don’t recycle all the plastic. (The play) hopefully just makes you think about that.”
Triffle said that her mountain of pollution is meant to mirror the mass of plastic debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, floating between the coast of California and Hawaii.
The messaging here is unabashedly unsubtle. But absurdism isn’t a wink and a nudge; it’s a slap and a tickle. Triffle generously swirls eco-activism with song, sci-fi twists and cheeky references to the opening scene from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the goriest scenes from “Cocaine Bear.”
Listen for:
Music is a big element of this story. The tagline for the show is, “The time has come to listen to the cavemen sing.”
“Anytime there is a ‘message’ they’re singing about it,” Triffle said. “I wrote the play and lyrics. Kyle did all the music composition.”
Delamarter’s Cro-Magnon crooner Ueh belts out a couple of pop ballads that would shuffle nicely into a “Songs to Sing in the Shower” Spotify playlist.
In the final number, as the cavemen mix harmonies with in-sync choreography, audiences may be witnessing Earth’s first boyband.
Because they pre-date The Monkees.
Line of the night:
“You don’t have to be sad. It’s not opera!” shouts hiker Tina (Amy Katrina Bryan) near the optimism-fueled end of “Mission Gibbons.”
What should audiences take away from the play?
“You can walk away thinking and you can walk away laughing,” Triffle said. “We’re trying to maybe just help a little, and if everybody helps a little, maybe it will be a lot.”
“Mission Gibbons”
When: Continues 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through April 27.
Where: Imago Theatre, 17 S.E. Eighth Ave.
Tickets: $23; www.imagotheatre.com.
— Lee Williams, for The Oregonian/OregonLive