The Rascal with the Frog is my latest play!
Why this play?
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was Mark Tawin's first real success, the short story that made his name known; and yet there are hardly any adaptations of it for the stage.
That seemed like a lack to me, but as soon as I started, I understood why...there's no action. The story captures Mark Twain's gifted ear for dialogue, but the actual events are of the narrator trapped into listening to an old timer spin yarns, and after a couple of them, he extricates himself. The yarns - about "Jim Smiley" and his fighting dog, and about the time Jim Smiley was tricked by a stranger while betting on whose frog could jump the furthest - are delightful, but don't lend themselves to theatrical staging. In short, the story works brilliantly as a short story, and lousy as a play.
For me, that's when it gets interesting. I started exploring the events behind the story. I ended up with something quite different, not an adaptation but an original story inspired by The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. This play is about Mark Twain before he was Mark Twain, when he was a young Sam Clemens, living in Hannibal Missouri. The play takes place shortly after the death of his father, and yes, there is an "edercated frog" by the name of Dan'l Webster, and there is a wager, and the frog does get fed lead pellets to keep him from jumping...but don't think any of it turns out how you expect!
Sample Dialogue...
New Play Exchange Reviews.
This one is available for production from the playwright, or can be downloaded from the New Play Exchange.
