bears the distinctive voice and disposition of Cookie Monster, though not his obsession with baked goods. (The production officially disclaims any connection with either Sesame Workshop or The Jim Henson Company.) All of the characters (puppet and human) are young adults who face real-world problems with uncertain solutions, as opposed to the simplistic problems and invariably happy resolutions encountered by characters on children's television programming. Much of the show's ironic humor emerges from its contrasts with Sesame Street, including the differences between innocent childhood experiences and complex adulthood. The storyline presupposes the existence of "monsters" and talking animals, and human actors sing, dance and interact with puppets, both human and non-human, as if they were sentient beings, in a light-hearted, quasi-fantasy environment. However, the characters use a considerable amount of profanity, and puppet nudity and sex are portrayed. The show addresses adult themes, such as racism, pornography, homosexuality and schadenfreude. The story does not explain why seven of the human characters are portrayed by puppets while the other three human characters are played by humans. One character is a fictionalized version of the real-life celebrity Gary Coleman, the juvenile actor who played Arnold Jackson in the 1980s American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and later famously sued his parents and business advisers for stealing his earnings. Coleman is portrayed (by a woman in most productions) as an adult, who happens to be the building superintendent in the run-down Avenue Q neighborhood due to his dire financial situation. Marx and Lopez said that they originally intended to offer the Gary Coleman role to Coleman himself, and he expressed interest in accepting it, but did not show up for a meeting scheduled to discuss it. They stated that the character illustrates "one of the most important themes in Avenue Q ... that life isn't as easy as we've been led to believe". Coleman threatened to sue Avenue Q producers for their depiction of him, but ultimately he did not. When Coleman died on May 28, 2010, casts of both the Off-Broadway production in New York City and the second national tour in Dallas dedicated that evening's performances to his memory. The Coleman character remains in the show with modified dialogue. Synopsis The show is set on a fictional street in an "outer-outer borough" of New York City. Act I Princeton, a recent college graduate, is anxious to discover his purpose in life; but first,