Remember when absurdity was something you watched on a stage and not on CNN? Leaving behind the depressing nightly news, it’s good to see how the surreal and the unexpected intersect, as in Last Hurrah of the Clementines, the newest show by Massachusetts company Missoula Oblongata. Written by Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch (yes, that’s how she spells it—it’s avant-garde, see?), the play has a stranger seek sanctuary at the home of a pair of inventors, who then find themselves challenged to live up to their vow (“We will harbor any fugitive, and ask questions later”). The cast includes the two writers and Sarah Lowry. Having seen their prior work, local performer Andrew Connor calls the three-woman company “really inventive, really weird, smart, and different,” and that’s coming from a member of The Cody Rivers Show. The self-contained Oblongata trio also does its own lighting, costumes, and stage management; live music for the show comes courtesy of Travis Sehorn from the band Pebblelight. And everything is guaranteed 100 percent stranger than TV. JOHN LONGENBAUGH Theatre Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave. S., 800-838-3006, www.theatreoffjackson.org. $8-$10. 8 p.m. (one night only).

Wed., Aug. 20, 8 p.m., 2008