What is an alpaca? Find out at savethealpacas.com*

August 19, 2009 | 4:18 pm

Will it be cold where we're going? Maybe alpaca sweater...

As it happens, alpaca puns are about the only category of items relating to the alpaca -- defined by Webster's Dictionary as "a mammal with fine long woolly hair, domesticated in Peru" -- that cannot be explored at www.savethealpacas.com, a tongue-in-cheek website created to promote Matthew Modine's upcoming performances at the Geffen Playhouse in the Blair Singer play "Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas," opening Sept. 16.

Along with this video (above) in which mostly-clueless passersby are quizzed about the definition of "alpaca," the website -- brought to you by the "Bicoastal Alpaca Research Foundation" (BARF) and the self-described "most self-important cause on the web" -- offers "Alpaca Fun Facts" and invites visitors to submit their own favorite alpaca snapshot for a contest. The winner will be announced on Sept. 8.

Gosh, it's so hard to choose ...

*And this just in from BARF Central: The Geffen has also just completed shooting "fake PSAs," starring cast members, that will posted on the website early next week, according to Geffen spokeswoman Allison Rawlings. She confirms that the people in the video are unscripted, average Joes and Janes who were passing by when the video was shot over the course of several sessions during the past two weeks, with one notable exception: The first male interviewee, in the glasses, is playwright Singer.

-- Diane Haithman

Related coverage:

Geffen Playhouse 2009-10: Fishburne, Bening, Modine to anchor season