Before the mighty Sweetwater Valley Little League stormed the Little League World Series last summer, it had to fight for its life against a shopping mall, a tollway and evil villains Cadwell Von Fowl and Lickpenny who were intent on destroying it. The kids came out swinging with help from golf legend Billy Casper and a renowned cake decorator.
The 39th annual Bonitafest Melodrama, “Patsy Lee’s Magical Baseball Cakes,” is based on the true story of how Casper and a young Navy wife teamed up to help create a new home for the Sweetwater Little League. It runs Sept. 21-24 at the Sweetwater Community Church Theatre near the intersection of Sweetwater and Bonita Roads. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.
The annual Picnic-on-the-Green will celebrate opening night beginning at 6 p.m. on Sept. 21. Tickets are available by calling (619) 850-7126.
Written and directed by Dr. Max Branscomb, the Bonitafest Melodrama is San Diego County’s longest-running theater tradition featuring its most enduring characters.
“Patsy Lee’s Magical Baseball Cakes” recounts the inspirational story of how Casper and Patsy Lee met at a cake auction fund raiser and changed the history of the SVLL. When players came to Patsy Lee’s door soliciting funds for a new snack shack and invited her to a cake auction, they had no idea they had spoken to a gifted cake artist who had appeared on the cover of national magazines. They also had no idea the recent Masters champion would also attend the auction.
Emily Ince and Shae-Lin Carr play Patsy Lee. Alexis Luna portrays Casper. Lauren Gray is the wicked villain Cadwell Von Fowl and Timothy Paul Evans returns to play sidekick Lickpenny.
Gray is a theater teacher as well as an experienced stage and improvisational actor. Evans is a popular San Diego stage and film fixture whose credits include “Terminator 3” with Arnold Schwarzenegger and “The Cat in the Hat” with Mike Myers. Besides creating the endearing role of Lickpenny 39 years ago, Evans has earned acclaim for his performances as Satan and Soledad in “La Pastorela” and won the Aubrey Award for Best Actor for his role as Fagin in “Oliver!”
Also featured are Susan Cody, Kaede Muller, Kieler Muller, Danica Clowers, Conner Rodriguez, Liliana Topete and Marissa Villasenor. Kerie Muller is the stage manager and co-producer, Ken Santillan is the music director and Mike Clowers the set director. Dolly Engen is assistant stage manager.
Branscomb is one of Southern California’s most prolific playwrights whose work has been produced at the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theater and theaters across the U.S. and Mexico. He is resident playwright of Teatro Mascara Magica and has written the company’s award-winning “La Pastorela” series for 24 years. His Dia de los Muertos dramatic comedy “Journey of the Skeletons” was produced at the La Jolla Playhouse, El Centro Cultural de la Raza and theatres throughout Southern California and Arizona.
The Bonitafest Melodrama was born in 1978 when Branscomb and Loren Tarantino wrote “Thin Skins and Hayseeds,” a musical based on pioneering Sweetwater Valley families and the disastrous flood of 1916. Since then the Melodrama has developed 18 original musicals on Sweetwater Valley and Chula Vista history.
More than 2,500 theater artists and 34,000 audience members have been served in that time.
The Melodrama has been honored by performing arts, educational and human rights organizations for its service to the community, multiculturalism and its stories based on South County history.
