Faux-Real Theater's FunBox2000 is built on the premise that the
late-night crowd wants to get involved. But while billed as an
interactive journey through the senses, this intentionally
fragmentary production fails to follow through on its
invitation— director Mark Greenfield has confused theater-in-
the-round with the truly participatory. From above, nearby, and
below, actors declaim original and classical passages— excerpts
from Macbethand The Tell-Tale Heart— while holding strange
postures, playing with flashing yo-yos, or passing around a bowl
of Jell-O. On the few occasions when the show strays outside
this dynamic and actually invites the audience to participate,
the results have a goofy charm: a taste of cotton candy pulled
from an alien's head, a slow dance with the actors that recalls
a junior high prom. Most of the time, however, the show is no
more than allusive recitations that describe sensory experience
rather than provide it. The performers don't bend for the
unexpected and they retreat from the