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Flash! The Passing Zone Lives Outside Conventions, Too!

by Dave Jones

But, even though I warned you, many people will still be surprised when they see it, because Owen Morse and Jon Wee have somehow gotten a reputation for being convention-only partners, a team that exists only within the confines of a juggler-packed gymnasium. This is very far from true. And there are witnesses across the country who will verify the Passing Zone's existence as a performing team, and a talented one at that.

Morse and Wee have only been performing together professionally since the spring of 1988, but in that short time they have developed a solid comedy show that is playing to more and more appreciative audiences every day. The two men first met at San Jose in 1986, when they were introduced by a mutual friend. Both were into passing nine clubs, and the first part of the foundation was laid.

Although they corresponded a few times during the following year, they entertained no plans of teaming up until the 1987 IJA convention in Akron brought them together again. In Akron , they started discussing "throwing something together" when they got to Denver in 1988 and competing in the Teams Championship. Wee added, "But we also got into some conversations a little bit about just where we were in college and what we wanted to do when we graduated, and we were in similar situations. We both liked team juggling but didn't really have somebody that we were planning on working with."

Over the course of the next year, Morse and Wee expanded their thoughts of partnership to include not only the 1988 Teams competition, but also performing together after they graduated from college. It was decided that Wee, who was to graduate from Luther College ( Iowa ) in the spring of 1988 would move to Southern California after he graduated to join Morse, who would graduate from the University of California at Irvine the following spring.

Morse thinks that he and Wee were very lucky to find each other when they did, and to have been in a situation which allowed them to team up. He said, "It's not easy to find a partner...to find someone with basically the same skill. I can't think of a single other juggler who I could work with as well as Jon."

The Passing Zone's show combines many of the tricks which took them to the 1989 IJA Teams Championship, while including other routines based on each man's solo abilities.

They start out with Wee juggling four balls that make a variety of noises when they hit his hands.

Following this they begin passing, which is their specialty. During the course of the show, Morse and Wee pass six clubs with a plethora of tricks, seven clubs with tricks, seven clubs back-to-back, and up to nine clubs. They also pass six machetes on six-foot unicycles.

The show, which also includes three and five ball routines by Morse, a devil stick routine by Wee, and cigar box work by both men, builds to a "towering inferno" finish. In the finale trick, the two juggle torches while Wee stands on Morse's shoulders as he stands balanced on a rola bola.