FrogWoman at Soul Invictus

It’s the classic Hollywood story. A star reaches the pinnacle of success, is adored by groupies, and is under the thumb of a psychotic and overprotective producer. What does the star do? She flees the glamorous life in search of happiness, with all of her baggage hot on her trail.

In FrogWoman, however, hiding out might be a little difficult. You see, she literally looks like a frog, thanks to surgical enhancement she had done for a role, and she is a world-famous mega film star. What lily pad can hide that sort of celebrity?

Franc Gaxiola met playwright Chris Danowski (founder of Theatre In My Basement) in 2003 and has wanted to direct the show for years. It’s on stage through July 31 at Soul Invictus in Phoenix.

“FrogWoman is a commentary about what people are willing to give up and sacrifice for fame,” Gaxiola said. The actress has had her skin dyed green, mouth and tongue extended, legs lengthened and gills implanted and attached to her lungs to be able to star in underwater films. In the process, she lost who she really is.

The cast includes a group of women who are obsessed with FrogWoman and a producer who represents the callous and disposable nature of Hollywood, Gaxiola said.

A side story about three surgeons provides commentary on the obsession of plastic surgery.

“Being a gay man, I’ve long connected with FrogWoman’s story due to the great lengths she has to go just to discover herself and ultimately love herself,” Gaxiola said. While people around try to force her into the mold they created for her, she finds that being true to herself is necessary for happiness.

“I feel like I had to go through the same thing,” Gaxiola said. “With society, and especially my days in the military, I always lived my life to fit the mold others had for me. I, too, had to hop away from convention, question everything around me and forge a path that made me true to myself and my sexuality.”

New Works Festival at Phoenix Theatre

Hungry for some meaty theater? Phoenix Theatre joins first-time sponsor Hormel to bring the New Works Festival to the stage. These are staged readings of plays performed by the best of Phoenix’s talent.

• Divine Fruit/Kundalini Rising, by Nathan Sanders, brings the Proposition 8 battle into the living room of a Mormon bishop and his conflicted wife. Claire Young’s love for her adult gay son forces her to take a stand against the church’s strident opposition to gay marriage. Like Angels In America, there is a life-altering visitation from a deity, this time from the Hindu Goddess Kali. Claire embarks on a journey of self-discovery that calls into question everything the obedient Latter-Day Saint wife and mother holds dear. (July 23-24)

• Robot Songs, written by Scott McCarrey and directed by Robert Kolby Harper, this is a darkly comic fairy tale that examines issues of art, mortality, creation, fate and destiny. It sounds vaguely reminiscent of the suburban landscape in Edward Scissorhands, except that the scientist in the tower is building a robot to kill all of mankind. In the small town, thinking of any kind is discouraged and the Creator, as the scientist is known, has grown tired of the human race. His superhuman cyborg, known as Arty, has other ideas however. He has become obsessed with the phenomenon of pop music and its ability to bring people together, even briefly. But when he broadcasts his music everyone within earshot starts committing suicide. (July 30-31)

• Burning In the Night was adapted by festival creator Richard Warren from Dale Wasserman’s last play. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of Wasserman’s journey from teenage runaway to hobo to globe-trotting writer of television, stage (Man of La Mancha) and screen. Backed by period folk music in the vein of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, it is a fitting tribute to the theatrical legend. (July 25)

• The 24 Hour Theatre Project on the festival’s final day will be the result of a crazy experiment that condenses the playwriting process — conception to casting to rehearsal to production — into one day. The result will be four or five 10-minute plays that didn’t exist the day before. Foolhardy? Yes. Entertaining? Definitely. (Aug. 1).

Neil Cohen is a playwright, actor and director who has been part of the Phoenix theater scene since 1981. He can be reached at reelthoughts@aol.com.