Only Attack Theatre could command a near-capacity crowd on a Monday night. They were lured by Attack's reputation for fun and frolic and one of the most intriguing (and long) titles to come down the road in a while -- "[Insert Clever and Thought-Provoking Title Here]" -- plus the promise of audience participation.

The group's New Hazlett Theater program began with more "traditional" fare in "Dead End," inspired by Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" (love that title even more). It is a "poetic and poisonous" alphabet book in which people from Amy to Zillah meet their demise in various droll and entertaining ways, providing one of Attack's most effective stage designs yet.

I particularly liked "Clara who wasted away," with Liz Chang's melting movement, and "Kate who was struck by an ax" -- romantically, that is. But then there was "Prue trampled flat in a brawl," more like the Three Stooges, followed by "Quentin who sank in a mire," where Michele de la Reza slowly fell from the balcony (supported by husband Peter Kope).

The letter "U" through the end of the alphabet letters were bunched together in a delicious tumble, all set to composer Doug Levine's evocative score. It ranged from electronic to "Georgia on My Mind," an apt accompaniment for "Ernest who choked on a peach," and a twisted version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Musicians Jeff Berman, Paul Thompson and Ben Opie (sometimes sporting the rarely used contrabass clarinet and electronic theremin) covered a range of haunting sounds.

"Untitled (2008)" proved to be a campaign for audience votes. Judge Patrick Jordan kept things running smoothly in this best-of-five dance-off, where a pair of audience leaders chose teams.

This was risky despite the camaraderie of it all. Various combinations of dancers improvised from randomly chosen slips of paper denoting location, emotion and action. Likewise DJ Soy Sos expertly improvised his own soundscape, while lighting designer Kevin Matz did the same with his designs. That's a lot of improvising to juggle.

Attack's recent sneak preview at their studios fared better. Monday night's segments seemed busy, but it was easy to love de la Reza and Kope's take on "boat, frustration, vomit" and Jeff Davis' madcap sprint through "forest, ecstatic, stumbling."

For the record, the red team swept the competition in four exchanges. The winning leader got two tickets to Attack Theatre's spring fling, "The Dirty Ball," while the loser got to pick the night's title from a handful of submissions, which, with the audience's help, became "Value Judgments Suck."