"Rhinoceros" is the play that really put Eugene Ionesco on the map. First produced in France in 1960, with London and U.S. productions quickly following, "Rhinoceros" spoke to a world still stinging from the shock of World War II.

		'Rhino' Where: Dog & Pony Show at University of Pittsburgh Studio Theater, Cathedral of Learning, Oakland. When: Through July 23; Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets: $12-$15; 412-431-7580.

Ionesco's absurdist humor put him in league with playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and perfectly captured the frustration, fear and ennui of the time.

Mark Staley, who's directing "Rhino," an adaptation of "Rhinoceros" for Dog & Pony Show Productions, knows that frustration, fear and ennui aren't usually considered the hallmarks of fine comedy, but it's that contradiction he wants to highlight. "It's humor where you're laughing and then you stop and say, 'Wait a minute, that was weird. Why was that funny?' "

Ionesco depicts a universe that can't be explained by logic, though his characters futilely attempt to do so. In "Rhinoceros," a small town finds all of its residents turning into the giant horned animals. They first react with shock and outrage, but more and more succumb until only the play's hero, Berenger, remains.

Ionesco clearly saw the rhinoceroses as symbols for Nazism and the town's plight as emblematic of capitulation to fascism. Staley feels the time is ripe to reconsider Ionesco's treatment of loss of individualism. He doesn't want to assign one particular political meaning to the play, but counts off a few issues the cast considered during rehearsals -- the growth of the radical right; the meaning of patriotism in our society; they even toyed with the idea of the rhinoceroses as giant Hummers tooling through the streets.

But interpretation is itself an individual act and Staley wants to leave it that way. "Newer references enter into the play," Staley says, "but I try not to let them define it."

The final product is a creation of Lissa Brennan, Staley and the ensemble (John Gresh, Erin Krom, Ryan Lanning, Missy Moreno, Jeremy Rierson, Mark Spitznagel, Mark Thompson and Brandi Welle). A shorter version of the play, Dog & Pony is billing it as "Rhino, an adventure through Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros.' " It should clock in at 90 minutes, rather than the 2 1/2 hours a full production would take.

"I tried to stay true to the meaning, structure and rhythm of Ionesco's text," says Staley, who played Botard about 10 years ago in an Exit Theater production in San Francisco.

His director then chose a style of comedic realism. But Staley, who teaches movement at Point Park, has opted to give the characters more of a Buster Keaton physicality, especially, he says, at the start of the play.

In rehearsal, they referenced Ionesco's journals and found that gave them a bit more freedom to do things like play with the structure of time. During a run-through of the first scene, an abbreviation of Ionesco's first act, Staley emphasizes humor and absurdity through such techniques as mimed sequences and overlapping dialogue.

By the end of the play, Staley says he's going for a more "eerie, frightening feeling" brought about by a realization of how the "need to belong can make you lose your own self."

Staley finds that, on one level, the play speaks particularly to American actors. Having extensive continental study and acting experience, Staley says European actors are given much more freedom to find themselves and be creative. American actors, he feels, are too often taught how to fit a specified type. "It's not theater craft, it's theater art and art has to do with expressing yourself, with finding out how to do that."

The process of developing "Rhino" has been just that, seeking self-expression in the context of the group. Staley hopes audiences take away that same understanding of the importance of asserting individualism, and he refers to an e.e. cummings quote that, he feels, sums up "Rhinoceros": "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."