Coming of age never looked this filled with magical realism. Offering a funny, sharp commentary on growing up rough with an ogre of a father and a mother in love with the family priest, A Froggy Becomes is a fast-moving 75-minute play that offers a smart gut punch along with its belly laughs.
A powerhouse Sandra Kate Burck (above, post-performance) is middler schooler Bumpy Diggs, living in the material world – as the Madonna soundtrack excerpts imply – in the 1980s. Her father (Peter Breitmayer) inhabits his ogre costume while Bumpy tries to shape her misbegotten frog-based science project, her friends tease her, the prettiest mean girl is dating Bumpy’s main crush, and her mother carries on a secret affair with a cowardly but sexually enthralled priest.
As written by Becky Wahlstrom and directed by Pat Towne, the play vibrates with wit and poignancy. Colorful sets contrast with an ominous sense of the mysterious goings on in the woods near Bumpy’s home, her crush’s callous desires, and her father’s brutality. Her resillience is the key to her success with both her mocked science project, and as viewers can see, her plucky survival.
Wahlstrom’s vivid emotional palette fits with the bright set design intentionally, the writer says “Puberty is a time when colors,
smells, words, and kisses are vividly electric. I think that kind of passion is still there. We just need to wake it up every once in a while.”
It’s a jubilant play, one filled with hope and the strong belief that carrying on is what we must do. “Bumpy chooses life no matter what, and she wants you to join her,” Wahlstrom says.
The exuberance of Burck’s lead portrayal engages and defines the play, which is expertly performed all around. Smart, fast-moving dialog propels the action forward, and the play’s single act moves so dynamically that viewers can’t help but be swept up in the highly fraught fun and vicissitudes that make up Bumpy’s life. A Froggy Becomes is a fine light shining in those dark woods that grow near everyone’s adolescent home.
The Open Fist Theatre Company performs the play runs through April 13 at Atwater Village Theater Fridays and
Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. General admission to all performances is $30, with $25 tickets available for seniors and veterans, and $20 tickets are available to those under 30. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.
- Genie Davis, photos: Genie Davis and courtesy of Open First.