"Becky Butterfly and the Story of the Wayward Wasp" was performed at the Rotunda, Philadelphia, in October of 2011. The show was a huge success. Now, Becky Butterfly will do a repeat performance on Sunday, April 21st, at 2:30 and 4:30 pm. Two shows, at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19104 SAVE THE DATE NOW!
The story focuses on a wasp who, by some strange event of nature, has been born a "male worker." This is a very strange turn of events, because, in the insect world, "worker wasps" are always female, and "drone wasps" are always male. However, Kevin Wasp finds himself with a stinger(a gift that no drone has ever been given) and the ability to fly large distances and forage in meadows for nectar; activities usually reserved for "garden variety" female workers.
Because Kevin is obviously a male performing female tasks, no worker or drone wants to associate with him. They ostracize him, and bully him terribly. The queen wasp, who also finds Kevin strange, makes very little attempt to stop the other wasps from attacking him. Kevin takes his frustration and anger out on Becky Butterfly and her family by invading their meadow, implementing scare tactics, and attempting to kidnap their offspring(caterpillars).
Being born into a nest of paper wasps, Kevin knows that the queen views caterpillars as a delicacy too luscious to resist; a delicacy she desires to feed to her young. As hard as he tries, Kevin can never satisfy the queen no matter what he does; yet he attempts to please her by tormenting and terrorizing the butterflies, threatening to feed their caterpillars to the queen's progeny. Finally, Becky reaches her boiling point and vows to stop Kevin once and for all.
As she starts laying out the groundwork for her plan of retribution, she overhears Kevin lamenting about his plight at home. Becky is touched and realizes the truth that is underlying Kevin's bad attitude. His aggression does not merely reflect the nature of a wasp searching for food; it is actually the result of the frustration Kevin suffers from being so horribly ostracized and bullied by his peers.
Becky changes her mind about Kevin and decides to befriend him. She also hopes that her friendship will transform him from enemy to ally. Becky resolves to go to the queen wasp's nest on Kevin's behalf, to appeal to the queen's sense of justice and to beg her to abolish the bullying that Kevin has endured for so long.
