THE DEPTH OF CLOWNS

Those inventive clown wranglers at Byrd Productions Movement Theater scored one of the big hits of this year’s Fringe Festival with The Miniature Housewife, a penetrating and hilarious sendup of suburban ennui that naturally grew, somehow, into a dreamlike work offering moments of true beauty, existential dread and clowns (you know, the nouveau artsy kind, not the salty old carnival drunks). This weekend, Danielle Conover and Dan Griffiths, the stars and creators of The Miniature Housewife, have returned to the Just Off Broadway Theatre (3051 Central in Penn Valley Park) with The Fontina and Gruyere Show, another evening of unpredictable movement, music, dancing and jokes, packed full of more ideas than you-know-whats in a you-know-what car. This time, Conover and Griffiths play a couple bobbing along the ocean after an accident; this being a Byrd Production, expect a little hurt, a lot of hilarity and, most of all, humanity. Performances are at 8 tonight; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12. Call 816-305-8188.

Fri., Oct. 9, 8 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 10, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 11, 2 p.m., 2009