PennyBear: A Collection of Miniature Plays and Curious Diversions

HUGS NOT DRUGS PennyBear players hold each other through laughter...and more laughter.

PennyBear, a group of iO grads, opts for patient, slice-of-life scenes in its new sketch revue, material that never veers too far outside the realm of reality. A single dad and his daughter share a coming-of-age moment over her first period; a middle-aged mama’s boy works alongside a woman whose husband keeps her on a short leash; and in a repeat scene from the last show, two teenage girls, stuck in a car trunk, discuss sex and relationships.

The cast never grasps for humor; instead, the laughs come from familiar situations that take a turn to the slightly absurd (or sometimes very absurd, like one moment involving unicorn splooge). PennyBear doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the work of these uniformly charming actors—particularly standouts Nancy Friedrich and Marla Caceres—elicits a steady stream of quiet-but-appreciative laughter.