Pollywog

Director Matt Huff wasn’t looking for swimmers when he cast Pollywog, but he got them. “The play is about swimming, and…I was originally planning to have a swim coach spend some time with the cast in order to teach them the proper technique for each stroke,” he tells us. “Strangely enough, everyone in the cast was a competitive swimmer at some point, so they already knew them! Swimming experience was not something I was looking for during auditions, so this turned out to be a very convenient coincidence.”

In Keian McKee’s Pollywog, the lead character is a woman named Polly. About to go on her first ocean swim, she has her mother’s ashes with her. As a child, Polly was being taught how to swim by her mother, but those lessons stopped suddenly when her mother had a debilitating stroke. The comedy follows the adult Polly on her swim as she encounters various characters from her past. There’s her mother (both pre- and post-stroke), her father (a former sailor, he’s a cemetery salesman) and several imaginary playmates (they helped Polly care for her mother). Oh, and a couple of Hollywood swim idols (think Esther Williams and Johnny Weissmuller) are also in the water.

8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. Through August 16. Studio 101, 1834 Spring Street. For information, call 832‑463‑0409 or visit mildredsumbrella.com. Pay-as-you-can to $20.

Mondays, Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Starts: July 31. Continues through Aug. 16, 2014