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The abject wonder of infancy
Philly Fringe 2026: BETTY presents Dickie Dickie Dicky Donnie
Josh Herren
In 1950s America, the field of "domestic economics" flourished, prompting universities to source real infants from orphanages to serve as practice babies for students majoring in Motherhood. While this institutionalized training of women offers a clear path for arch, mid-century gender satire, the performance group BETTY (MK Tuomanen, Shelby Richardson, and Paul Kruse) takes a far more compelling route. Dickie Dickie Dicky Donnie bypasses obvious parody to focus entirely on the interior lives of the infants themselves. It’s running in this year’s Fringe at Asian Arts Initiative through September 20.
The piece centers on the physical and emotional turbulence of early childhood: the abject horror and wonder of learning to exist in a body, communicate needs, and process sprawling emotions. Adult authority remains a distant specter. Aside from an opening shadow play of two figures smoking cigars and organizing the program, we never see or hear the student mothers. Their presence is marked only by a clinical bell and the infants' startled reactions. Instead, we share the babies' space, anchored by a giant crib and an angled overhead mirror that projects their movements without ever feeling clinical or voyeuristic.
Precise and expressive
Tuomanen and Richardson are phenomenal as two iterations of "Dickie". Their physical clowning is precise and deeply expressive. We watch them discover how to stand, walk, and hilariously weaponize bodily functions to compete for affection, at one point even pooping in solidarity. Crucially, the jokes are never at the infants' expense. The performers approach the babies with genuine respect and deep emotional empathy.
Lost momentum
The production's momentum stalls during a mid-show interlude. Sigh C.K. emerges as Donnie, a showboat of a baby clad in a diaper and a sequined suit coat. Delivering a direct-to-audience monologue on "babycraft", detailing the calculated strategies infants use to manipulate adults, C.K. brings a charismatic presence, but the sharp pivot into stand-up monologue halts the narrative flow.
When the show jumps forward to the Dickies as estranged adults, that lost momentum is hard to recover. We watch them scroll through Facebook trying to locate others with their shared past. One is religious and married with children; the other remains isolated. In a heartbreaking moment, Richardson’s Dickie types "we're like brothers?" into a chat box before deleting it, unable to frame that early intimacy. While this adult coda is moving, it lacks the kinetic drive of the opening crib scenes. Still, Dickie Dickie Dicky Donnie remains a strikingly vulnerable examination of childhood longing.
Know before you go: This show contains nudity and adult language. It’s appropriate for ages 18 and up.
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What, When, Where
Dickie Dickie Dicky Donnie. Created by MK Tuomanen, Shelby Richardson, and Paul Kruse (BETTY). $25 with PWYC options. Through September 20, 2026 at Asian Arts Initiative (Third Floor), 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia. PhillyFringe.org.
Accessibility
Asian Arts Initiative is a wheelchair-accessible venue with gender-neutral bathrooms.
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