Magic Zoo News: Timmy the Monkey (or maybe human boy) is Curt Dixon!!

IRTE's latest production, THE MAGIC ZOO opens Sunday, July 13, 2014. It's our tongue-in-cheek take on the kids' shows we grew up with like THE NEW ZOO REVUE, THE MAGIC GARDEN, and ZOOBILEE ZOO.

Jeff O'Leary, guest performer and 2013 IRTE company member, asked some fun questions of our cast to get to know a little bit about the psychological trauma they went through growing up, and how children shows helped them adapt to society. One person who would talk to him was Curt Dixon.

Jeff: Tell us about the character you are playing in THE MAGIC ZOO.

Curt: I'm playing Timmy, the human/monkey hybrid.  He was born and raised in a lab.  Eventually the lab lost funding and they were forced to sell Timmy to the zoo.  Timmy is very childlike which is good and bad.  He can be very sweet and lovable but, like most children, he can lose his temper.  And being a hybrid his temper tantrums can be very dangerous since he possesses monkey strength.  He has imprinted on Princess Patty and thinks she is his mother.  He's happy at the zoo and, for the most part, very happy-go-lucky.

J: What was your favorite kid's show when you were growing up and why?

C: I was more into cartoons, but would watch The New Zoo Review.  But it was really for little kids and I would watch it and make fun of it for being so stupid.  Then I would change channels and watch Scooby Doo or The Three Stooges.

J: Did you ever apply any "life lessons" from a children's show to your own life? Did you ever have a problem as a kid that you wished would have been addressed on a show you watched?

C: I never learned a life lesson from a tv show.  My life lessons were gained in life.  For example, I learned how to share by getting beat up by my brother.  And also that if I retaliated by smashing my brother in the back of the head with a bowling pin that my father would spank me.

J: If you were a big shot television producer and could create your own kid's show, what would it look like?

C: It would be crazy.  Lots of insane, colorful madness.  Very fast paced and action packed.  I would dance near the border of driving kids to the point of seizures with so much sensory overload.  Something to make the kids brain expand in ways they could only imagine.  I want to give them amazingly beautiful and sometimes frightening dreams.  No life lessons.  Just insanity.

 Well... I hope we all learned something.

Thanks, Jeff and Curt, we'll see you soon at the zoo!

THE MAGIC ZOO

Sundays, July 13, 20, & 27, 8:00 pm

at The Producer's Club

358 W 44th St, NYC

between 8th & 9th Ave.

Tickets: $10.00