Passing Zone Brings Theatrical Juggling, Comedy to the Palace Theatre

The Passing Zone are like Penn & Teller (but cleaner), The Smothers Brothers (but hipper), Blue Man Group (but less blue), and Cirque du Soleil (but less French) all in one. In their new show “Gravity Attacks!,” coming to the Marion Palace Theatre on February 9, 2013, Jon Wee and Owen Morse invite the audience to join them in their fight against what they consider one of the world’s most evil forces – gravity.

The five-time Guinness World Juggling Record holders will put gravity in its place, overpowering it with seemingly effortless dexterity. They entertain audiences of all ages as they juggle a variety of items including chainsaws, in ballet tights no less (hence the name of the skit “The Chainsaw Ballet”). Objects fly through the air, like bowling balls, torches, and knives. You’ll even see three people from the audience floating through space, orbiting planets, narrowly escaping dangerous collisions.

Jon Wee shares his thoughts about how audiences react to the performance.

“People don’t know what to expect with a juggling show. Often it sounds like it’s a kids show, or people are thinking, how am I going to watch you juggle for an hour and a half?  It really is important to note that it’s a comedy show. It really is about the jokes and the laughs and the funny situations. Sure there is a lot of juggling — that’s what the show is built around — but it really is a comedy show.”

Jon and Owen are known as much for their comedy as their juggling skills. They were featured twice on the gala stage at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and have opened for comedians Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Bob Ne­whart, Bob Hope, and Penn & Teller.  Television appearances have included “Comic Strip Live,” “An Evening at The Improv,” “MADtv,” Penn & Teller’s “Sin City Spectacular,” “Steve Harvey’s Big Time,” and regular returns to NBC’s “Today.”

They expanded their US national television audience by passing clubs over the heads of the Miss America Pageant contestants during the swimsuit competition, demonstrating almost inhuman concentration skills!  Most recently, they were finalists on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” where they lost one million dollars to an 11-year-old. They were the highest-rated comedy act, and they eventually won the affections of millions of viewers including David Hasselhoff who claimed to hate all jugglers.

In addition to television, they have appeared in the award-winning comedy documentary, “The Aristocrats”, and were hired as juggling stand-ins for Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd in “The Addams Family” (1991) during the climactic Mamushka dagger-pass­ing scene.

When asked about the dangerous stunts the duo performs using snapping rat-traps, segway scooters and razor sharp objects, Jon replies with a smile.

“Yes, we’re always coming up with new and creative ways in which people can hurt themselves. That’s basically what we try to do for people’s entertainment.”

The Passing Zone: GRAVITY ATTACKS show will take place at the Marion Palace Theatre on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets are $40, $26, $22 for adults and $12 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Marion Palace Theatre Box Office at 740-383-2101 or visit www.marionpalace.org.