Sitting Down with 'Frog' and 'Toad' - SBU Seniors Share Stage in Their Final Performance

With 5 shows together under their belts, Bonaventure seniors Brett Keegan and Ian Rogers are preparing to share the stage in SBU Theater's production of Robert and Willie Reale's musical A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD. Keegan, a philosophy major playing Frog, and Rogers, a modern languages major playing Toad, sat down to talk about their favorite parts of the show, future plans and playing best friends onstage.

Mary Best: What has it been like working together during your time with SBU Theater?

Brett Keegan: It's really fun. There's always been a (stage) chemistry, but now it's much more natural.

Ian Q. Rogers: It's offstage, too. We can anticipate things that the other's going to do. It's very natural. I think we're pretty supportive of each other, which is always nice. We each have our individual strengths and weaknesses, which compliment each other really well.

Brett Keegan: It's also helpful knowing each other because we run lines a lot together, but it's also a chance to catch up.

MB: What's it like to do Frog and Toad, a show that focuses on the friendship between the main characters, as your last show for SBU Theater?

IQR: It's very genuine, very innocent and whole hearted. It's simple, but it's also like a fable.

BK: There's also more to it than meets the eye. In a way, it's my favorite show. Not necessarily because it's the best show we've done, but the nature of the show itself is very sentimental and lighthearted.

MB: What do you love the most about being a part of this show?

IQR: Because it's a musical, the rehearsal process because it's so different. We get to work with Professor (Kathryn) Black and Professor (Laura) Peterson, and the collaboration with music department has been really fun. It helps change the monotony of just the spoken word. It's nice to bring in new faces and experiences, plus meeting new people and the collaborative atmosphere that's going on.

BK: Theater really is all about collaboration. Just seeing the variety of talents and facets of personalities that come with this show being a musical is really exciting.

MB: What is your favorite song in the show?

BK: My favorite song is my solo in the first act, called "Alone." It's just a meaningful song that happens when Toad goes to give Frog some sandwiches and finds a note that says Frog is all alone on the island thinking about things and he's nervous Frog is sad or lost his friendship. When he gets there, Frog just sings about how he's happy about his life and the good things in it. It really captures the show as a whole because it's just these interludes of people separating from busy situations and getting at the heart of what it means to be human.

IQR: I have two favorites. The first is sung by Tori, who plays Snail, and it's called "Coming Out of My Shell." It's a great coming-of-age song about authenticity, self-determination, self-fulfillment and self-acceptance. It's a great little number all about willpower. It's heroic and genuine. My second favorite is "Shivers," which is when the little frog (played by Brooke Perkins) sings her solo within it. It plays to the innocence of the entire piece and the fragility of each character. She finds solace with her parents just as Frog finds solace with Toad. I think both of those really speak to the themes of the show.

MB: What makes your experience in this show different from your other roles for SBU Theater?

IQR: I've never really been the main title character before. It brings a lot of challenges like the workload, but it's my last rodeo, so why not?

BK: It's unusual. I felt more toad-like at auditions. But when we read, it felt so natural that I was Frog and (Ian) was toad. I've definitely become more frog-like. I find a lot of weird parallels, like my favorite color is green. It's unusual playing a character who is so much like who I am, but in a sense it's who I was when I was a lot younger. In a way, I've been getting connected with my childhood. I'm also writing a memoir, and with this being my last show, it's the perfect storm of sentimentality.

MB: Is this the first time you've played best friends onstage?

BK: While it is the first time we have been best friends onstage, I'm not stepping into any new shoes. It almost feels like it's been building to this. I can't imagine being Frog with another Toad.

IQR: It's not foreign. I think Brett and I have always had an offstage relationship like Frog and Toad. Brett's the optimist to my pessimist.

MB: With this being your last show for SBU Theater, what's it like to look back on your time here?

BK: When I initially joined SBU Theater, I was fairly new to theater. I had done two shows in high school and thought I would just continue with it as a way to meet new friends. But it was a lot of work. After my first show, I was very tired and needed a rest. But I rejoined last semester because I realized after the absence of it how much theater, and particularly SBU Theater, has gotten into my bones. I sort of feel at home at SBU Theater, and with the people, too. There's certainly an ensemble in the small character that SBU has acquired over all the years. I'm definitely going to miss it, but I'm also ready to move on.

IQR: I'll always be grateful to SBU Theater for being a creative outlet for me, especially with Brett nor I not being theater majors or having taken a theater class. We're not theater folk on paper, but we're theater folk in heart.

BK: For me, I know sometimes you have a tiring day, but then you get to onstage and you're singing and dancing and talking. It's not always idyllic, but it's another area of expression that you don't get to use in the day-to-day.

IQR: It's also given me a taste of what it really would be like to work professionally in theater. There's always been an air of professionalism in SBU Theater through the entire process. With that professionalism is a great deal of understanding and kindness that comes through with it, especially in working with Dr. Simone and Professor Becky Misenheimer. It's a nice balance of professionalism and friendliness.

MB: What are your plans post-graduation?

IQR: We're both waiting to hear back from grad schools.

BK: As far as theater goes, I don't ever want to leave theater, but I don't see myself doing it anytime in the near future. Maybe community theater down the road but not during school.

MB: Any final things to add?

IQR: I just want to thank everybody involved - the cast, especially Brett, Emily West, who is a fabulous designer and wardrobe mistress, Professor Black, Professor Peterson, Dr. Simone and Professor Misenheimer for their tireless efforts and support throughout the whole process, the whole crew - Chernice Miller, our stage manager and Freddy Alvarez who is assistant directing and doing some tech work.

BK: I echo Ian's sentiments. It wouldn't work without the whole collaboration.

SBU Theater will present A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD March 20 through 23 at 7:30 p.m., in the Rigas Family Theater at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The show is directed and choreographed by Ed. Simone, designed by Rebecca Misenheimer and Emily West with musical direction by Ryan Thompson.

Tickets are $8 for the public, $6 for seniors, subscribers, students and SBU employees. For this production, tickets for students under 14 are $2. For more information or to reserve tickets, phone the box office at 716-375-2494. Special group rates are available for students and teachers. Contact Evelyn Sabina, curator of education, at (716)-375-2088 or esabina@sbu.edu.

Photo credit: Mary Best