Last night, a group of female physical theater performers set out to prove, as the title of their TOJ show plainly suggested, that Not All Clowns are Bozos. They succeded wildkly at their mission of proving that their corner of the artistic universe could be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. While the first half of the show was a little uneven (full disclosure: we arrived 20 minutes late after a leisurely supper at Maneki), the second half crackled, with hilarious solo and duo performers relieving one another well before any one sketch had the chance to get stale.

Here's the thing, though: none of these performers fit my definition of "clown." I'm sure the artists would argue that this was part of the point, and I'd get that point were it not for the fact that their mostly silent acts veered far, far closer to the supposedly moribund art of mime. After taking in this show, I'd submit that purebred whiteface pantomime is dead only because the people who possess the skills to be keep it alive don't want to anymore. Which is a fair choice, I guess, but still a little sad.

Before I forget, one awesome thing about Theatre Off Jackson is they sell Wells Banana Bread Beer, which sounds horrible but tastes heavenly. Another awesome thing is the availability of Arrested Development lapel buttons for $1 a pop. I bought one of Tobias Funke (David Cross) in fully-body Blue Man Group paint, announcing, as he did on the show: "I just blue myself."

A few months ago, a meeting of the mimes was held at Stumptown Roasters near the Seattle U. campus, where it was agreed that the pure art of whiteface was pretty much dead. There was also something of a consensus reached as to who should be blamed for mime's demise: Shields & Yarnell, a Marceau-trained San Francisco duo who had their own televised network variety show in the late-'70s. This duo has been rather quiet (ha!) for quite some time, but we just learned that they're due to launch a thunderous reunion tour in the Greater Phoenix area at the end of January. So if you've got some time for mime, get down to the desert.