There is the woman who sits with her feet buried in the sand near the sea where flying fish leap from the water to a nearby shopping mall and terrorize the housewives even as a fantasy lover swims inside her head.

        And there is the boy who takes the book of butterflies to the hills and ends up sitting on the thick branch of a beech tree.

        There is the diabetic, alcoholic country singer who lives in his Studebaker and whose latest song is “missing crucial feelings.”

        And there is the Mummy's boy/man who describes his mother as “a national park no one visited, whose views no one appreciated ... who had caves inside of her.” Those caves are where she hid herself.

        All these strange and wonderfully human characters are embodied by spellbinding solo theater artist David Cale, whose words are music and whose work is intuitive, shattering, erotic, compassionate, hilarious, fantastic, forgiving.

        Mr. Cale opened Playhouse in the Park's new Monday night alteractive series with a performance that will stand as one of the top theatrical events of 2001. He played to a standing room crowd — speaking volumes about the kind of work Cincinnati is ready and eager to embrace, even on a Monday night in January.

        Mr. Cale is part chameleon, taking on the characteristics of young and old, male and female for his flights of fancy that aim for the soul. The sea and the sky, birds and fish and the human heart echo through his monologues, which are sometimes the spoken lyrics of songs.

        He's a riveting performer, never more than in the evening's closing work in which his character, who keeps forgetting that he's alive, takes a taxi ride back through his life.

        “Is this what intimidated me?” he asks in wonder. “Is this what held me back?”

        Don't forget, Mr. Cale urges. Remember.

       Alteractive continues with eight more events. Next up is another New York favorite, David Gonzalez on Jan. 22 with performance poetry and music.

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