Berkley Playhouse presents Bye Bye Birdie in three performances on July 25-26 at the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley. This is one in a series of TeenStage productions, with musical direction by Margaret Halbig and choreography by Matthew McCoy.
Among the actors is Anna Polumbo-Levy, who plays the role of the histrionic Mae, Albert’s mother. “It’s been a challenge to play the role of a dramatic, overbearing mother,” Anna told us earlier this week.
Anna is 17, a rising senior at Lick Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. She started in the theater at age 4 when she played Peter Pan and Cinderella in the living room of Elizabeth McKoy, who founded the Berkeley Playhouse in 2007. She went on to roles in Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Alice in Wonderland, and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, among others. She also performed in some one-act plays at Lick Wilmerding.
“I don’t think of it as a career, but I have always loved the stage and maybe I’ll stay with it through college.”
She’s considering a range of colleges, from large schools like the University of Michigan and UC Davis to a small school like Pomona College.
As for her role in Bye Bye Birdie, “I began researching the part by watching the movie and then thinking of different times when my mother has been overbearing. We began rehearsals on June 24, and since then we’ve been urged to explore the intent of what we’re saying, and so I’ve been going through all of my lines with that in mind ...
“We’re all pushing to go further with our characters and not worry so much about how it looks. It’s just been so much fun. People really should come and see this.”
We asked Anna about her hyphenated last name, which is both unusual and strangely resonant. She replied, “I'm adopted from an orphanage in Shenzhen, China. My mom is Jewish and she grew up in New York. Her family came from Hungary and Germany. My dad is Catholic, he came from an Italian family and he grew up in Pennsylvania … So my mom’s last name is Levy and my dad’s last name is Polumbo. I got a hyphenated last name because my parents wanted me to have both of their last names.”
Tickets ($20 Adults, $15 Youth) and more information: berkeleyplayhouse.org or (510) 845-8542 x351