> Two new Seattle theater projects employ non-traditional stage media. One uses high -- or at least high-ish -- tech: the Internet. The other relies on a 19th-century invention: the postcard.

THE INTERNET: Train of Thought, a Seattle sketch comedy team, customarily performs before a crowd of 50 or so people at a fringe venue. One member of the group, however, has many times that number of fans.

Train of Thought is John Boyle, Ryan Miller and Kaci Aitchison. A couple of months ago, ToT expanded to include Puppet Tom. Tom is a video blog, or vlog, star. He does weekly one-minute bits on MySpace.com.

Tom has problems with his sidekick, Patches the Monkey. He has problems with Jon Abrams, the Internet impresario behind MySpace rival Friendster. He has problems with girlfriends. He may have a drinking problem, tequila in particular. But, generally, he is plucky and lucky.

"We do it for fun and for exposure," says Boyle. "It has gone off like a bottle rocket. Ryan went crazy about a year and a half ago and bought a bunch of puppets. He had fun with them in improv shows. Then we got the Puppet Tom idea. Ryan and I write his material on Sunday nights."

Puppet Tom is sort of the Mini-Me nemesis of MySpace founder Tom Anderson. To check him out, look at www.myspace.com/puppet_tom.