A kinky soap opera, complete with claustrophobic sets and queerly attired cast members, Mono Playhouse (1992, 46 mins) follows little Tommy Downey (played by full-size Zig Gron) from early childhood to adulthood as he accumulates a kooky array of sexual fetishes. Mommy's first spanking sets Tommy's perversity meter ticking with cruel and unusual pleasure. Turning away from people, he finds fulfillment in the long braids of a rope-yes, nonjudgmental, pliable rope-and from then on it's twine time. The uproariously wacky Mono Playhouse is like a Freudian case study dictated by a cross-dressing Jerry Lewis. Shorts:Not one to be upstaged, Joe Gibbons soundly trounces his rival, a Ken doll, in his punchy Pretty Boy (1994, 3 mins). Animal Charm's agile Ashley (1997, 9 mins) fashions an infomercial for today's Stepford wives. Paul McCarthy digs deep into familial formation in his unctuous Family Tyranny (with Mike Kelley, 1987, 8:08 mins), in which he rudely kneads and massages dolls, instructing them on proper conduct. In Claire Bain's jocund Jennifer (2000, 12:30 mins), the eponymous one whose "life is art" guides us through the intricacies of a tottering sculpture made of budget baubles and beads. Jennifer's adhesive gun proves glueless in the face of gravity. Plus a comic short by Teddy Dibble.-Steve Seid