Jinkies! The Totally Unauthorized, Partially Improvised Scooby Doo Mysteries Live on Stage brings Scooby Snax and the Mystery Machine back to life at the New York International Fringe Festival, with performances at Context Aug. 20-28. Eric Pliner, who wrote the piece, also directs. After the audience chooses a celebrity for the teens to rescue (past picks have included Madonna, Mr. T., Cher, Brad Pitt and Scott Baio), the Scooby Doo gang sets out to find the missing person. The resulting mystery is a combination of campy musical numbers, pop culture references and improv comedy.

Jinkies! stars Jan Davidson, J.C. DeVore, Brian Jewell (Scooby Doo), Melanie Lerch (Daphne), T'ai Merion (Fred), Amy Rhodes (Velma) and Dan Richardson.

The Fun & Games Stage Company's first production of Jinkies debuted in Dec., 1998 at Cambridge, Massachusetts' Green Street Studios. It was subsequently remounted in Feb., 1999 for an AIDS Action Committee benefit and in April and May as part of the Boston Center for the Arts' late night series.

Tickets are $11 and can be reserved by calling (212) 420-8877 or (888) FringeNYC. Context is located at 28 Avenue A between 2nd and 3rd. The New York Fringe Festival is on the internet at http://www.fringenyc.org.

-- By Christine Ehren