User:SentientHand/Switcheroo (play)

Switcheroo is a play about a young girl who enters the world of faeries in an attempt to rescue her kidnapped baby brother. It was written by Emily Hills and Max Marcil and its two productions were both directed by Emily and Max. The play was first written in 2006 and performed in 2007 as a high school production at Clayton Valley High School, but it was later picked up by Poison Apple Productions to be revised in 2007 and performed in early 2008 at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California.

Plot
Switcheroo follows the story of a 9-year-old girl named Morgan. After her parents' divorce, Morgan, her mother, and her baby brother, Arthur, move into an old, decrepit house in a wooded countryside. The house, however, is not entirely uninhabited, as a flock of faeries have been banished from the Fey and imprisoned in the old house by Brom, the faerie King. Although the faeries constantly torment Morgan and her mother, they remain undiscovered for some time, as they are too quick for Morgan and entirely invisible to her mother. Beizal and Weizal, the two most recently arrived prisoners in the old house, devise a plot to steal the baby Arthur, escape back into the faerie world, and present Arthur to King Brom in an attempt to secure their freedom. Beizal and Weizal steal into Arthur's room in the dead of night, and Weizal uses a cheap magical scroll, purchased from a wandering peddler named Marco Mysterio, to turn Arthur into a small, purple, stuffed monster doll. Weizal, with the doll in hand, runs into the kitchen. Beizal begins to follow, but is distracted by the music box that is playing next to Arthur's crib. Morgan enters the room, half asleep, and discovers Beizal. Morgan interrogates Beizal, who lies to her, telling her that Arthur is hidden in the pantry. Morgan storms into the kitchen, catching Weizal, who has been stealing Goldfish crackers, by surprise. In a panic, the faeries trap Morgan inside the pantry. Weizal hands the doll and the box of Goldfish to Beizal, and, as Weizal chastises Beizal for allowing himself to be seen by a human, he uses a magical crayon to create a portal to the Fey. Weizal drags Beizal through the portal, but Beizal accidentally drops the doll on the kitchen floor just before he disappears. Morgan frees herself from the pantry, finds the mysterious doll on the floor, and follows Beizal and Weizal into the Fey.

Beizal and Weizal are ejected from the portal, landing in the forest of the Fey, and try to find their way to King Brom's castle, with Beizal leaving behind a trail of Goldfish as they walk. They soon encounter the Phooka, a magical shape shifter, who startles Beizal, causing him to drop the box of Goldfish. The Phooka toys with the two Faeries, eventually giving them strikingly clear directions to the castle. Beizal and Weizal leave in a huff. Moments after Beizal and Weizal leave, Morgan is ejected from the portal and asks the Phooka which way Beizal and Weizal have gone. He bewilders Morgan with his antics, but does not explicitly divulge in which direction the two faeries went. The Phooka tells Morgan that a vague poem that foreshadows the rest of the story, and then Morgan is forced to follow her own instincts to find the faeries she is following.

Trivia
The characters Froud and Brom are named for Brian Froud and Gerald Brom, Emily and Max's favorite artists, respectively.

In the original performance, Max Marcil was required to fill in the roles of Marco Mysterio and one of the goblins for Jared Heifetz, who was unable to complete the roles due to illness. Jared played the Phooka in the revised show.

In the original performance, Morgan was played by Rachel Robinson, who later went on to play Ounagh in the production of the revised show.

In the original performance, Brom and Frog the Toad were both played by Dylan Trent, who later went on to play Froud, Brom's brother, and to reprise his role as Frog the Toad in the production of the revised show.

Beizal and Weizal were played by Erika Hidalgo and Ashley Billet, respectively, in both productions of the show.