A murder mystery unfolds in the turn of the century England as a party awaits a war hero...ZAP! A disgruntled writer plots revenge on a fellow word craftsman steals and publishes his life story...ZAP! The classic Shakespearean play, Richard III begins...ZAP! A Russian woman is dragged to live in her...ZAP! A one woman show, performance art...ZAP! A couple sees it as no big deal when they find a corpse...ZAP! An artist plots to run away from his Southern home while his grandmother...ZAP!

So is the play by Paul Fleischman, which seems to stem from a conversation I had with my co-worker one afternoon about how short my attention span has become when watching movies on television. And that's just the idea of the play, isn't it not? How we continually flip channels during commercial breaks or during the most important parts of a movie or TV series just to see what's on the other channel? Theatre is dying and television is the box they'll bury it in.

It's a different high school play and quite the humorous read - reminiscent of Noises Off at some scenes. It starts off with something experimental, a play controlled by the audience. The idea is to give the audience remote controls to "change the channel" at any given time. A computer in the back will tally up the number of times a change is requested and when a sufficient number is hit - ZAP! - the play changes. Cramming seven plays into one single piece, Paul Fleischman not only keeps us entertain but holds a mirror to ourselves, examining how disenchanted and jaded we've become with the arts.

Zap is a must for every high school aged student and drama teacher. ( )

Review on Metapsychology Online href> ( )

This started out as a really strong, solid play for me. It is essentially seven plays in one, where the "audience" gets to choose which one they wish to watch by "zapping" or "changing the channel" with remotes provided. As the plays go on they slowly disintegrate and start to impede on each other. While this is amusing, I actually became invested in the plays and sort of wish we could have seen them acted out to fruition. I imagine seeing the play in real life would be hilarious and completely on point. ( )

I get the feeling that, like most plays, you really need to see this one to get the most out of it. ( )

Imagine trying to provide the chance for high school actors to experience several genres of drama at one time. Imagine focusing on having parts for as many actors as possible. What happens when you interweave genres from the avaunt-garde play to the English mystery, from the comedy to Shakespeare’s Richard III, and from performance art monologue to Southern drama? Then, use common plot devices like a dead body and allow the characters to blur their performances between the play's characters and the actors (also characters) who play them. Then, just to keep things moving, grant the audience permission to switch from play to play using a device similar to a television remote to zap the action forward. The result is a hysterically funny mash up of seven different plays. Readers will find themselves laughing out loud while reading Zap as the characters respond to sound and prop catastrophes by switching roles and appearing to improvise. Mr. Fleischman’s writing is flawless and very, very funny. This play should be included in libraries and drama repertoires of every high school. Grades 9-12 ( )