PERFORMANCE ART BATOTO YETU Singing & dancing w/life-size puppets ...

Singing & dancing w/life-size puppets feat. music from Angola, Zambia, Mozambique & Congo; New Victory Theater, 209 W. 42nd St. (B'way), 212-564-4222; call for prices & times.

CAMPAGNIE FAIM DE SIECLE

New take on Medea w/live acting, installations & "broken video walls ...where the audience is invited to 'disappear'"; The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), Weds. at 8, Thurs.-Sat. at 10, $20.

FAULTY OPTIC'S "SNUFFHOUSE DUSTLOUSE"

Puppetry involving "a world run on cockroach power"; P.S. 122, 150 1st Ave. (9th St.), 212-477-5288 or www.ps122.org; Weds.-Sat. at 7, $30.

LES SPECTACLES VIVANTS SAMPLE

France's Serge Laurent curates night of dance, music & theater performances, as part of the Downtown Art Festival's Contemporary French Art & Performance Series; The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St. (10th Ave.), 212-255-5793; Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30, $15.

LYPSINKA

The world's "ultimate luxury item" fleeces an obviously completely unsuspecting horde of fans with lip-synched outrage; Westbeth Theater Center, 151 Bank St. (betw. West & Washington Sts.), 212-741-0391; Sun. at 8:30, $27.50-$32.50 [through 9/24].

PHAT TUESDAY

Monthly "mardi gras" feat. film, puppetry, performance theater & the inimitable sound-effect-heavy comedian Zero Boy; Dixon Place, 309 E. 26th St. (2nd Ave.), 212-532-1546; Tues. at 8, $12.

STOMP

British percussion performance troupe; Orpheum Theater, 126 2nd Ave. (betw. 7th & 8th Sts.), 212-477-2477; Weds.-Fri. & Tues. at 8, Sat. at 7 & 10:30, Sun. at 7, mat. Sun. at 3, $24.50-$49.50.