'Bad Role Models' Show Returning to Altadena

Bad role models are returning to Altadena this summer…in the form of a one-woman show.

Writer Polly Frost performed her show Bad Role Models and What I Learned From Them in Altadena in February and has performed it around the country, but the inspiration came from people she grew up around in Altadena and Pasadena.

Frost pays tribute to four “bad” role models, three of whom lived in Altadena.

She previously shared with Patch:

One was a neighbor, one was a friend of my family and the third was my horse riding teacher, Aloha Robinson. Aloha was quite a character! As I say in my show, she was a chain-smoker who never saw a glass of Scotch she didn't like -- and she was also a female horse trainer who succeeded in the show world of that time which was dominated by cowboys and rich people. Aloha taught me a lot about the importance of pursuing your passion and making it work -- in whatever way you can!

See more of Patch’s Q&A with Frost here.

Frost will perform Bad Role Models weekly on Sundays at Webster’s Fine Stationers at 5 p.m. starting July 21 and running through August, with the exception of July 28.

“It's the same show, but I've been doing some additions to the script and also working with a wonderful NYC theater director who specializes in one-person shows (he's worked with Bette Midler, done cabaret shows, Vegas and the White House),” Frost told Patch via email.

Even though Frost has performed the show outside Altadena, she said that audiences across the country have embraced it.

“I've been pleasantly surprised at how much people outside SoCal take Altadena to their hearts and relate to it. And as well to one of the themes of my show, which is that I grew up at a time when adults misbehaved in ways they, god knows, aren't supposed to now!”