If you're a fan of Glengarry Glen Ross and you missed the fantastically funny Daffodil Girls at Plano's Fun House Theatre and Film last month, it's back for a weekend reprise, June 5 through 8 in the Plano Children's Theatre space. Written and directed by Fun House founder and kiddie theater wizard Jeff Swearingen, the play is a scene-for-scene satire of David Mamet's play. Instead of real estate men, now the sales force is a club of young girls falling short on projected cookie sales. The terrifying regional rep (played with great grit by Laney Neumann) comes up to the treehouse to give the slackers a stern talking to about moving more boxes of sweet treats. "Kool-Aid is for closers," she warns.
When the list of top sales spots — grocery stores that allow Daffodils to hawk their cookies out front — is stolen, all heck breaks loose.
Not only is this spoof of Mamet brilliantly clever in how it mocks both its source and the cutthroat world of scout troop cookie peddling, it's a slick showcase for some of the best actors under 16 in all of North Texas. Kennedy Waterman (age 11 and impressively subtle in the Jack Lemmon role of "Shelly"), Lynley Glicker, Marisa Mendoza, Zoe Smithey (all of 7 and adorably funny), Ingrid Feaase, Memorie Autumn Triegle and Shyama Nithiananda are solid at spewing reams of Mamet-like dialogue, scrubbed of profanity but reloaded with punchy jokes aimed mostly at grown-ups acquainted with Glengarry and Girl Scouts. These ladies are confident enough in their own comic timing (as directed by comedy veteran Swearingen) to improvise when the situation calls for it. On opening night last month, a big prop crashed to the floor during a scene between Neumann and 9-year-old Lizzy Greene, who plays "Rainey Roma" (the "Pacino role"). "This place is a dump," Greene instantly ad-libbed, bringing down the house. Smart cookie, that one.
