Final cut of Dwight Bunn’s video by Sebastian. from Sebastian Moraga on Vimeo.

Denise Paulette brings to life the tortured psyche of Zelda Fitzgerald in "Zelda," a one-woman play about the wife of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Photo by Dan Catchpole)

Alone, Denise Paulette steps onto the small stage lit with 100-watt light bulbs in front of about 20 theatergoers at a coffee shop in downtown Snoqualmie.

For 90 minutes, Paulette takes the audience on a frenetic tour of Zelda Fitzgerald’s overtaxed psyche in “Zelda,” a one-person play by William Luce.

Hospitalized due to her deteriorated mental state, Zelda is trying to make sense of her life that took her from being the belle of Montgomery, Ala., to fighting for recognition as an artist overshadowed by her more famous husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The one-woman show is the result of Paulette’s own struggles as an artist. She’s poured her life into acting, but never managed to get her “big break.” Tired of waiting for the right part to come along, she decided to find it. That is how she met Zelda Fitzgerald.

The role drew in Paulette, who identified with Zelda’s struggles to find success as an artist. 

Big part on a small stage

Isadora’s Café is not Seattle’s ACT Theater, and it certainly isn’t Broadway. But to Paulette, it’s all the same: stage, lights, audience, story.

Before the audience arrives, she arranges the stage props — a desk, some chairs, a couple of lamps, end tables, a rug. In this one-person production, Paulette is everything from stage hand to star.

She does have some help: A friend turns on the lights at the beginning and end of the show, and Isadora’s owner, Jody Sands cues the intro music. They help her arrange chairs for the audience.

In her preparations, Paulette moves with an excited energy. Performing thrills her.

Acting has gripped Paulette since she was a child. At age 2, she was putting on performances for her family. She studied drama at the University of Washington, but really learned the craft from a couple who ran a local acting studio.

Since then, she has enjoyed minor triumphs and setbacks along the way. It is a harsh, unforgiving industry that takes what it wants and rarely repays hard work with financial or even critical success.

And yet, for people like Paulette, it is a refuge, a temple where they become free of life’s pedestrian bounds.

“That’s the first part of it — where can I take the audience?” she said. “And the second half of this is that I get to go with them, because I adore playing somebody else.”

Hoping the part, production grows

Paulette poured herself into the role of Zelda. She is trying to take the show to Seattle, where she has previewed it a few times. She has also performed the show at the Valley Center Stage in North Bend and could be performing it in Carnation early next year.

Most of the play is taken from Zelda’s own words. But it is the space between that defines the performance.

“The really critical part of the work is between the lines,” Paulette said. “The more an actor understands their own body, their own thoughts, how they feel about life or their emotional access is a pretty critical piece. Then, that’s when you can really engage your character and have the ability to release yourself, so that you can go to the work.”

In theater, especially in intimate settings such as Isadora’s, an actor must use his or her entire body, she said.

Paulette has worked in theater and film, but theater is her love. The immediate response of the audience is exciting, she said.

Theater also offers a flexibility that film doesn’t. In film, an actor’s performance is captured and frozen. But in live theater, it is constantly evolving. That is especially true in a one-person production.

“I could literally start all over tomorrow if I wanted,” Paulette said, because she doesn’t have to rely on any other actors.

Paulette took on producing a one-person show because she wanted to find the right role. “Zelda” was the second script she read, and she felt an instant connection, she said.

To help refine her performance, she enlisted the help of local actor Vince Balestri as director. Balestri wrote, produced and starred in “Kerouac: The Essence of Jack,” which toured the U.S. for 17 years. Recently, he appeared in the independent film “Beat Angel.”

‘Zelda’ can teach women about themselves

Producing a one-person show is an act of love and dedication. For Paulette, it was long nights of rehearsal that culminated in a handful of performances.

Of course, she hopes to turn those performances into more. As part of her effort to perform in Seattle, she is approaching women’s groups about performing at their meetings in lieu of a speaker.

“Zelda” could be a surprising choice for women’s groups. Her husband called her the “first flapper” and she spent much of her life overshadowed by his success.

At one point in the show, Zelda says, “I should’ve loved the artist in myself.”

That is why Paulette thinks she is appealing for women.

“There’re a lot of women in a lot of situations that can relate to that statement: that we tend to put it all into the relationship, and put who we are and what our true self is second,” she said.

After deciding to produce “Zelda,” Paulette pored over her life. To prepare for the role, she became intimately familiar with Zelda, a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia trapped in an increasingly bitter marriage and yearning for the happy, promise-filled days of her youth.

“I feel like I am walking a tightrope,” Zelda says.

And for 90 minutes, Paulette takes the audience on that tightrope with her.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.